nurse foal

Question
Hello, we just adopted a 2 month old filly that was a nurse foal (orphan) that has not been handled only to be put in and out of trailers.  We have her in a stall and when we approach her, she turns her butt to us and has kicked and bucked out with both feet.  Please tell me how to approach her the right way and get rid  of this behavior.   Thank you for your help! Pam

Answer
Your foal is behaving this way only out of a feeling of insecurity and fear. In her mind, she is physically in mortal danger. It sounds like her only experiences with people so far in her short life have not been positive & she has likely been pushed, pulled or physically lifted into what she perceives as a "cave" and moved from one place to another unfamiliar place.  She has not had much time to just be a horse.

Think of her as a foster child who has been moved from home to home without ever really building a trusting, loving relationship with anyone.  In your foal's case, she has perhaps not even had the opportunity to build a relationship with another horse.

Being in a stall increases her feeling of insecurity as she has not where to escape from the perceived threat.  Unfortunately, right now she sees people as the threat.  Be very soft in your body posture when you open the door.  Think of how you might approach a frightened 3 year old child - making yourself a bit smaller, using a soft voice, etc.  At first, just open the door and do not enter the stall.  Just stand quietly and make no effort to approach her - do not even extend your hand towards her.  Give her as much time as she needs to realize you are not entering the stall.  If you don't have a lot of time, just do this for 5 minutes several times a day rather than trying to do it all in one long sessions.  Many shorter sessions will be more effective.  For example, you can do it when you are putting her food in the stall.  Only when she finally turns to face you do you extend your arm very slowly, gently and low in the same way horses extend noses to each other in greeting when they first meet.  It is up to her to choose to come up and sniff your hand or not.  If she won't come that close, you can extend the length of your arm by holding a long whip (eg. dressage or lunge whip) Then, after she has sniffed your "arm extender", you can gently bring the whip up to her withers to give her a scratch.  She may not like this at first, so read and respect her response.  Do not push her too far.  Again, keep in mind how you would behave with a traumatized person who does not want to be touched. When she is accepting that level of touch, you can slowly & gently stroke the whip along other parts of her body - everywhere she will accept, but not her neck or head. Once she is accepting that level of touch, you can encourage her to come closer or she may allow you to come closer so you can do the same stroking with your hand instead of the whip.

If at any point during the sessions, she needs to leave allow her to do so.  Trying to restrain her in anyway will only increase her stress and her feeling that her life is in danger.  

Patience, empathy for her life experiences, and consistency in your behaviour are what are needed to help this baby horse learn to trust and respect people.