Cautious/Afraid colt.HELP?

Question

i have a yearling colt(not gelding until apropriate age)

hes very cautious with people.

he moves away when you go in his stall

tho he loves the attention he still seems afraid?

any ideas how to get him over this?

also hes afraid of loud sounds.

Answer 1

Hi, I took on a 5 month old colt a few years ago. He was wild and straight off the hills. Not terrified of people, but definately wary and saw no reason to trust either. When I first wanted to pick out his hooves, ofcourse he had no idea what I was asking! I popped his field companion outside his stable, picked out his feet, then brought Farran out. He had seen, and understood! I then went on to play with him in the indoor school with a mini pressure halter, just running, stopping, backing up, and starting off when I did. I then took him for walks everywhere. When I put rugs on, I start as I mean to carry on, and swung the rug over him, did it up, that was that! He didn't know what to do, but figured out that I had done it, therefore it was ok! That was my first realisation that he trusted me. He ended up so people friendly that he remains a stallion to this day, residing with my very good friends in Spain, taking children out riding and in a cart.....he was welsh section A!!! lol

Hope my story helps you out, and good luck.

Answer 2

Time.  Spend lots of time with him.  He will become less afraid the more you handle him.

Answer 3

Continue to work with him and he will get over certain things.  IT is normal for a colt/horse to jump at loud sounds.

Answer 4

He's a baby and he hasn't been conditioned to accept humans well.

A horse is prey and human is a predator.

You must cautiously work with him via a forward and retreat type of activity.

When you go into his stall, allow him the time to come to you.  Do not corner or force your attention on him.  They are curious creatures and they are social, he really does want to trust you and be your friend, but you have to show him there's nothing to be afraid of.

Some of the answers you have here say this, but to put it in a nutshell, you must expose him to different things and teach him he will be all right - starting with acceptance of you.

Never, ever talk loudly or meanly to him.  Do not move any part of you suddenly - even reaching up to brush your hair out of your eyes can frighten him.

When he'll let you near him,  touch him carefully and find a spot he likes itched.  Young horses stand head to tail and nibble at each other's manes - the mare also touches the foal near the middle of it's mane to calm it and ensure it she is watching over it.  Start there - about the withers to about halfway up the mane.  Carefully scratch a little - watch his nose, when he likes what he's feeling, he'll stretch his upper lip/nose out life a Rhino.  You are showing him you'll bring him joy, not pain.  Move to scratch about anywhere - the chest is a place they have trouble scratching too.

Just spend this time with him carefully - increase where you touch him - move toward a sensitive area and when you sense he's worried (he moves or ears twitch or he lifts his head in alarm), back you hand away to a more comfortable area for him.

When he's comfortable with you touching him about anywhere, and he's OK with some sudden movements from you, you can start incorporating objects - like a lead rope.  Bring the rope to the stall or paddock and just rub him all over with it.  get him used to the feel of it snaking across his back or touching his legs.  when he shows no fear or anything at any point, go back to his favorite scratchy place and tell him what a good boy he is and scratch him.

The reward for him is relaxation, not having to move to get away and soft words from you - they may not know words, but they know verbal inflection - a loud, sharp voice is bad, a soft calm voice is good.

You will eventually be able to touch him with about anything - grain sacks, scary shirts, lots of things - but the key is to move slowly from comfortable to pushing outside his comfort level only a tiny bit at once.

If you work with him every day, it'll only take a few weeks for him to become completely comfortable with you.

Be careful, be consistent and think like a horse.  Patience is key.

Good luck.

Answer 5

i can't rate but the one above about the t-shirt is the best one so far!

good luck!

Answer 6

Hi. I had exactly the same problem with my colt. He had no human contact whatsoever til we got him at 6 months. (see my questions)

Go sit in his stall for frequent amounts at a time. Talk quietly to him never looking him in the eye. Bring food along so he can munch that while you talk. In time he will come to sniff you and let him take his time. Let him sniff you and blow into his nostrils when he comes close.

In time he will know that you will be his main carer and he will want to be close with you. Always praise him for every little progress made.

What I also did was sleep in an old t-shirt for about 3/4 nights (yuuuk I hear you all say!) to get my smell on it and leave it hanging in his stall. He will sniff it and get to know your smell from this too.

He will eventually bond with you. I saw no light at the end of the tunnel at first but now I can handle my foal, lead him, groom him, pick up his feet etc. We are still learning about each other though, so enjoy it, it is extremely fulfilling knowing that he depends on you.. and take it at his speed.

Good Luck

Answer 7

Time and patience. It could be that he is one of those horses who is "an emotional sponge". If he is nervous at all, and you are nervous, uneasy, or abrupt with him, it will just make the problem worse. It's not unusual for a horse to be afraid of loud sounds- it startles them and upsets them. As for moving away when you go in his stall, I personally like my horses to move away. They are staying out of your space. It's way worse when they come charging up to the door. If he moves away when you try to halter him, don't chase him around the stall, that will only make it worse, and he may kick. Just wait at the door with the halter and lead rope for him to come over and investigate. You may have to stand there a while, but it's better to let him decide it's not a bad thing than for you to enforce it's a bad thing by chasing him around with it. Bring him a treat when you go into his stall, pat him two or three times, and then leave. Do it several times a day, and then they will start to look forward to you coming into the stall rather than be afraid of it. Everything you do with them has to be a positive experience for them. That doesn't mean that you never correct them or discipline them, but the correction should be short and immediate, and immediatly followed by the release. You need to be clear and correct with this horse and stand up and be the leader for him. If you are confident and relaxed, it will help him to be also. These problems will not go away completly- it sounds to me like part of his personality is that he is a more nervous horse. You can't change their personalities, you can however, modify the behavior.

Answer 8

We have a colt just like him. It's really easy for us to try and sneak around horses like this to prevent them from being scared of you but that's actually the opposite of what you need to do.

Do a lot of ground work (preferably in a roundpen) and find his "oh no!" spots and camp on them until he relaxes, then rub his face and retreat. You can tell he's relaxing if he c***s a leg, licks his lips, sighs, blinks hard...etc. He's NOT relaxed if his feet are still moving and he's trying to get away from you so don't retreat until he RELAXES.

Act like a little kid and just clobber him with attention. Just go right at him until he stops and make sure to retreat when he relaxes. Throw the lead at him, do jumping jacks around him, jump up and down and clap around him, sing him songs and twirl the lead rope around his head, act like a crazy person! Haha... This will calm him down quicker than anything and it's a great way for you to earn his respect. Good luck!

Answer 9

Be sure you are taking the time to focus only on him for a certain amount of time every day...use the time to fuss over him as well as to introduce him to new sights and sounds.  If you can let him tag along with you as you do things like chores, do that too.

Answer 10

If his testicles hare already dropped, then it isn't too early to geld him...there earlier the better if they are both down and the vet says that there will be no problem completely getting everything.  When those little jewels part company with his body, it doesn't matter how old/young that he is, his behavior will change.  Then, every time I spent time with him, grooming, leading, whatever...ALWAYS have a halter on him...you have control and he knows it...that's my 2 cents worth.

Answer 11

you should really try to train him. there is this site that has a package that you can buy that will make him calm down and not be so tense its kind of expensive but worth every penny if you are interested go to the link provided.the package inclueds this tool that u swish on the colts back and make as much noise as possible  because the thing you swish on his back reminds him on his mothers tail and make him calm and if you continue to do this your horse will soon not respond to many things that he fears now.

link:

http://www.parelli.com/home.faces;jsessi...

Answer 12

did you buy him

if you did some thing bad happened to him