Help me with working with untouched yearlings

[anon123456]

A friend asked for my help with 2 yearlings (actually 11 month olds) and they were brought to me yesterday. Halter broke, lead if a rope is around their butt and they are very attached to each other so my first step was to separate them. 3hr van ride and they appear to not have been phased by it at all, so they do trailer although I have no idea how hard to was to get them on. They jumped right off.

But other than that have no manners, are hard to catch and head shy. It does not appear that they have had any hoofwork so that is on the agenda for tonite (with the help of a little happy juice if need be)

Suggestions on where to start? Steps to take. The plan is to have them ready to sell by early winter so I need to begin yesterday!

[goneriding24]

Whoa!! Slow down and enjoy the buggers first!! From my first hand experience, this mainly worked for me…tweak as needed.

First, be unemotional. Go about your work around or in their pens like they aren’t there. That will drive them nuts and they will have to know what’s going on and start following you.

If you put a plastic sack in your back pocket and let it flap, let them see it and get used to it.

Spending time just “being” with them does a world of good. Let them approach you at first, don’t chase them down.

If they are reasonably intelligent, then it all starts to fall into place. If they are dumber than a box of rocks, then you might have to start being a bit assertive.

The best advice is to READ these darlin’s and then go with what happens. Don’t overdo it, a few minutes a day will do more than lengthy training sessions, I don’t care what the NH people say. If you have to skip a day now and again, no big deal.

In a few days or a week, they should be eager beavers to see you coming and then you can move on to picking up hoofies, grooming and shots.

Good luck and I’m sooooo jealous!!

[shakeytails]

At least they have halters on! I’ve worked with several like this. 10 minutes a couple of times a day usually does the trick. Just lead them, brush on them and work on picking up feet. They’ll come around, and usually they’re easier to deal with than babies that people have made pets of.

[RhythmNCruise]

I’ll echo the others and say just let them get acclimated. Their attachment to one another will probably be the biggest issue right now, especially in a new place. Do you have other horses that can babysit? I find having three horses is the ideal number because they don’t buddy up with just one other horse. No matter which one gets brought in, the other two are like, “Meh, sucks to be you,” and could care less. That means even if the one brought in wants to call to his buddies, they rarely call back, which keeps the drama subdued. My current riding horse (6yo) was a basically unhandled yearling when I got him. He came alone, but was very attached to my little herd of (3) geldings immediately. When I’d bring him in for baby lessons, he’d fret and cry. It took some patience and tenacity, but he eventually realized that (a) the other horses didn’t give a rip if he was gone, (b) snacks and scritches were usually involved in lesson time, and © he was always returned to his buddies eventually.

Take it slow, don’t expect miracles, and keep safety (yours and theirs) your top priority. Try to make every session with them pleasant and positive so that they gradually equate you with being safe and happy. Once they see you that way, they’ll be ever so much easier to work with.

[CHT]

If they have gone this long without being trimmed, they can go a little longer. I would wait until they are more handled and comfortable with the environment before trimming them, even with drugs.

I agree with the above advice about just hanging out with them. I also think they can learn from watching, so having them see you work with other horses may help them better accept the human/horse relationship.

Once they learn you can scratch their itchy spots they will be in your best friends!

[anon123456]

Thanks everyone for the “take it slow” thought. I immediately want to jump in and change the world. I do have other horses that I can put them out with. Since my farrier was coming out tonite I thought getting them done right away would be the best but yes I can have him come out again in a week or two instead of shocking these two right away.

They are curious and will bring their noses up to you but then back quickly away. Patience (not something I have good experience with) is going to be my friend, thank you all for reminding me of that

[hayfeeder]

we got 3 feral ponies last fall - for us the first thing was to separate them. We kept one and put her with our very reliable and outgoing 3 yr old - she followed him everywhere and that is how we got her into the barn and a halter on her. She is smart and quickly got used to the stall and every time we fed her we were all over her - touching legs, brushing, etc. So if you could I would definitely separate them and buddy them with someone that loves you.

[Calvincrowe]

Slow and easy. Goneriding’s advice is spot on. One trick for getting them to let you touch their legs/feet is to use a long handled toilet type brush. Worked well on the untouched FOUR year old warmbloods that came into our barn a few years back.

[IronwoodFarm]

[QUOTE=anon123456;7681461]
The plan is to have them ready to sell by early winter so I need to begin yesterday![/QUOTE]

Are these TBs going to the track? Just curious because it is very hard to sell a yearling in general. I sure hope that selling by early winter is not critical.

[2DogsFarm]

Agreeing with Ironwood.
If at all possible, reschedule that sale date!

You’ll get a better price for a well-mannered 2yo than a Can’tCatchME! long yearling.

What worked for my near-feral 10yo pony was to go at a glacial pace.
For some time I had to sneak up on him in his stall (open to paddock) from behind, close the bottom of the dutch door and then let him circle until he calmed down enough for me to approach.
I’d groom whatever I could until he got too antsy, then release him.
When he’d go in willingly (still does) at the command “Go to your house” we graduated to leaving the door open (I blocked his exiting), and finally to standing loose until I gave permission to leave by standing aside from the open door.

Patience is your friend.
They remember being scared a lot longer than anything Good that happened.

[anon123456]

[QUOTE=IronwoodFarm;7682765]
Are these TBs going to the track? Just curious because it is very hard to sell a yearling in general. I sure hope that selling by early winter is not critical.[/QUOTE]

No, not TB’s. Not exactly sure what they are to be honest. TBX of somesort I think. They are nice looking but alittle small but being 11 months old, they have alot of time to grow.

Also not my horses so the timeframe is also not mine. I was just asked if I had time this summer to help “tame” them and I barely said yes before the van was in my drive.

My goal is to have a horse that can be touched, groomed, stand tied and not headshy, body shy…the rest is on the owner. (If she sells them or not)

I do appreciate the advice and last night spent about 10 minutes with each just letting them “check me out” when I gave them grain.

[IronwoodFarm]

Well good luck to the owner. I’d say it’s going to be hard sell and she might want to be prepared for having them around for a while. As a breeder I anticipate that I will keep a foal until age 4. People want horses started under saddle. Even green can be a hard sell.

[uphill]

Agree…SLOW!!! is the way to go. Earn their trust and make sure they understand what you are asking and they’ll give you their best.

[anon123456]

I just wanted to give a quick update. It has been nearly 3 weeks and I have had them turned out together but they have their own stalls. That was an ordeal on its own, they screamed like newly weaned babies for each other for several days, but now when its meal time they each walk into their own stall and are content to be in there alone.

One is definitely leaps and bounds ahead of the other. I can rub her anyplace I want but she pulls away when I touch her head or hind legs. The other is curious but unless I catch her and keep her on a lead rope I can’t touch her but she is curious enough to keep putting her nose on my arm…so we are getting better.

I did have their feet trimmed and they will need it again but they are standing much better now. They are also growing and I think in a few months they will be about the same height as their peers.

Patience…yes, you all were right. Its taking time but I am already seeing huge changes and it has only been 3 weeks.

[Valentina_32926]

Treat like any baby - SHORT, frequent training session.
Start by teaching them to lead without the butt rope - perhaps starting withy rope and long whip to encourage forward, remove rope (whip still for forward) than no whip.

Then add teaching them that a rope around their neck means they’re caught. (Start in stall, go to oversize stall, then in small paddock when yearling is by itself.) Be certain you wear heavy leather gloves. When they "respond appropriately to lead rops you can start on baths (see below).

Next start on teaching them to tie. I do this by looping the lead rope around a post (twice) it won’t hold if they don’t fly back but will provide pressure. Also - start when they’re “tied” (Inside a stall so if they get loose it’s no biggie) and slowly back away from horse until they learn to stand relatively still. Once you have that move it to a wash stall/aisle.

Next teach them about baths, grooming and feet (handling). When it’s hot outside is a great time to teach them about baths. Hold lead rope and allow them to “run” around you while you’re sprinkling them with a hose. Start at their legs and slowly work up the body. Once they’re good with that you can start on fly spray (note they may freak out first time. One 16+ hand mare I purchase at 2 years of age - who didn’t tie - hated fly spray - she would try to body slam you to get away from scarey sprayer. I paid a teenager to put water in a spray bottle, sit on top of the stall, and spray horse while she was eating hay. After about 2 weeks you could spray her while she was tied and she wouldn’t body slam you (but wouldn;t stand still either - but we’d made progress).

After that you can start on ground driving, lateral work (leg yields from the ground), lunging, adding tack, lunging with tack). At that point it’s then under saddle work.

[Frosty_M]

This method works like a miracle…

I used it to tame a stray heifer without a round pen or anything else. It’s such a different approach, taming with utter kindness and allowing the animal to choose you as his/her leader. I’ve seen Monty Roberts do this at a demonstration and it brought tears to my eyes. Have fun with these young’uns. They are lucky to have you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dx91mH2voo