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How do I halter break my filly?
Hi.
I have a filly who is almost 4 months old. The problem is that for the last three months I did not have a stall for her mom and her so she has become quite wild. I do now have them in a stall. I can get my filly to allow me to feed her carrots from my hand and touch her face. How is the best way to get her to trust me to eventually put a halter on her. When she was a month or even before I could and did put a halter on her. She was in a stall then and we could touch her. I lost the place where they were and for a short time had to field pasture them. This made it impossible to get around her. Her mom of course let us, but she definitely enjoyed her freedom.
Thanks, Beth
Hi Beth,
Too bad you lost the critical time when the filly was that young. I halter train horses to lead within the first week and then reinforce the training on a regular basis. You can begin to re-establish your connection with the filly by working the mare and she together, gently. Do you have a round pen? If you do you can begin to gently move both horses around the pen and regain your bond. If you work with the mare some, the filly will get more used to you. If you do not have a round pen you can begin to work the mare (with the filly at her side) up and down a relatively short fence line (you on the ground of course). Play with the mare and ignore the filly for a brief time. Just let foal hang out with you and the mare while you interact with the mare. She will eventually come to trust you by watching and moving with the mare. If you touch and rub her in the right places occasionally (the filly), that will help as well. You can have a foal halter and lead rope in your hand a lot, ready for the right time. Once you get to be able to touch the baby all over, rub her with the halter and leadrope, but don't put it right on. Just get her used to you having it on your person when around her. Once you get the halter and lead on the filly, you can begin to use a 'butt rope' to train her to lead. Have someone lead the mare and someone else use the leadrope and butt rope with the filly to get her going with the mare.
Good luck and please keep me posted.
Sincerely, Franklin