Your Foal: Essential Training

Book excerpt: Is this book right for you? Please note: This is a training book; it is not a "care and feeding" book. See contents listing below. When choosing, you may also want to check out the reviews for my other books like "What I'd Teach Your Horse" and "What Is Wrong with My Horse?" Do you have a foal on the way? Maybe you've got a weanling who's growing like a weed but in need of training and possibly getting dangerous? Do you know what training is essential for baby horses, how to approach the work - and how much is too much? You have years till you can ride your colt or filly - but there's a lot of training that needs to be done in the meantime. They need to cooperate for the farrier, to stand near you politely, to be lead around the barn, to respect your space - they need to become a cheerful member of your family. This is your step-by-step guide; it shows you exactly what to do, what to look for and in what order. Train your foal to be safer and: - To respect you and your space - To deal with fear - To lead and stand calmly - To begin "giving to pressure," the very foundation of all training If you were the first person to someday ride your weanling, would you feel safer if the colt did - or did not - have a proper foundation? Your Foal: Essential Training for the Weanling Horse is broken down into five "Days" or sessions. Table of Contents Section I: - Day One: Look At Me - Build Body Control - Day Two: Sacking Out and Desensitizing - Day Three: Halter Training Your Foal - Day Four: Leading a Horse: Colt Basics - Day Five: Cleaning Horses: Bathing Your Foal Section II: - Teach Your Horse to Stand Tied - Horses That Bite (Most young horses will try this once - here's how to "nip it" in the bud.) - Pick Up Your Feet - When I Point! - Sidepassing to You On the Ground - Teach Your Horse to Come to You Based on the gentle and proven techniques of John Lyons, "Days" 1-5 teach your horse to respect your space, to deal with fear, to stand calmly and to begin "giving to pressure." Section II contains additional "how-to" that you'll need at this stage in your young horse's life. I call the individual segments "days" but you'll take this work at a speed that's comfortable for both you and your foal. While you'll fly through some "days," others will necessarily require that you spend more time to really nail the material. You might want to split it up over days, weeks or months.. It's completely up to you - after all, you've got years till he's big enough to carry that saddle or pull that cart! Each chapter gives you a plan, a goal, theory and homework. The whole thing might take you a week - and it might take you months. Every trainer's different, every foal is different. Regardless, when you arrive at the other side, you will have made significant progress in your foal's training and you'll be miles ahead when it comes time later to break him to saddle.