The safest and most secure method to hold a foal in order to handle it is to place one arm around the chest below the foals neck and one hand on the underside of the base of the tail as close to the foals body as you can place it. Gently lifting the tail upward and restraining him with your other arm you should be able to gentle secure the foal.

For the first few times it may help to enlist the time of a friend, then while one of you holds the foal the other person can gently touch the foal, using soft strokes working from the ears to his feet but remember a little bit each handling don’t try and do everything on the one day. Most foals will love a scratch and rub so this handling business is not that hard as long as the foal has confidence in its handler.

Your aim is that you will have your foal happy to stand calmly and allow you to touch, run your hand down the legs to the hoof and to be able to pick up each foot one at a time and pat the bottom of the foot. We are great believers in introducing our young foals to the farrier at a very early age, so this handling goes a long way towards the foals’ attitude to farriers.

Remember to handle, touch, groom, stoke the foal on both sides of their bodies, everything you do on one side should be done on the other. We all get into bad habits of doing everything one-way! but at this young age of development again the aim is to finish off a confident foal, a happy foal now means a happier horse in years to come.

Introducing the halter, we prefer to do this in a large stable, just simply slip the halter and allow junior to spend some time getting used to it. Some people leave halters on their foals, we prefer not to take the chance that any horse especially a small foal will get hung up by the halter so no equine wears them out in a paddock or unsupervised. If you do decide to leave a halter on, always use a lightweight leather halter that will break if the horse snags it on something or gets a foot through it, never use a strong nylon halter or PVC one.

The easiest way to teach your foal to lead is to use a long lead rope, have a friend lead the mare, allowing the foal to follow. Walk alongside just holding the lead, the foal is following the mare so you are not  pulling it along. Once the foal will follow the mare, gradually move to the usual leading position alongside his front shoulder.

Don't get in a tug of war with any foal, if your foal wants to plant his feet and not move, using your long lead gently placed around the rump and above the hocks bringing it back up to over the withers, then as you ask gently with the lead from the halter apply some pressure on the bum rope so he knows to move forward, at the first try ‘lots of praising’. Then ask again and keep pressure on the bum rope until you get forward motion, rewarding each time before asking again.