There's nothing more traumatic than halter breaking a foal. We've been using a trained Jenny (female donkey) to do this for many years, as the foals are much more amenable to following her around than they are a human. We leave a Jenny in with our mares and foals, so the foals are familiar with her. She keeps dogs and coyotes out of the pasture and all the horses rely on her to be their protector, so the foals are not afraid of her. Most people don't have enough horses to justify owning a Jenny, and trained Jennies cost a lot of money, so we'll go at this from a different angle for the average back-yard owner.

In the event that you're into imprinting your foal when it's born, and have it haltered within 3 days after birth, then you've probably already pulled it around every day, following mom, and that's the easiest way to halter break one. Have one person lead the mare and another person carefully handle the baby, pulling carefully on the lead rope and encouraging the foal to follow it's mother. Some people use a "butt-rope" around the foals hindquarters and pull on it as well as the halter lead to encourage the foal to move forward. Hopefully your mare is broke to ride, and when the foal is about thirty or forty days old, you can gently ride the mare at a walk and pull the baby along with the lead rope as you go. Foals will generally follow their mothers easily when they are young.

The hardest foals to halter break are the older ones who have not been handled much at all. Take your time, and have plenty of patience. Quick moves, or aggressive behavior can trigger a negative response that can lead to rearing and falling over backwards. Foals are easy to injure, as they hurt themselves trying to flee a frightening situation, which is a natural instinct. With older foals, we will drive them up into our stocks, which are high and safe, and take our time, putting a baby halter on them. Make sure the halter fits comfortably. Not loose. You don't want them to scratch and ear and catch their foot in a loose halter. We clip a nylon lead shank on the halter and let it hang down. We use nylon, rather than cotton, as the cotton is too flexible and can get tied into a knot around a back or front leg. After the halter and lead shank are attached, we let the foal loose in a safe paddock. Each time they step on the lead shank, it pulls their head down, and teaches them to give to a pulling motion. They are using their own body weight to accomplish this feat and since no human is pulling on them, at this point in time, they don't get frightened. After several days of living with this arrangement, we catch hold of the lead shank, and gently pull the foal to the left and then to the right. Hopefully they are gentle enough for us to walk up to and reward with a good scratch on the withers and a pat on the neck for encouragement.

A soothing voice and lots of gentle persuasion builds needed confidence.

To be continued...

Halter Breaking | Foal Workout | Feeding To Win | Grooming | Castrate by Moon Signs
Weaning by Moon Signs | Starting Horses Under Saddle | Horse Insurance Tips