crazy foal

Question
i have just bought a cob foal about 8 months old, have turned her out with my older mare but the foal panics when she is taken away or out of site of my old horse. i tried to shut the foal in a stable whilst i rode my other horse and it escaped through a window five foot off the ground. she is easy to catch and groom and will lift her feet. i have only had her 5 days. any ideas ?

Answer
Sonia-

Your new foal has probably been through a lot lately.  At eight months she was probably recently weaned from her mother and is going through some anxiety about that.  Now she is at a new barn with new horses so she is probably even more scared and anxious and has latched on to your older mare for comfort.

If possible, I would not recomend shutting the foal in the barn while you ride.  Besides getting through the window, she could get really hurt.  There are a couple options I would try:
1.  If you have two pastures next to each other, you might want to seperate the horses for at least a few hours a day.  This way your foal gets time apart but can still see the older mare.  Only do that if the pastures are near each other and have safe fencing.
2.  Try riding your mare in an area with the foal.  She will probably follow you and your mare at first, but she will gradually get to where she walks away and grazes or plays.  As long as both horses are good with that, its a good option because it also gets the foal used to the idea of a person riding a horse.
3.  Ride near the pasture where the foal is.  Let the foal see the mare the entire time.  She will call out and run up and down the fence, but she will gradually get over it.  Again, just make sure the fence is safe.  If she got out a window that is truely five feet off the ground she might try to get over the fence.  So you might want to make your rides shorter, but more frequent for a short time.
4.  Your foal is too young to do any real physical training.  However she may benefit from some really basic stuff like rubbing her down with a saddle blanket or plastic bags.  You can work on leading and backing.  She is way to youg to do any lunging or load bearing work.  Because her bones are so young I would not do anything that is faster than a walk.  However, giving her some training time may help focus some of her young energy and make her calmer.

If any of this doesn't halp or you have more questions please let me know.
Michael Hockemeyer