I was reading an article by a horse trainer and breeder who espoused their belief that horses make much better horses if they are allowed to run with other horses from foaling to the breaking in stage with minimal handling from people in between. Years ago a veterinarian told me he believed horses should be left alone until they are about three years old. Another trainer I know once told me that they liked to handle foals from an early age, but only about once a month and no more. And there is the camp of believers who feel we should be handling and training our foals as early and as often as possible.
The one thing all these practices have in common is the idea that they result in horses being better horses for us to work with.
People who feel horses should be left with the bare minimal handling/training tend to believe Mother Nature will teach them to be a horse. I’m not quite sure what it means, “to be a horse” because I don’t know any definition that excludes some horses from being horses. However, Mother Nature can only do its job if the young horse lives with other horses in a natural environment. Just keeping human intervention out of the picture alone while the horse lives in a relatively isolated and unnatural environment will not do anything towards helping the horse be a horse.
On the other hand, people who think we should start early with training young horses believe it makes the eventual transition into a training program easier.
I’m a “have my cake and eat it” kind of bloke. I think both are correct in their premise, but not necessarily how they go about it.
I do agree that handling horses from an early age is wise, provided it is done well. I have said before that in my opinion the two most traumatic experiences a horse suffers in life are weaning and breaking in. Both represent major changes in their life without any understanding of why it is happening to them. I have previously written how weaning can be made easier by a slow and gradual separation of the foal from its mother rather than to be abruptly taken away. Likewise, it makes good sense to me that we can make the transition to being a riding horse as easy as possible by ensuring a horse is already comfortable getting along in a human world before the process begins.
I believe in handling foals in the first few days of life and regularly thereafter. I’m not talking about work, but simply slowly getting them comfortable around humans and include some very basic handling skills, such as catching, leading, picking up feet, touching all over, trailer loading and tying up. I would attempt to get a good handle on these tasks as early as possible. In the months and years ahead I would add and build upon these basics in a thorough way so that when it came it time to ride for the first time it would be as unchallenging as I could make it – a virtual non-event.
The second reason for this is more practical. You never know when you might be forced to do something with a foal. For instance, it may need to be trailered to a vet hospital for surgery or it may require corrective hoof work. We do the young horse no favours by waiting until it is urgent before teaching it these basic handling skills.
What I don’t want is to a raise a horse that has lived virtually feral for 3 years and then suffers the trauma of not understanding why he suddenly has to live by new rules when we begin working with it.
So what about the view of letting them grow up learning to be a horse?
I agree with that too. But I don’t see a conflict. I don’t think it should be one or the other. My horses have to get along with people, but they also have to get along with other horses. They spend plenty of time in both worlds, so they need the skills that allow them to thrive in both worlds.
Firstly, young horses should grow and mature in a herd environment in order to learn horse behaviour and etiquette. Young horses are just like humans in the unrefined way they behave, the way they communicate and their crude social manners. It’s only by mixing with other horses and learning how to avoid getting their arses kicked does their understanding of how to get along in the world become clear. Only other horses can teach horse behaviour to a horse.
Secondly, I believe there is a link between the physical maturity, balance, and coordination of a horse and the physical activity at a young age. When foals are together they play. In part, this is helpful in learning the rules of socialization, but just as importantly it aids in horses developing the athletic skills we want them to have later on. The exercise helps develop muscle and bone strength and the antics contribute to balance and coordination.
I’d like to add that if your situation does not enable your young horse to live in a herd, then you had better do some good handling from the start. If it does not have other horses to teach it how to yield to someone else’s rules, then it will need to get an early introduction of the concept from you to avoid the risk of starting a war of wills when training begins.
In my mind, the ideal set-up has young horses living in a herd while at the same time being educated in the ways of humans by good handling on a regular basis.
It really is just common sense that we should do our best to prepare a horse for what is ahead. I don’t understand the dogma of leaving horses virtually untouched until we are ready to put them to work. We send our children to school before we send them into the workforce.
Michèle is helping a horse learn early in life that people can be the source of comfort and safety (and bum scratches).