Early experiences in molding a foal’s mind seem to have a profound effect on the baby’s mental and emotional development.  For this reason, we imprint our foals as soon after birth as possible and continue their training until they are sold.

The earlier a handler can “imprint” upon the foal, the better the young horse will be for handling at a later date. Doesn’t it make sense to start teaching a 100 pound foal how to lead, stand tied, load, pick up its feet rather than wait until that cute baby is now a cantankerous two year old that outweighs you several times?
 

What is imprinting and how does it work?

Imprinting is a type of methodical desensitization process in which the handler repeatedly manipulates the entire body of the foal by rubbing each area of the body until the foal no longer responds with the flight reaction.  The idea is to expose the newborn to as many things as possible and to keep repeating those situations until the foal is non-reactive to them.  Try to simulate as many “adult horse” activities as possible while your foal is growing. Hopefully, by the time the horse is ready for a rider, these things will all be second nature to the horse.

Proper imprinting takes time but it’s well worth the effort. On our farm, all of the foals are imprinted and worked with on a daily basis.

The following foals show some of what we do during the imprinting process to prepare the foals for their future as an adult horse.

Photo Gallery

Start Over

With imprinting and training, there will be some good days and some not so good days working with your young horses. If you are persistent and keep it up, be consistent, in the end you will have a safer and saner horse.

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