Your "imprinting" tips......

[Samotis]

My mare is due in the next month and it got me thinking about how everyone imprints with their new foals.

What sort of things do you do at birth after the mare has bonded with the foal of course.

I know that everyone has different opinions on imprinting with foals and I would like to hear what you all have found that works for you.

This foal will eventually be shown in hunter breeding and I don’t feel like I did enough with my 4 year old when he was young. As far as respect goes and while he isn’t a sensitive horse, he hates his mane being touched. I just wonder if there was something I could have done when he was a baby that would have helped him be easier to deal with!

Thanks for the tips!

[Beentheredonethat]

Horses don’t imprint, no matter what anyone says. It’s a term used for animals that live in huge numbers and mothers have to find babies, like geese or sea lions. (My friend was a marine mammal trainer and had a sea lion that was imprinted on her. When she went to a zoo, my friend went to see her five years later, and when she called her name, the sea lion bawled “mom!”)

I don’t buy any of the stuff that people say the do and touch all over the first day or two, then can not touch them for years and the horse is fine. I think you do normal, regular handling, and when you see an issue, you do more desensitization as needed. But, that said, some things like mane pulling may not really change as every horse (and person) has a different level of natural nerve endings which you may not be able to change.

Just DO stuff. I do my babies feet from birth, halter them, tie them, lead them, and expose them to everything. In general, unless they’re taught it is a problem, they’re very into following what others do. My now two year old would NOT get out of my way when I was clipping the adults when she was a baby, so I put the body clippers on her and took out some hunks, thinking that would get rid of her, but she was cool with it all, just like everyone around her.

I’ve only raised a few horse babies, but they’ve all turned out super.

[Hunter_s_Rest]

There was a notable study done at (??? Penn State???) that followed 3 control groups of newborns – 1. Ones that were officially imprinted (using all those oddball ‘touchy’ things prescribed); 2. Ones that were just professionally and competently handled (as prescribed above); 3. Ones that were totally unhandled and feral. (It was a wild breeding herd of Shetland ponies, I believe, that are used for breeding research, but left all but ‘wild.’
When the control groups were brought in at age 2 (3? 4? can’t recall), for formal training (saddle, bridle, riding, major handling, etc.) there was NO difference in ANY of the groups, overall.
Naturally, the report noted minor differences from individuals (as in the twitchy mane horse at top) but no difference from handling, or not.
I raised a filly from weanling age through having a foal, and beyond. The said filly was always twitchy with clippers - I know she was never “abused!” with clippers, etc. - she was just shy of them. I could get it done but she didn’t like it.
Her son? Well-bred, handled from birth, lovely kind quiet big gelding – always had a problem with clippers. (And I never did him and her in vicinity of each other, so he was definitely NOT reading off of her. He, like her, just didn’t like it.
The point is – some horses are just freaks about certain stimuli. Doesn’t mean they were “abused!” or mishandled, or not-handled. Just the way they are.
I always figured if the big gelding was sold, and sold again, and again, eventually, someone would get him who did not have me assuring them that “he’s always been a little funny with clippers - I swear I didn’t abuse him!” and they’d get on with it. I know that someone would get the horse someday, and see his quirkiness at clipping, and say “Ohhhhh. Well someone OBviously Abused this horse with clippers. Poor horsey …”
Sigh.
Just the way it is! Have fun with your young horse but don’t fret over ‘doing it wrong.’ Competent, kind, consistent, fair.

[Laurierace]

I am in the just do stuff camp as well. That includes not only stuff with the foal but also with the mare. When the foal sees the mare standing tied and being groomed for example that becomes a normal thing in their eyes. I teach them to lead right away so they are led in and out of the pasture instead of just following Mom. They are expected to behave themselves when walking in and out to the pasture as well. Bottom line, be firm and consistent every time you handle them and handle them often. No special tricks needed.

[Home_Again_Farm]

@Laurierace;6167124

I am in the just do stuff camp as well. That includes not only stuff with the foal but also with the mare. When the foal sees the mare standing tied and being groomed for example that becomes a normal thing in their eyes. I teach them to lead right away so they are led in and out of the pasture instead of just following Mom. They are expected to behave themselves when walking in and out to the pasture as well. Bottom line, be firm and consistent every time you handle them and handle them often. No special tricks needed.

This. Years ago I “imprinted” a couple. It was a waste of time. Just good, thorough handling, putting a halter on, teaching to lead, trailering with mom to the repro clinic, baths, feet, grooming, etc. between birth and weaning does the trick. :yes:

[purplnurpl]

The best thing you can do is have a system. This goes for every equine athlete. Horses are creatures of habit and a system allows them to understand what is going on and there will be no surprises. ; )

As soon as mine hits the ground I’m going to treat is exactly the same as I treat my horses.

The only weirdo thing I’m doing is standing with my ear on Swain’s flank and wrapping my arms under her belly at night when she eats. I pat her belly–the same way I pat the horses–and sing Edelweiss because that is what I sing to the horses when they are jumpy and need to calm down.

Silly baby was doing donuts in there last night. Little thing is going to pop out running for sure. 1.5 months to go.

[TSHEventing]

The term is “habituation” NOT imprinting. Imprinting basically suggests the foal (or whatever animal) assumes you are its parental figure. That is not what is going on.

[mpsbarnmanager]

Well, name aside, I also plan to “imprint” my baby, and I plan to treat him/her like any other horse, but it also makes sense to me to go ahead and rub them all over, tap feet, etc… So, back to the OP’s question, does anyone have any tips/suggestions?

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

My suggestion is what has already been said, start with putting on the halter (I waited too long to do that with my last one), giving to pressure, which ultimately leads to leading, get them used to being rubbed all over, picking up feet when appropriate (as in not day one) and all the things I expect them to do as an adult.

I also agree that the baby seeing mom do this stuff is great. Example: My filly’s mother was an awesome trailer loader and the baby shipped with mom enough that she has never once questioned just walking right onto a strange trailer, even alone and even though it wasn’t a stock/box stall. I would like to imagine I am a great trainer, but I think it was mom.

Mom and baby lived outside, but there were a few times they were stalled together before weaning (one being inspection at a strange barn), other times at the vet clinic for breeding, and a few times at home, and I also think this was why the baby was so great when I brought her to overnight shows as a yearling. Her mom was totally laid back about being in a stall, or even being at a different barn, and the filly is too. Some of that may be temperment, but I think some of it is learned behavior from the mare. So, while I like them to be outside as much as possible, some nights in a stall (assuming the mare is good about it) is another good idea in my book.

This could all be in my head however–completely anicdotal.

[Ajierene]

Someone loaned me this book: http://www.robertmmiller.com/boimtr.html

It is old and some thoughts are a bit outdated, but it has a lot of useful information. The book also goes into the differences between habituation, desensitizing and oversensitizing. It also gives tips on training horses so that their future discipline is easier.

I did do the initial ‘imprinting’ of my filly - or at least most of it - and she is generally a nice weanling now. I also did additional training - my trainer haltered her and led her to and from the field when she was a day old, up until I came back from being away with work. Then I took over, and she’s had clippers on her, been fly sprayed, groomed, feet messed with, etc. The farrier has mentioned that she is much better than a lot of other foals he deals with.

I will say that a filly I was given as a gift had about the same personality/willingness to do whatever the person wanted. I got her when she was 10 months old and she was not handled at all prior to that - her and the colt she came with were run into the barn for feedings, never touched or handled. The colt she came with was very distrusting and not willing to hang out with the people the way the filly was.

So, in my opinion, imprinting/handling can make a horse like that colt easier to handle, but does not matter with horses like my two fillies.

[Home_Again_Farm]

I think that the point a number of us were trying to make is that handling is important, but that we do not believe in Robert Miller’s theories regarding heavy duty handling within hours of birth that is covered in the book that the previous poster linked to. I had that book, as well as Miller’s video and I found over time that there was no difference between foals that got the Miller routine and foals that were simply well handled. Miller himself emphasizes that if his method is not done to the letter and thoroughly it will actually have a reverse effect. Between that and the potential to interfere with mare/foal bonding, I do not believe in his methods. I prefer good, basic, consistent handling.

[Signature]

[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;6167277]
This. Years ago I “imprinted” a couple. It was a waste of time. Just good, thorough handling, putting a halter on, teaching to lead, trailering with mom to the repro clinic, baths, feet, grooming, etc. between birth and weaning does the trick. :yes:[/QUOTE]

Ditto this!! We found no difference between “imprinting” and not… and found mares would rather just bond with baby rather than have someone in there molesting it…

[RougeEmpire]

Toss the imprinting book out the window. I assume your mare will not be foaling out on “the north fourty” and will instead be handled and stabled on a regular basis. You handle baby when you handle mom. This is how most big TB breeding farms do it. Yes they check over babe when it pops out (basic vet eval) then leave mom and baby alone. Babies get handled going in and out, learn lead from the first day of turn out and learn the “ropes” so to speak by taking their que from Mom. “Imprinting” is for birds, not horses.

I think people get all into “imprinting” because they want to “baby” the foal and want it to act like a puppy or a child. I say let it be a foal and let MOM (it’s REAL mom) teach Babe all the life lessons a young horse needs to know. Your job is to be there and “teach” Baby new things slowly.

[acottongim]

I agree - I just “do stuff” with my foals. They get halters, they are led to and from, they occassionally have to go to shows in hand (gasp lol) and for that have to be bathed, braided etc, they are taught to pick up their feet and stand for grooming, I run clippers around them, I take them for walks, if they are “spooky” about something they are introduced to that thing (a lead rope that is flicked to fast scares them? I will calmly flick the lead rope all around them and over them - not beating them, just flicking it over their back etc, a tarp scares them? they have to go to the tarp and see that scary thing etc), I make sure that they don’t get away with things just because they are cute and babies - they can learn that it is not ok to bite or kick and that they can stand for 2 mins to have a brush run over them, or that it is not ok to try and gallop away when they are being led etc. I DON’T over sensitise them to things (I don’t subscribe that a scary tarp has to be worn for example) but my horses are used to stuff. If I don’t make it a big deal, they don’t make it a big deal. So far they have all been super easy to start under saddle and are half way broke by the time it gets to that point.

Purplnpurpl… I have to laugh, I kiss my mare’s bellies every night when I am checking on them, so singing and hugging them seems perfectly alright to me!

[Samotis]

They are at my house and will have access to pasture and stall all day. So I can lead them around in arena and do all the halter and leading stuff every day.

I am impressed they did a study and actually surprised that it didn’t make a difference.

My 4 year old is pretty bombproof but like I said about his mane, he is a butthead to braid. So I wanted to try to avoid that with the next baby and do anything I can to make it easier for me as the foal gets older!

Keep the info coming!

[JustThatSimple]

Habits or pet peeves you dislike in a horse- focus on with positive handling.

My JTB filly is fabulous, crossties, braids, is polite, doesn’t mind her mane being pulled, is polite for walking in and out, and works in hand pretty quietly.

I’m quite small and insist on good ground manners- like previously mentioned be firm and repeat as these are creatures of habit. The braiding is a personal pet peeve of mine as a professional braider so I will do the odd braid here and there when I’m grooming, braid her tail and undo it. But also remember give him/her time to just be a baby

[Home_Again_Farm]

None of mine have objected to mane pulling later on because as babies I’d pluck a hair or two now and again and then give lots of good scratches.

Also, I am into leaning over the little one and scratching on the other side down low on their belly. Baby step to rider above them and girth on.

Use your imagination. This sort of thing is limitless. Most important to be casual about it, keep it very short, and always give positive reinforcement - scratches and itches are what all babies love.

[libgrrl]

@Hunter’s Rest,

Nancy Diehl was involved in the imprinting study at Penn State. The Horse talks about it in this article:
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=6493

[rodawn]

It’s a fine line between handling and interfering with the mare-foal bonding process.

I get as much handling on the foal as I can in the precious minutes they are both still laying down - i.e. I use my towel-time as my chance to touch the foal all over it’s face, ears, nose, and mouth, body, feet and legs, talk to the foal, let him/her sniff me, etc. 3 of my mares tend to stay down for quite a while, so I get a really good opportunity to meet the foal. But, once the mare gets up to lick and tend to the foal, then I get out of the way. That’s her time.

Mare and foal MUST bond - it’s priority number one. So I never interfere with any attempts of the foal to get up, or to the mare to do her motherly thing.

The only time I may stick around is if I have an over-anxious maiden mare who is acting a bit scared or unsure of the process and then I will help her out, encourage her, and show her to stand still for the foal to nurse and encourage her to sniff and lick and do those necessary mommy things. But then as soon as the intincts start in and she starts to show some initiative (and it never takes all that long), then I’m out the door and observing outside the stall.

I am in and out rather frequently over the first 24 hours to check on mare, feed, usually the foal starts coming toward me to say hello and it doesn’t take the foal long to figure out I am particularly useful for all those hard-to-reach scritchy places. The halter is introduced very quickly as is handling the legs and if mare is particularly comfortable with me (and all of mine are, actually), and foal is laying down, I sometimes snuggle in with the foal too.

I LOVE those babies and this baby-stage is really my cup of tea.

[starrunner]

I had Miller’s book and while I don’t “imprint”, I did handle the filly a bit when she was a newborn. Dam was a good mother and didn’t mind/seemed to appreciate some interference. Mare just wanted some more food. :yes:

As for the filly, I’m sure the frequent handling later really did help, but I did notice one behavior from the “imprinting” session that stuck. I did the thing where you gentle handle the head and neck and allow the foal to bend it to the side, etc (like the image on the cover of his book). Now, as an almost yearling, she still does that behavior. I never did that exercise again when she was a suckling, so who knows what stuck into her little pea brain when she was a newborn.