Frustrating Time with Babies

Why do people not imprint train their babies??? I don't understand.

I have just started working at a farm in Mechanicsville that has several horses on it. There is a pregnant mare, an older gelding and two babies. My problem is the babies...

They haven't been messed with much since they were born in Feb. and March. Pretty much led in by a grain bucket...no grooming...nothing. Their first halter and leadrope lesson was the other day. What fun that was. The colt was pretty good for it, but the filly had me pinned in the corner of her stall as I tried to put her halter on her, then she did circles in her stall on her lead rope. Both of these babies are fairly big and very powerful. They both really like to rear as well...when you pull on the lead rope that is their get away.

Any helpful hints would be great. We have split them up, as they are attached at the hip and pretty much can't do anything without one another and basically fall apart when not together. The filly also likes to drag you out of her stall and has to be on top of you when you lead her. I haven't messed with many babies that have had no imprint training and these two are almost yearlings now. Not sure how to not get my patience wasted on them. Also, the goal is to have them properly leading, standing quietly, grooming and having them get their feet trimmed.

Thanks for reading and for your advice.

~Jen~

I agree with appy, don't try to do any "real" training for now until they stop fretting about not being together. If you can, try to be the replacement "buddy" yourself. Let them rely on you. Do you have access to a round pen? Once they are more comfortable and able to be haltered and led without a fight, I would do some free round pen work to establish your position as leader as well as teaching them to walk forward from pressure, i.e. a tap on the croup means go forward as well as pressure on the poll means step forward. If you can teach them this cue it will save you many future headaches.

I'm happy I'm not you.

It just takes time. Even if they have the imprinting and are handled on a daily basis, once you separate the little critters they freak. When I was working with the young ones it took about two weeks for them to get the idea and settle down, it just takes a lot of patience in the mean time. It's also important to make the sessions positive, keep things super simple and short, for your sake and theirs. It won't be long till they are behaving like solid citizens.

If you need more enforcement when handling them, use a chain and long whip correctly. I've had some babies drag me around a field becaues they didn't want to leave their buddies and having some extra tools sometimes is necessary. The rearing should be nipped in the bud, lots of babies quickly learn rearing and then striking out, which is very dangerous. I hate doing it, but I put a lip chain on one yearling that had that habit and solved the problem in an afternoon.

You have to just stick with them and stay in their stall as much as possible. We had a nine month old Thoroughbred and she was a mean one, not halter or anything when she came to us and loved to rear. We found that perseverence and patience paid off and she is one of the most loving adult horses you could imagine now.
Just don't tug and treat them like any other horse on the lead. Assure them with your confidence.

You've got to invest in some Clinton Anderson training - especially since they are bigger. When we got our stud colt as a 6 month old he wasn't even halter broke. He just followed mom around when they moved from barn to pasture. We used alot of his techniques and have been very pleased with the way he is turning out. Good Luck!

I agree with horselady, i love clinton anderson, we have his entire series...why did i do that? cause i can
i have 2 babies currently, and do things with them together, AND separately. i take them for lots of trail walks, tie them to the trailer for grooming etc. good neighbors who love horses help with this, i make them "pay" for our rides by socializing my babies makes everyone happy.

appyday said:

I do my babies at birth..and I halter break and they will tie by the time they are 10 days old...They could have been imprinted then not messed with I have seen them go "wild" even after imprinting. Wait till they are over each other so they are not dangerous to you. These babies I just got had never had a halter on them when I got them. I love doing them young when I can man handle them. I am older and fatter and not in the shape to wrestle a several hundred pound weanling anymore...good luck

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Thanks for your advice!! I do know that they were never handled much when they were younger. They had never had halters on until last week. They were led with a bucket of grain or left outside. Thanks for the luck...will def need it.

Thank you all for the advice. Am going to look into the C.A. thing. Heard he is very good. Will def check it out.

I split them up yesterday. The colt was a little bit upset, but slowly getting over it. The filly still is very pushy and wanting to be with him. She is the bigger of the two and she LOVES to walk ontop of you. She is very stubborn and sort of mean. Her new thing is when you lead her she likes to walk right behind you, over your shoulder and bite at your jacket.

I am trying to be very patient with them, as I know that they don't know anything and this is hard for them, but I don't want to lost that patience.

The filly sometimes scares me. I have a bad should and I have to use that arm to lead her with, as that's the "right way to do it" and she pulls on it so hard. I don't want to make her worse by using a chain all the time to get my point across, as I don't want to make her worse. She does like to rear when she feels the pressure of the halter on her head, so that makes it hard to.

I think that the colt will be the easy one to work with after he calms down. He is the sweeter one as well. He is more sociable with you.

Thank you all for the advice. Will keep you up to date on them.

Just another tip based on your last post about your shoulder. Go ahead and lead the filly from the other side, every horse should be able to be led from either side. Forget about "the right side." You want the horse to be "even sided" from the ground as well as from the saddle.

I train anything with a rope halter (Clinton Anderson's are nice and stiff).
I have had to give leading lessons to just about everything i own when i first got it. I train each horse each time i lead it, if he/she has forgotten their place (2 steps BEHIND me - with no rushy behavior and certainly NO rearing) which is reminded from the very first moment i lead them every single time. Horses are like kids and need firm consistent clear, communication.
Once she begins to understand where she needs to be while leading, the popping up will stop. i think this behavior is a sign that she doesn't know exactly what you want, and you aren't communicating it to her effectively (do YOU know what you want?), so she's retaliating. Typical naughty baby behavior. Clinton's colt starting video is a good first investment. if you can't afford that one, get the Road to the Horse. It's well worth the investment which is smaller than the training ones, but has the info on it.

I've taught all mine young and old, to give to pressure on the halter by clipping a cheapo stiff old lead rope knotted on the end to the halter and leaving it on a couple of days to drag around. They quickly learn to stop and back away from the pressure to release it when they step on it, and to be patient when another horse steps on it works for me. They train themselves

PS I would NEVER EVER use a chain on a baby's face!!!! The only horse i use a chain on is my stallion, and that's only sparingly, in the event he gets his panties in a wad over something, he's very manageable, so one pop is usually all it takes to remind him who is leading whom around.

You also said you are "scared" of a baby? That could be a bit troublesome.... coming from the barn manager? That's why she's getting the better of you. She's Alpha and you let her be that way. Not around here, no way Jose She'd have a rude awakening, patience or no, I'm not gonna get hurt!

happyappygirl said:

I train anything with a rope halter (Clinton Anderson's are nice and stiff).
I have had to give leading lessons to just about everything i own when i first got it. I train each horse each time i lead it, if he/she has forgotten their place (2 steps BEHIND me - with no rushy behavior and certainly NO rearing) which is reminded from the very first moment i lead them every single time. Horses are like kids and need firm consistent clear, communication.
Once she begins to understand where she needs to be while leading, the popping up will stop. i think this behavior is a sign that she doesn't know exactly what you want, and you aren't communicating it to her effectively (do YOU know what you want?), so she's retaliating. Typical naughty baby behavior. Clinton's colt starting video is a good first investment. if you can't afford that one, get the Road to the Horse. It's well worth the investment which is smaller than the training ones, but has the info on it.

I've taught all mine young and old, to give to pressure on the halter by clipping a cheapo stiff old lead rope knotted on the end to the halter and leaving it on a couple of days to drag around. They quickly learn to stop and back away from the pressure to release it when they step on it, and to be patient when another horse steps on it works for me. They train themselves

PS I would NEVER EVER use a chain on a baby's face!!!! The only horse i use a chain on is my stallion, and that's only sparingly, in the event he gets his panties in a wad over something, he's very manageable, so one pop is usually all it takes to remind him who is leading whom around.

You also said you are "scared" of a baby? That could be a bit troublesome.... coming from the barn manager? That's why she's getting the better of you. She's Alpha and you let her be that way. Not around here, no way Jose She'd have a rude awakening, patience or no, I'm not gonna get hurt!

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These horses don't belong to me, nor are they in my barn. My step-dad decided that we would take this farm on working at it(feeding, training the babies, etc). I didn't have much choice, so that's why I am so annoyed with it all.

The filly is just a pain in the butt. I have never ever been afraid of a horse, but I am not about to get kicked nor reared on or anything of the sort. I am not just going to sit back and take it...and she does scare me. She is powerful and mean. She is also very smart...I don't put that past her one bit. She is the only bad one at the barn. And I don't have a ton of time to mess with her. She is just overly attached to the colt and she's acting out on us for seperating them. I have question that I can work with her, as I have dealt with horses like this, but she just gets worse and worse. She was okay yesterday. She was trying hard yesterday. She was ok this morning in her stall and didn't act like she wanted to run out or anything. I was happy with her this morning and yesterday, but it's just a day and a half. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. It tends to go up and down with her.

The colt was great this morning...getting better about being split apart from the filly. He is very playful, but he is so sweet. We are making big strides with him.

We'll see how it goes. Just wish I was committed to work with them when I don't really want to. It gets hard. Also, my fear with her is gone...I don't even know why I was scared of her, as I am never scared of any horse I have ever worked with, but there was just something about her. Her and I are starting to get an understanding. I will just try to be patient with her and keep moving forward with her.

Appy, I am not the manager of this farm...I manage my step-dad's farm. My horses don't act like this. Even the babies at my place. But the babies at my place have been worked with ever since they were born, so it's a little different with these two. Also, I haven't used the chain on her, as I am not big on using one, unless I have to(and I don't use it often). I have only used a lead rope clipped to her halter.

Thanks for the advice!! It's appreciated.

Woohoo!!! The babies went to the track yesterday. Now all I have is the Momma who is pregnant and the older gelding!!!

SerenitStables said:

Woohoo!!! The babies went to the track yesterday. Now all I have is the Momma who is pregnant and the older gelding!!!

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You're lucky, when I worked at the TB farm the babies didn't leave till 2 - 3 normally. Nothing like having three 2 year olds to ride on a cool morning and then six yearlings and six weanlings to handle. I dreaded when the yearlings were brought to the training barn because they were turned out in a large pasture and it could be a pain in the ass to convince some of them to leave their buddies, hence why I kept a chain and whip on hand for those lovely days when we had to back out of the pasture because forward was not an option. You have to love them babies or you will go totally insane.

barncat said:

You're lucky, when I worked at the TB farm the babies didn't leave till 2 - 3 normally. Nothing like having three 2 year olds to ride on a cool morning and then six yearlings and six weanlings to handle. I dreaded when the yearlings were brought to the training barn because they were turned out in a large pasture and it could be a pain in the ass to convince some of them to leave their buddies, hence why I kept a chain and whip on hand for those lovely days when we had to back out of the pasture because forward was not an option. You have to love them babies or you will go totally insane.

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She sent them to a guy that trains for her. They are going to be leased by him. So, he can do what he wants. Will probably go to his personal farm.