Training Your Foal

by Renate Ettl

The way a horse is trained and treated in its first two years--along with its inborn traits--determines how it will behave for the rest of its life. This book is full of useful information about the physical, behavioral, and mental development of the young horse and sets out the correct way of training a horse to be responsive, safe, and enjoyable to ride.

Training Your Foal contains all the essential knowledge, tips, and suggestions to ensure the successful training of your foal,

Imprint training
First learning steps
Learning with mother
Weanlings and yearlings
First public appearances
Sexual maturity
Weaning the foal
Problems of adolescence
Obedience and discipline
First gymnastic exercises
First mounting the young horse
And more

This is truly an invaluable reference book for all horse owners, horse breeders, and anyone rearing a foal.

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how this book is broken down! The first part is dedicated to breeding, the mare's care, birth. The next section is the newborn foal's training, basics, how long you should do each exercise, and how often. Weanling, yearling, two year old, and three year old. She even goes over early backing, when and if and how much you can do. It was all very informative and factual. The only thing I can complain about is the undercurrent of fear on the trainer's part. I agree that you should absolutely respect the horse and their power, but fear should not be a part of training. Especially when it comes to babies, establishing dominance will be key when you start introducing new and scary things to them. I appreciated the fact that she talked about building up the baby's muscles before putting them through any rigorous exercises. This was a great read. Four out of five stars to Training Your Foal.