GETTING TO KNOW YOU! Befriending the foal (1)

How to make friends with a foal on his terms and establish the best possible relationship ... 

In the beginning
When a foal is born, he is naturally scared of people.  Instinct tells him that we are not of his kind and he needs to be suspicious.  In fact, at first, he is suspicious of just about anything that isn't his mother.  At the same time, he is endowed with natural curiosity. 

Before we can make friends with the foal, we must have the trust and confidence of the mother.  If she runs away from us, the foal will go too.  Luckily, most domesticated mares are friendly.  Nonetheless, we must still keep her on side.

Noddy is just a few days old.  He hasn't been touched yet.  His Mum, Trixie is friendly enough, but to keep her in the same place for a little while, she is given a small, daily bucket.

In this way, Noddy begins to get used to our coming and going.  He sees that Trixie has no fear of us and this is his first lesson.  For the first two or three days then, the bucket is placed on the ground, we stand back and let Trixie quietly munch her way through it.

No attempt is made to touch the foal.  First, we want him to just get used to our presence.  As long as we don't come in too close, he is happy with our being there.

The first move

The first move is made when the time feels right.  A moment always presents itself.  Jess stretches out a hand for Noddy to sniff.

Notice his cautious, splay-legged stance.  He's not sure about this, but curiosity gets the better of him.  The hand doesn't move.  Neither does the body behind it. 

Things that don't move are less threatening.  Trixie, his Mum is entirely unconcerned.  Noddy decides to take the risk, stretch out his neck and take his first sniff of a human hand.  That done, he retreats to think about it.

This is enough for one day.  Next time, he will be less cautious.  No harm came from the experience.  The first seeds of trust and confidence have been sown.

Make yourself smaller
Another useful trick is to make yourself smaller by kneeling, squatting or sitting on the ground.  Like things that don't move, the smaller an object the less threatening and the more likely to invite an investigation.

Having made the first approach and been found acceptable, Jess kneels down close by and waits for Noddy to come to her.  Trust is building all the way.

As long as Jess remains very slow and quiet in her movement, Noddy doesn't run away.  Before long, Jess is able to place a hand on his neck and rub it gently.  From there, very slowly and quietly, she moves her hand over his back and lets it rest there.

Having first gone through all the initial stages to reinforce the learning so far, Jess lets him wander away when he's had enough, but kneels right down on the ground to provoke his curiosity.

Before long, he's back, wondering what she is doing now.  Jess sits still and does nothing.  Once again, Noddy adopts the stance of caution.  With his front legs splayed and his neck stretched long, he comes in close to investigate.

"Hmmm" he says, "What's this?" as he nibbles Jess's hair.  He soon finds out it is not good to eat.  

We now have a foal who is beginning to show real trust and confidence.  Until now, no harm has come from anything Jess has done.  This is the way we intend to keep it!

Trixie has finished her bucket, but loosely held on a lead-rope, she is happy to hang around.  Her close proximity and complete lack of anxiety allows Noddy to pursue his investigation.

Now, he hardly hesitates.  This curious 'object' that appears on two legs and then gets smaller holds no fear.  You can see how close he is, a sure sign of his trust and confidence. 

Emboldened, he continues sniffing about and nuzzling.  "Surely" he thinks, "there must be something good to eat here!" 

Jess doesn't move.  She sits quietly and lets Noddy continue his investigation, enjoying the contact he makes with her.  This is a two-way game.  The more that Baby can do on his own terms, the better it is for all of us.

Confident now that he can investigate as much as he likes, Noddy checks out the rear.  There might be something different round here.  In any case, he wants to get the feel of the whole 'object'.

How he has progressed from the timid little foal who could not be touched to one who boldly goes where perhaps foals shouldn't go!  Too much climbing around over a person kneeling or sitting on the ground is not to be encouraged.  He must also learn respect.

Noddy skips off for a while, to absorb this latest development, but he's back before Trixie has even finished her bucket.  He's curious.  What strange goings on - but they are not unpleasant.

Jess stands around and waits.  Before long, he comes close enough to touch.  Without kneeling down, she reaches out and lays her hand on his back.  As you can see, he is now completely fearless and simply inspects this person standing over him.

From here, touching and handling is consolidated whenever the opportunity presents itself.  We have three full years to thoroughly make his acquaintance.  There is no need to rush anything.