mean spirited foal

Question
Our foal was born 10 days ago. The mom was very protective, but by the end of day 1, we were able to slowly spend 70% of our day around them. The filly has never shown a desire to be near us and learned to pin her ears back by day 2. She also started kicking almost immediately. We handle her often, and practically every time we have to force her to let us. Today she started backing towards us kicking us to keep us at bay. She even backed with ears pinned to her mom when she wouldn't hold still! This is very disheartening. Our desires are to sting her with the crop, but our instincts tell me that will probably make things worse. Could she just be a mean spirited horse? We bought this mom pregnant 7 months ago. Please help before we lose any more time! Thank you!

Answer
Dear Terry,
awww its a baby!! cangradulations! shes very young, she doesnt know whats going on. All she knows is her mom and you really dont look alike. if she tried to kick you smack her on the rump but not to hard, its the noise that scares them. If she tried to nip you flick her on the nose. Its more of a surprise then pain. Bringing out a crop will just make her even more mean tempered and scare her for life. some horses are just born ill tempered but the affection you show her now can change it. fillies adapt very well to different things. There are many methods of imprinting foals. one I have used is, be their best friend. try to play with them ( this even works in older horses) or just rub them and groom them. the other is show dominance like a horse. make them move around and respect you. since she is so young she may not understand this yet but its something you should do when shes older. ( maybe 6 months old, get back to me and well talk about the natural horsemanship training) for now you cant really do much. start hlter breaking and leading her soon, that way it shows her a sense that she cant out dominate you and that you are boss. this early in life will make the job alot easier for you. other then that show her how a humans touch can feel good, the sound of a sweet voice and the tastyness of a treat(whens shes alittle older) but also make sure she learns a stern voice and a slap on the rump, neck or flick on her nose. fllies are smart and they will pick things up fast. they are also scared easily and you dont want to do anything dramatic with her. get back to me if you have any more problems or new ones come up. Im interested in hearing about her progress. Good luck!
Amanda Groff