I do large drafts (2200 lbs plus) by myself, I do rank donkeys and mules by myself, and I don’t get nervous but I’ll admit that baby working me into a corner had me intimidated. She’s only a month old but she’s absolutely huge. It was really just her relentlessness that got to me, I was by myself and I was just thinking she was going to corner me and try to stomp me into the floor 
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Mares like that do raise some crazy foals. If you do buy her she needs the right situation to learn to be a good horse. Think about where you’d keep her and who you’d turn her out with, the absolute ideal would be a place that raises a good number of foals and has appropriate peers and some babysitter types to install rules.
I don’t know if it’s that babies are more unpredictable than adults if you haven’t been working with a lot of them or if it’s because they look cute so it’s a surprise. I definitely found my colt a bit more worrisome to deal with to start with. Unfortunately once they have your number it’s a fun game to bully you. Mine became less of a wild child after about 3 weeks, I’m not sure if it was him learning the rules or the rest of the herd helping with manners. Now he’s sweet and easy to handle, though he’ll test new people, especially if they approach him tentatively.
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Since you’re now committed, maybe you can make two or three trips a week out there and try to gentle that foal. No time like the present to teach her that people are kind and you will never harm her. She needs you …
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But, this filly is only 1 month old, and (obvious, major) reprimands aren’t the normal thing because of how fragile they are. That said, if the reprimands don’t start coming for things like getting aggressive at her udder, playing too roughly with her, and then start getting sharper and sharper, as the foal gets into the next few months, then it does tend to raise a “bully” who thinks the world is at their feet.
100%. It’s so important to be consistent in what you do, and don’t allow, from an adult, but it’s 1000x more important with a foal. Adults sort of already know their place in a human world (assuming a typical horse), but foals are making their way based on their inherent personality
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With a couple of my mustangs i’ve had to begin our gentling sessions using “protective contact” ie: i remain on the outside of a gate and they’re inside. And i just sit there and read a book in the beginning, just stay still, don’t watch them…don’t speak or sing or try to interact. Then, next i do stuff. Like clean a saddle or something. Then i take my self inside, going back to just sitting and reading and not trying to interact. I find, with horses that are really afraid, trying to interact makes them very nervous…and with those, i leave it up to them to decide. This is the longest part of the process and can take weeks!! But, once they get over fear and become curious we’re on our way. Pressure never works on that kind of horse… And even eyecontact is pressure with that type.
HAVE NO IDEA about that filly of yours, just offering my experience with worst-case scenario feral horses.
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ya know… i think i suspect the breeders did something that set this filly into fear of people. Maybe it wasn’t even very much… maybe they tried to put a halter on her. Maybe they just wanted to pet her or take a photo with her and chased her around… And then didn’t ‘finish’ up with any making-up-with-her to undo their error. Seems odd that a baby would be so aggressive unless there is some authentic fear in there.
I hope PonyGrandma is right and they won’t get involved…i don’t think they’ve done that foal any favors.
I once had a very docile mare, whose filly was quite bold. I always thought that a tough mum would have benefited that foal. But i did step up and take the responsibility and in the end, mare was very civilized…exceptionally so. I have high hopes for this youngster in your hands. I think you’ll be her salvation.
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UCD is the only lab AQHA takes results from, the panel can be requested through AQHA and it will be added to her file.
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