Arabian Horse World STUD FARM DIARIES
The Horses I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark. Evil air, a frost-making stillness, Not a leaf, not a bird — A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
by
Cindy
Reich
Teaching Weanlings
Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light. But the valleys were draining the darkness Till the moonrise — blackening dregs of the brightening grey — Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses: Huge in the dense grey — ten together — Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move,
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with draped manes and tilted hind-hooves, Making no sound. I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head. Grey silent fragments Of a grey silent world. I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge. The curlew’s tear turned its edge on the silence. Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun Orange, red, red erupted Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud, Shook the gulf open, showed blue, And the big planets hanging — I turned Stumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards The dark woods, from the kindling tops, And came to the horses. There, still they stood, But now steaming and glistening under the flow of light, Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves Stirring under a thaw while all around them The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound. Not one snorted or stamped, Their hung heads patient as the horizons, High over valleys, in the red levelling rays — In din of the crowded streets, going among the years, the faces, May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
— Ted Hughes, Lifelines 3, Dublin, Ireland: Town House, 1997.
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D I A R I E S
Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing curlews, Hearing the horizons endure. The foals were halter broken as babies, but now are “back in school” for a little while.
FA R M
162 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b NOVEMBER 2017
pick up a young foal’s foot is that they pull it really high up to the body. This frightens the foal and makes him feel out of balance so he fights and struggles. I have also had farriers pull a foal’s front leg laterally away from his body so they can lock it between their knees to trim the foot. When I see a farrier do
S T U D
ow that the foals are in from being weaned, there is a lot of work to be done in the barn. They will get a refresher course on being good citizens as we work with them. They were halter broken as babies, and the good news is that they have all retained that training. They didn’t wear halters while living out in pasture, but all were very good about having a halter put on them and walking up to the barn. The first thing noticed is that living out in pasture with other mares has put manners on several of the studdy colts. This is also one of the advantages of letting foals live outside with the mares in groups, as opposed to being in stalls or small paddocks on an individual basis. There was one very obnoxious colt who was teasing mares when he was two weeks old. He would jump on his mother who tolerated him, and there was no one to teach him good manners. Now that he has lived in a group, he has learned the hard way that jumping up on other mares gets one a swift kick in the chops. He is very respectful now, and has not shown the obnoxious and studdy behavior he was showing when turned out only with his mother. This is another reason that once the foals have been weaned, there is always a “granny” horse left in the pasture with them for security and to teach good manners. Although the babies all had their feet trimmed when they were around two months of age, they are now five and six months old and haven’t been trimmed since they were turned out. Their feet need attention, and we are working on teaching them to pick up their feet and stand for the farrier. Since they had some of this training as babies, most of them are coming around quickly, but the ones who were a challenge before being turned out are proving to still be a challenge now that they have come in. Repetition is the key to bringing them around. The biggest problem I have found with people (including farriers) who
that, they are out as a farrier for foals and young horses. Think about how wide a chest is on a foal and how wide it is on an adult horse. It is common practice to pull a mature horse’s front leg out and lock it between the knees to trim. However, it is way too difficult for young foals to stand balanced like that, and it frightens them as well. When the foal resists, it gets punished for simply trying to maintain its feet and its balance. So make sure the front leg is brought directly up under the foal’s body, and kept close to the ground. You would be surprised how easily the foal will stand when it is given some consideration. The same holds true for the hind legs. Never grab the hind leg and pull it straight out behind the foal’s body. (Yes, I have had farriers do this!) Cup the hand around the back of the hind leg and lift it up and forward. This way the foal learns to stand on three legs and does not become scared. Once the foal has learned this step, gently bring the leg out behind to trim the hoof. Everything has to be in small steps for these foals’ young minds to grasp. The next thing the foal learns is to stand tied. The foals have already learned to come away from pressure on the head. This makes standing tied much easier and safer for the foal. There are several ways to do this. Usually I take a few wraps of the lead rope around a post that is set in an open area without any obstacles nearby for them to run into. I leave enough slack for the foal to move around and be stopped by the rope, but not so long that the foal can put its head down and get a foot over the rope. Once the foal’s patience wears out, it generally will fight the rope. However, when it hits the end of the rope the foal always comes forward, rewarding itself for coming forward by the slackening of the rope. At this stage it is just a patience game, lengthening the amount of time the foal must stand quiet when tied. Occasionally a foal will throw
STUD FARM DIARIES by
Cindy
Reich
Teaching Weanlings
N
ow that the foals are in from being weaned, there is a lot of work to be done in the barn. They will get a refresher course on being good citizens as we work with them. They were halter broken as babies, and the good news is that they have all retained that training. They didn’t wear halters while living out in pasture, but all were very good about having a halter put on them and walking up to the barn. The first thing noticed is that living out in pasture with other mares has put manners on several of the studdy colts. This is also one of the advantages of letting foals live outside with the mares in groups, as opposed to being in stalls or small paddocks on an individual basis. There was one very obnoxious colt who was teasing mares when he was two weeks old. He would jump on his mother who tolerated him, and there was no one to teach him good manners. Now that he has lived in a group, he has learned the hard way that jumping up on other mares gets one a swift kick in the chops. He is very respectful now, and has not shown the obnoxious and studdy behavior he was showing when turned out only with his mother. This is another reason that once the foals have been weaned, there is always a “granny” horse left in the pasture with them for security and to teach good manners. Although the babies all had their feet trimmed when they were around two months of age, they are now five and six months old and haven’t been trimmed since they were turned out. Their feet need attention, and we are working on teaching them to pick up their feet and stand for the farrier. Since they had some of this training as babies, most of them are coming around quickly, but the ones who were a challenge before being turned out are proving to still be a challenge now that they have come in. Repetition is the key to bringing them around. The biggest problem I have found with people (including farriers) who
162 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b NOVEMBER 2017
pick up a young foal’s foot is that they pull it really high up to the body. This frightens the foal and makes him feel out of balance so he fights and struggles. I have also had farriers pull a foal’s front leg laterally away from his body so they can lock it between their knees to trim the foot. When I see a farrier do
The foals were halter broken as babies, but now are “back in school” for a little while.
The Horses I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark. Evil air, a frost-making stillness, Not a leaf, not a bird — A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light. But the valleys were draining the darkness Till the moonrise — blackening dregs of the brightening grey — Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses: Huge in the dense grey — ten together — Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move, with draped manes and tilted hind-hooves, Making no sound. I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head. Grey silent fragments Of a grey silent world. I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge. The curlew’s tear turned its edge on the silence. Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun Orange, red, red erupted Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud, Shook the gulf open, showed blue, And the big planets hanging — I turned Stumbling in the fever of a dream, down towards The dark woods, from the kindling tops, And came to the horses. There, still they stood, But now steaming and glistening under the flow of light, Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves Stirring under a thaw while all around them
In din of the crowded streets, going among the years, the faces, May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
— Ted Hughes, Lifelines 3, Dublin, Ireland: Town House, 1997.
163 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b NOVEMBER 2017
D I A R I E S
Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing curlews, Hearing the horizons endure.
FA R M
Their hung heads patient as the horizons, High over valleys, in the red levelling rays —
S T U D
The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound. Not one snorted or stamped,
that, they are out as a farrier for foals and young horses. Think about how wide a chest is on a foal and how wide it is on an adult horse. It is common practice to pull a mature horse’s front leg out and lock it between the knees to trim. However, it is way too difficult for young foals to stand balanced like that, and it frightens them as well. When the foal resists, it gets punished for simply trying to maintain its feet and its balance. So make sure the front leg is brought directly up under the foal’s body, and kept close to the ground. You would be surprised how easily the foal will stand when it is given some consideration. The same holds true for the hind legs. Never grab the hind leg and pull it straight out behind the foal’s body. (Yes, I have had farriers do this!) Cup the hand around the back of the hind leg and lift it up and forward. This way the foal learns to stand on three legs and does not become scared. Once the foal has learned this step, gently bring the leg out behind to trim the hoof. Everything has to be in small steps for these foals’ young minds to grasp. The next thing the foal learns is to stand tied. The foals have already learned to come away from pressure on the head. This makes standing tied much easier and safer for the foal. There are several ways to do this. Usually I take a few wraps of the lead rope around a post that is set in an open area without any obstacles nearby for them to run into. I leave enough slack for the foal to move around and be stopped by the rope, but not so long that the foal can put its head down and get a foot over the rope. Once the foal’s patience wears out, it generally will fight the rope. However, when it hits the end of the rope the foal always comes forward, rewarding itself for coming forward by the slackening of the rope. At this stage it is just a patience game, lengthening the amount of time the foal must stand quiet when tied. Occasionally a foal will throw
CINDY REICH PHOTO
CINDY REICH PHOTO
STUD FARM DIARIES continued
If it is possible to leave foals on the mare as late as five to six months, it is healthier for the foal, especially mentally.
a tantrum, but it is rare. However, foals that have not been taught to come away from pressure will, when tied, sit down, rear up, throw themselves over backward — whatever it takes to get away from the tie pole. I’ve seen foals hurt because they never learned to come away from pressure first, and I will never tie one until it has first mastered coming away from pressure. Since these foals are being used to teach students how to handle foals, I teach the students (and the foals) how to load in a trailer. Just like being tied up, a foal that has learned to come away from pressure on the head is quite easy to load on a trailer. A ramp is easier than a step-up trailer, but they can easily learn to navigate both. Simply keep the foal’s head always facing the trailer and ask them to come forward. Of course they will stop and look at the trailer — it’s scary! They will try to spin and run or will back up or try to evade it in some way. However, since they are well-trained citizens, they are easily brought back to the trailer. I let them explore it — dredge 164 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b NOVEMBER 2017
Foals that live in mare/foal groups learn manners from the other mares and become better behaved.
the floor with their muzzle, tap it with a foot, snuff and chew on it. As long as they face the trailer, the rope is slack. Any other direction and there is slight tension on the rope. Eventually they figure out that the most comfortable place to be is in the trailer! And that is key — it has to be their idea. You can’t force it. We never use a butt rope, or lock hands behind their hindquarters and shove them in. They have to make the decision to get on the trailer, and they do! I will also have the students practice leading foals over some cavaletti poles on the ground. This is a trust building exercise between handler and foal. Since the foals come immediately forward when asked, they generally give the pole a look and a sniff, and walk right over it. So now, at the age of six months, the foal is truly a good citizen — it will lead, load, and tie. It has the foundation now, that when asked to come back to the barn as a long two-year-old, it will be very easy to start longing and bitting up. Now that the foals are six months
old, it is also time to think about their health status. At approximately six months of age the foal’s immune system has formed. Up until this time, the foal has been working off of the antibodies it absorbed from its mother’s colostrum. Back in the old days, we started vaccinating foals at two months of age. We now know that that was wrong, and it basically had no effect. In order for the foal to start building up its own antibodies with its new immune system, six months is the age to start vaccinating. I have very strong feelings about vaccinating horses in general and foals specifically. I refuse to bombard the foal’s new immune system with a four-way, five-way, or six-way vaccine. I think that is overwhelming to a new immune system. So I vaccinate for things that will kill them — encephalitis, tetanus, West Nile, etc., but they get one or at most two vaccines at two-week intervals until they have received their first go-round of vaccines. Dr. Mark DePaolo has written some great articles on vaccines, and I agree with what he has to say. You can
check his articles on vaccination on his website, depaoloequineconcepts.com. In addition to vaccinations, it is also time to deworm the foals. Some of them are looking a bit pot-bellied and ribby, which are usually signs of a worm overload. The interesting thing is that I had fecal egg counts done on several foals from two different pasture groups. The counts were quite high on several foals — and not from the same groups. A heavy infestation is indicated when there are 200-500epg (eggs/gram). Some of the foals were as high as 1,200epg, which would explain the pot-bellies and ribby look. However, it isn’t a given that a high egg count follows if the foal looks rough. Some of the foals are sleek and fat and also have high counts. All of the mares were dewormed before they went back out to pasture without their foals. After the foals are given a few weeks to get adjusted, they are dewormed. Due to the high egg counts on several, the grooms were instructed to watch the foals very closely for several days. This
is because if a foal (or horse) has a heavy worm infestation, when you kill all of the worms at once by deworming, it can make them colic. Sure enough, 48 hours after deworming, two foals, each from a different group, were lying down after being brought in from turn-out. One was spread out flat on the ground, miserable. The other was just quiet, lying on his chest, but bright and engaged. Both had normal temperatures, good gut sounds, good color, and were well hydrated. Both were passing manure, but just weren’t feeling good. They were treated with some pain reliever and both were acting normal within 45 minutes, eating and feeling much better. However, if their symptoms had been missed, their pain may have developed into something more serious. Finally, while the foals are up in the barn, even though they are turned out in paddocks during the day, I start them on ulcer medication. It is a whole different life for them for the next few months, and there is a high likelihood that they
are forming ulcers. Once their “primary school” is over, they will go back out to pasture until they are two years old, to live as horses should. Eating grass all day long will stop them from having ulcers. Living outside and running and playing will allow them to run off all of their excess energy. Since they have a good grounding now, when we go out periodically to deworm, trim feet, or anything else, they will be easy to catch and work with. November is turkey and trimmings, time with family, and snow (if I were still in Colorado). It is weird having sun and mild temperatures this time of year. That is likely why the foals have higher egg counts here than I have experienced before. In cold climates where you get a hard freeze much of the year, it exterminates the parasites for part of the year and breaks up their life cycle. In these warmer climates that is not the case. So for those of you in colder climates — celebrate the snow and cold to come!
CINDY REICH PHOTO
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D I A R I E S
CINDY REICH PHOTO
S T U D After living out in pasture, coming up to the barn can be stressful for a weanling. Be aware that they can develop ulcers.