How does a 3 1/2 week old foal rub themselves bare HERE? UPDATE PIX

[HorsesinHaiti]

Muzzle I get. Eyes, maybe from nursing. But how, little guy, did you rub your ears bald??

I do want to start halter breaking this one earlier rather than later, but not if his skin can’t take any friction yet. How normal is this??

FYI, the pen is no-climb with the ‘barbed’ side turned to the outside. Dirt floor. Mom long ago lost her cool season peach fuzz.

Vet tech is coming tomorrow because his Mom also just fessed up to having a raw sore where her udder joins her right leg, high up. It has been very hot and humid for the last couple weeks. I was actually checking her pasterns for scratches or mud fever when I realized the little guy had a smidge of blood on his nose, and that it wasn’t his.

!#@!! I didn’t bend over far enough when I was checking her udders since he was born!! bath time and scrub time for a few pony mares I know, if I or their keepers can keep from getting our heads kicked off in the process… Yet one more demo for my mantra, ‘you guys really need to handle these girls more…’. Vent over, vet tech coming.

So anyway, how often do you breeders see foals rubbing their eyes and backs of the ears bald? Is this from nursing a lot when they are very young, or something else? With the skin of his ears that dark, I probably don’t need to put Desitin or sunblock on him?

[epowers]

Shedding on the face first is just how foals lose their foal coat. The first shed is typically very dark, so there is often a stark contrast between the old fluffy foal coat and the new very dark coat coming in (most foals who have a super dark first shed will shed back out to a lighter coat on the next go). It’s not that they are rubbing their muzzles and eyes bald. I’m guessing this is what is happening with your foal, and not that he’s actually entirely bald and hairless in those parts?

[Didi]

It seems to be normal “molting.” My colt is getting bare patches in the exact same places - even on the ears. Don’t worry about it. He is adorable!

[Sugarbrook]

Absolutely normal!!

[JB]

Ditto to the normal foal molting They really can look really, really awful and moth-eaten, like something is literally chewing their hair off, ratty patches, just terrible. But yeah, it’s normal

[HorsesinHaiti]

Thanks crew. I figured it was normal, especially the way this little guy chows down. I just wasn’t expecting the bat-eared look. I take it you wait a bit longer before introducing a halter, until their skin is better protected? I do NOT want to put a foal this young and rambunctious in any kind of collar. He’s still learning that running too fast around too tight a curve will lead to him going kersplat!

[HorsesinHaiti]

Gotta give you some full size pix! These are from the morning he was born.

[JB]

IMHO the sooner a halter goes on and they learn that restraint doesn’t kill them, the better

[Kerole]

I agree with JB. Here I am trying to work with a newly haltered 7 month old colt. It’s like trying to subdue a marlin on your fishing line! Very unpleasant for everyone.

[Didi]

My colt got a halter put on him Day 2. No problems there. We even pull it on over the ears rather than using the buckle so he gets used to having his ears “mushed.”

[HorsesinHaiti]

I have a leather foal halter that has some fake sheepskin sleeves. Time to get the little guy acquainted with it. He’s already acquainted with skritches (aaahhh…) and giving a little bit to finger pokes behind the jaw followed by more skritches.

And simultaneously with the joys of chewing on dresses, unfortunately. Manners 101 started month 1. Life with babies is pretty much the same worldwide.

ETA: Didi, I just halter broke a two year old that was unhandled except for bad handling. Boy do I hear you! At least the youngsters I deal with are all ponies.

[Didi]

:lol:

[kookicat]

It’s so much easier to win a battle of strength with them when they’re teeny. :lol:

[sid]

Ditto to all of the above.

I get a halter on Day 2, but not over the ears. And leading with a butt rope on day 3 to gently learn the give and take of pressure and give to it.

Lots of scritchies for praise and body contact – then showing boundaries gently…the sooner the better.

After that, the rest is a piece of cake.

By the time they’re 3 weeks old “Mom” would rather me handle them for a bit (she literally turns them over as she knows I will do no harm) so she can get some down time. The we have a 3-way grooming orgy. Me scritching baby, baby scritching Mom and Mom scritching me. Nothing like that level of trust early on. Especially with the dam…as she’s the one who really sends the “messages” to the foal about humans.

[HorsesinHaiti]

C’mon, you know you want more cute foal pix!

At 2 months and 4 days old, the little guy (barn name for now, Lil’ Dude) has a head barely large enough to wear my leather foal halter. With much scritching and attention, plus his playful nature coming out when I ignore him and focus on his dam, he now comes up for attention and accepts a halter. Leading, we are definitely still working on.

The man holding the lead rope in the first picture is Mano Beliard, aka THE FOOD GUY. Naturally, he is more popular with the ponsters than I am though Dude is happy to come up and try playing foal games. No, nipping my bare knees is not a fun game, let’s play ‘quit stealing the saddle blanket off Mom’s back’.

[Didi]

Adorable!!

[cloudyandcallie]

What a cute foal!
The other posters are right, start the discipline now with halter and training. Otherwise he’ll get spoiled and dangerous.
And they do shed out all that baby coat. And change color.
Have fun with him.