Imprinting a newborn foal is one of the best ways to start a horse's training.  Horses are naturally fearful of man, by imprinting a newborn foal (within the first hour of birth is best, but can be several hours after birth) you cancel the fear and work on all the areas of their body that will lead to easier and safer training through out their life.  By spending a few hours imprinting a foal, you teach the foal that training with humans is a normal part of life and shouldn’t be feared because “it’s not so bad”.

Imprinting is extensive handling of the foal at birth in order to get positive responses to humans handling them.  This includes repeatedly rubbing your hands over almost their entire body.  Really, the only place to avoid is the flanks where your feet will be making contact while riding.  Electric clippers (without blades) should be run over their body and legs as well as a towel, brushes, and plastic (noisy) bags.  All of these items will de-sensitize the foal and become accustomed to being handled by humans.  All these procedures should be done multiple times and on both sides of the foal.  The entire initial procedure can take several hours, but is well worth the effort.

Start at the head and work your fingers into their mouth, ears, and nose, inserting fifteen to twenty times in each one (both nostrils and ears).  Rub them all over their head paying special attention to their ears and mouth.  You want them to take a bit without being scared as well as work on their ears without a problem.  Move down their body spending four to five minutes on every part of their body.  While working on their legs, use something metallic (I use a closed leatherman) to bang on the bottom of their feet.  This de-sensitizes them to having their feet worked with and the sound of being shod by a Ferrier.

Rub the foals back, hindquarters, and under their belly so they will take a saddle, girth, and back strap.  Insert your finger into their anus, again fifteen to twenty times, to ensure that they won’t have a problem when a vet needs to do this.  Once completing the entire procedure, on both sides of the foal, move the foal over to the mother so that they can bond.  This entire procedure should be repeated several hours after the first procedure to ensure that the foal is being handled and learns without fear.  Repeat the procedure three or four times for the first few days and then daily for about another week.  Your new foal will learn to enjoy (really) being around humans and will train easier and quicker than a foal without the imprinting. 

At Bear Dance Ranch, we have imprinted all of our foals and have never had a problem with their follow on training.  As labor-intensive as it is, the benefits far exceed the time and energy.  We have them halter trained by the end of the first week and have even trained them to trailer load.  Both of these are much easier with a willing animal and small enough to handle if they start to get very excited.  By the time they are two months old, we have them used to having a blanket on their back and a small, children’s saddle (with a lose cinch, just so they can feel it). 

Make sure that you do research on the imprinting process before you try it.  Correctly imprinting your foal will lead to years of enjoyment for you and your horse, but incorrect imprinting can lead to problems where your horse gets a negative result from the imprinting which can cause problems down the road.  By understanding how to correctly imprint your foal, you can have an animal that is more responsive to its training and to humans in general.