Sometimes I wonder why I would ever do something like this with those very dangerous, tough and hard-kicking little buggers, but you have to agree with me - they are so cute! Foals can also be very timid and defenseless when they are small because we are the ones at the weight advantage. I have seen many not so nice people in the horse business who turn their fear and lack of knowledge towards the foals, hurting them or scaring them into submission to the point that they are very difficult to work with and are therefore a danger to other handlers. I don't want to help those people, I want to be helping the foal in those conditions so that they can behave well enough so that they do not have to be disciplined. Don't get me wrong, I have disciplined my share of foals, but in the right way. All handlers must be taught how to act on a foal according to their behaviour. There are many levels of disciplinary action.
I remember one time I was working with a foal around 4 months of age - teaching it to have its feet picked up in order to be worked on by the farrier - and unfortunately this foal was in a deep stage of fear. Although the work took much more time that it would have with other foals and I also had my hand kicked and broken, the young filly turned into a stunning little thing and was a breeze to handle at time of trimming.
Patience is key!