Care Of Foals

Since we are a stud aswell,
We deal with many foals!
And Here is how to care for them, and help!

Attention is the main key!
Make sure you're a familiar person in your foals life! Give them loads of attention!
Before we train we always make sure our foals know us well!

Another key point is...
Don't 'baby' the 'baby'!
Your foal will not learn if you keep letting it do stuff! If they rear or buck for no reason, don't just give them a pat! They won't learn!
Here at Wood-Marsh, we treat our foals with respect, and we use the praise method, praise when good, don't praise when bad, unlike the scold method!

If you have adopted the foal, or even if you haven't make sure your foal is always full and never desperately hungry! If you adopted the foal your taking on the mothering role, so they rely on you for milk!
At Wood-Marsh we feed the foals aswell sometimes, as it brings us closer to them!

When you start the training, start is a calm quiet area! Make sure its enclosed in case the foal panics and runs off! Start by making them walk and possibly trot, after a few weeks get them cantering!

Before you start any race/jump training get them familiar with scary objects!
We like to introduce them to cars, trailers, big bales of hay etc!

When you start jump training, set up smaller objects!
And get them used to them!
We usually set up a cavaletti and get them walking over them!
Always provide encouragement, even jump it yourself!

After a while, let the foal off the line and let it trot and walk, possibly canter over it themselves,
They may not be 'jumping' but they are getting used to the jump, so its not scary!
We always make sure they're supervised, because at suck a young age they are still quite dim!

Before you know it, your foal will start jumping! It may not be perfect! A little sharp, high, and a bit crooked, But they're jumping!!

Always remember that the foal isn't just designed for training!
Yes training may be excitable, but they still need basic care to keep them healthy!

Have Fun With Your Foal(: