rearing & breaking orphans

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briarhalo
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rearing & breaking orphans

Postby briarhalo » Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:36 am

I know that there are some on this board who have had experience with raising orphans. I wanted to know if anyone has expereinced major difficulties with their breaking. I have heard that from various trainers that orphans can be particularly tough to break. I ask this because mine has been.....lol. I normally break my own horses but with him I sent him to someone I know and trust very well. I did this because my colt seems to think I am his biggest toy and was lacking in the respect department. Anyway, at one point he went over backwards on the fellow and hurt him. No, he wasn't sent home, the fellow finished the job on him and did an excellent job with him. There has been an issue or two with rearing while I have been on, but he hasn't gone over. Just wondering what others do or have done in this situation. Thanks in advance, Claire

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WarHorse
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Postby WarHorse » Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:54 pm

This can be a touchy topic, but I'm stupid, so here goes.

If you bottle-fed an orphan, you will (probably) have an uphill struggle unless you set some strict boundaries early on. Teaching babies is easy - even fun - if they have mom there for normal socialization. But if it is just you and baby, well, you have your work cut out for you.

(As a tangent - I've seen farm workers teach suckling colts to bite, and so create very much the same problem two years down the road...)

When a horse of any age rears, I do not jerk on the lead. This comes as a shock to some of them, and they decided that if the stupid human isn't going to play, there is no sense in initiating play. Ergo, the rearing stops.

Once, a suckling filly (who normally was well-mannered) reared and I just let her go over - on asphalt. She stood up, shook it off, then walked with me into the barn. Never acted silly again. FWIW.
And thou fly without wings, and conquer without any sword. Oh, horse. - The Qur'an