foal training

Question
Our mare gave birth to a colt two weeks ago and as horse oners for less than 1 year who purchased a pregant mare without knowing it we are not very experienced.  Our vet is an older gentleman that told us to leave the pair alone for the first week to bond.  We have since discovered that we should have handled him more and now we can't get near him. He is about 140 lbs and has kicked me in the stomach, arms and most recently put me on crutches when he injured my knee badly. What can we do to be able to work with him?  We can;t even get a foal halter on him, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Robin

Answer
lol hi robin. arnt foals cute???
well i personally believe one hour after a foal is born you should touch it and handle it. at day two you should put a halter on it and handle it. go in the stall and if it tries to kick you smack it and say quit. dont smack it hard just enough to surprise the colt. get a few people in the stall and get a halter on the little boy and hold him. just touch him and rub him all over. do this as much as you can, rust me it will pay off later. also pick up his little feet and get him used to that. it is also good to stand over him with one leg on each side of his body. kinda like you are riding him but your not sitting on him. this will get him used to peaple in that range of vision and he will remember it when he is older. talk your mae out for walks and let the littleguy get some excerise. this will also help to handle him because he wont have so much energy. with being inexperienced i would suggest you should get a book or dvd on how to raise a young foal. this way you can see other training tips and ways to handle him. oh and a big suggestion is geld him as soon as he turns 6 months. if not you will have allooot of hard work, biting, and kicking to deal with. te less you handle him the worse he will be. work with him 2-3 times a day just petting him and rubbing him. anything you can think of, do. good luck!
amanda groff