foal misbehavior

Question
I have a 3 month foal colt still nursing his mare.Today the farrier came to give his first shots. I worked hours to halter him without success. He wants to bits and kick. The farrier had to tackle him to the ground while he tried to bite and kick. The farrier says we have to "break" him of this behavior. He put "Joe" in the round pen to remain separated from his mother and the 4 other horses for 2 weeks. He's been eating grain and hay, so the weaning shouldn't be a problem. What do you think of this training method? The farrier is a horseman who says Joe has a mean streak we must correct now. He's been pacing and crying for his mother for hours.

Answer
Janeen,

First off, Joe should be wearing a foal halter all the time at this age.  Then you have the tab on the bottom to grab him with.  He's younger than I like to wean them but he should have had enough handling to not have problems handling him.  I handle and lead my babies every day.  As far as kicking and biting, if someone tackled me I would do the same!  He scared the hell out of him!  He needs some basic ground work which it doesn't sound like he's had.  I assume he's had his feet trimmed, but you need to groom him, handle his feet, teach him to tie, and have him responding to vocal commands on a lead. Your farrier is one who wants to "force" horses to do what he wants them to do.  Kindness and patience go a long way to getting cooperation from youngsters.  And make them much kinder horses when they grow up if they aren't manhandled as youngsters.  

Now you have to go back to the beginning to get Joe to trust you again.  Fortunately babies are much more trusting than adult horses.  Treats will go a long way to smooth things over at a time like this.  I know, lots of people say don't hand feed them.  I make the rules when I start - no grabbing, no nipping or pushing - so it's never an issue.  You were also jumping the gun a little on shots too.  I don't give shots until the end of their 4th month.  Their immune systems are not really mature enough to give a good response to the vaccination before that.  A couple of studies I read did indicate pretty good response by 4-5 mos.  

So, if Joe is still in the round pen he's probably quit crying by now.  I let the mares pretty much wean the babies unless there is a problem with a foal.  I've had colts jumping on their mom's (that gets them separated immediately), or had a problem with the mare that I had to separate them.  My mares and babies are out with the rest of the horses to socialize the babies and they pretty much wean themselves.  I just put the mares back to work, take them out and ride them and leave the baby with the other horses to baby sit.  Babies don't really miss mom and we start with short periods then build on that.  

Go back to basics with Joe.  Keep a halter on him all the time, or a collar if you don't want to have a halter on him, but something you can grab him with.  Groom him, fuss over him, make friends with him.  Good horses are made, they aren't born that way.  Just like human children they have to be trained/learn what is expected of them and what is/is not acceptable behavior.  And just like kids, they want to please.  I've never run into a horse with a mean streak;  just ones made that way by mishandling/manhandling by man.

Let me know how this goes.

Lyn