Recently John Chatterton offered to run 3 day charity training clinic for Storm’s Sanctuary horses. John worked with 14 horses saved from slaughter, from new foals, yearlings, colts to 10-14 year old brood mares. John donated all of his time, training and proceeds from the clinic to the ongoing care and training of Storm’s Sanctuary’s […]

If there is one thing I have learned in my life with horses, it is that you never stop learning about them. Horse trainers and owners who have been working with horses all their lives will be the first people to tell you it is not possible to know everything about horses. Every horse is an individual with its own unique life experiences and there is no-one who can claim to have known every horse, or dealt with every problem that can arise.

The most experienced horse people can still make errors of judgement when purchasing a new horse and for those who are new to the world of horses, the path can be a dangerous one for both the purchaser and the horse.

The debate over straight load or angle load floats has been going on in Australia since the angle load float was introduced more than twenty years ago. They refer to testing in the USA proving your horse travels more comfortably, will not scramble and is safer than the conventional straight loading system.

I find it interesting that everyone I've asked to see the results of these tests have not been able to produce a copy. So who has done these tests and how old are they?

After much investigating I have managed to find results of a study that was conducted in 2000 by RAy Goer BVSc, MVSc, PhD, director of research and product development for Kentucky Equine Research in Versailles, Kentucky; Anne Rodiek, PhD of California State University; and Carolyn Stull, PhD of the University of California-Davis. (Published in the American Equus Magazine in the April 2000 edition).

When you can run your hand down a foals legs and it remains relaxed, (as described in the Early Foal Handling article) it's time to start picking up their feet. Put your hand underneath the fetlock joint and say "up" using a gentle pull and release.

As the foal takes the weight off that leg, stop and reward him and change sides. Don't try to get 100% effort straight away. You want to avoid frightening them as they may learn to snatch their foot away. The principle of this method is to teach the foal to relax and to balance itself as it picks up its legs.

The first and most important step for safely loading and transporting a foal is to teach him how to relax and accept being handled. Have a helper hold the mare on a halter just a few feet away from the foal.

It is important that the foal is facing the mare while you are doing the early training so they both feel secure and unthreatened. You next need to train your foal to walk forward by placing your arms in a cradle position around him (in front of his chest and behind his rump), taking care not to hold tightly.