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Imprinting Newborn Foals Spring has sprung and with it comes a new crop of foals. Some foals will be subject to a new handling practice immediately following birth called, “Imprinting.” As with so many other “new” techniques, this practice was known to other cultures for many years. Whether or not these foals will be better off for the “imprinting” or not will rest primarily with the skill of the person doing the imprinting Traditionally, it was always assumed best to leave a mare and foal alone for the first several hours after birth to allow them to bond together and “let nature take its course.” Recently however, we are beginning to understand that there is a window of opportunity immediately following birth to permanently affect the relationship between the foal and humans. This imprinting process was recently made popular by The foal is born with a completely mature nervous system. In the first 24 to 48 hours after birth he is taking in and processing all of the stimulus around him. Keep in mind that in the wild, a foal’s survival depended on his ability to get to his feet quickly and be able to run from predators. His instincts must develop very quickly. The very first hour after birth is the most critical for imprinting. When imprinting, the foal is held lying down and rubbed all over with a soft towel. Then the head is rubbed between the ears, inside the ears, around the eyes and muzzle and inside the mouth. The legs are flexed until there is no resistance to manipulating them and the bottoms of the feet are thumped repeatedly (about 20 - 50 times). A finger is placed in the rectum so he will not be traumatized later if an enema is needed or you need to take his temperature. The key to all this is that the foal is held still and the stimulus (rubbing) is continued until the foal is completely relaxed and quite before moving to the next part of the body. This process can be repeated with a plastic garbage bag, jar of marbles, or cordless running clippers (without clipping any of the hair). The halter is put on and off several times. The entire process should take about 1 hour, after which time the foal is left alone with its mother. The process is then repeated in shorter sessions once or twice a day for at least the first three days and up to two weeks. These following sessions are just to strengthen the lessons; the imprinting has already taken place. It has also been recommended to repeat the process just before weaning. The first concern with this procedure is disturbing the bond between the mare and foal. Imprinting should not begin until the mare has had time to smell and begin licking the foal. It is felt by many that since the newborn foal naturally takes about an hour from birth to first nursing, imprinting during this time is not interfering with that time frame. Some “experts” do recommend waiting until the foal is dry to begin imprinting. Others feel that is missing the most opportune moment. During imprinting, the foal should be kept at the mare’s head and the mare should have her own handler present. Many mares reject their babies because they are afraid of them. Seeing the baby being handled calmly and having a handler present with the mare may actually help the bonding in such a case. Other mares may become very anxious as their foals struggle to be free so it is important that the mare has her own handler during the process. Remember the foal must be held until it is completely calm and relaxed before letting it go. The second concern with this procedure is that whatever happens during this time will be forever imprinted on the foal. If the foal struggles free of the handler, it will be forever conditioned to struggle and resist until it gets free. Some foals are so strong they require two people to hold them down for the process, some do not put up much resistance at all, but you must be prepared for a struggle and not give in. If any stimulus is stopped before the foal becomes completely relaxed about it, the foal will be forever super sensitive to that stimulus. Imprinting is unlike any other type of training in its lasting effects on the horse. It is not a substitute for later training, but if done correctly will make all future training much easier and more pleasant. If done incorrectly it will result in a foal that can not be trained and will never be usable as a mature horse. A third concern is that the foal will lose so much of it’s natural instincts that it will be handicapped for life. A horse needs the instincts of flight or fight for survival, even in our modern world. It is also these instincts which allow us to teach the horse to move forward on the lunge line or when we apply leg aids. The danger here is that the handler will try to desensitize the foal to so many things in the imprinting process that the horse becomes totally tuned out and is unresponsive as a mature horse. In most cases mares are very good at having their foals when they somehow know they are not being observed. In a perfect situation, the mare prefers to deliver on her own, in private, and by the time we find them the foal is normally up, dry and nursing. Handling the newborn as soon as possible and using the techniques of holding the foal still until completely relaxed (with momma right next to him), handling the legs, feet, ears, mouth, rubbing him all over and introducing him to the halter at a very young age seem very practical. It is amazing how strong a foal is at birth, and how much stronger they become every day! Whether this handling a few hours after birth will be true imprinting or just early habituation training, operant or classical associative learning, or simply desensitizing is not all that important. Young foals are very quick learners and the sooner they are handled the sooner they will learn that humans are an intricate and dominant member of their herd family. However, it is said that a properly imprinted foal will leave it’s mother’s side in the pasture to approach the human that imprinted with it. Now that would be one special bond! |
