This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Eike Schoen-Petersen) Hi Karen, Gail, Sini and all imprinters,
since I've grown up in a horse-filled evironment and was myself "imprinted" with fjords 40 years ago I have had many different experiences with imprinted and "wild" horses. I believe a lot of what the horse grows up to be is in the genes, (almost) no matter what you do - as long as you don't make any big mistakes!!! My experiences were gathered in the wider family that breeds warmbloods and Anglo-Arabs and Riding Ponies and Welsh Ponies and Dartmoors and Trakehners and - my wife and me - of course Fjords. We've had foals out of excitable mares with a complicated psyche and the foals were imprinted and handled quietly and peacefully and when they were sold to people who just didn't find the right "language" the horse would come back all wild eyed and you couldn't get a halter on. Out of a very docile, placid mare you could give the offspring to any reasonable newcomer and they have never had a problem. One stallion is almost sure to produce very human-orientated foals, the other stallion's offspring are always very touchy and try to keep their distance at all times. Handling other people's "imprinted" horses, we have found it difficult at times to handle horses that have lost the border line between horse and human. Then of course it is also difficult if they don't let you touch them. I agree with Karen that horses need to learn social skills from their own species! A "cure" that has worked in many cases where things had gone wrong in the past is to let them live without interference in a herd of at least ten horses so they will always have a friend - amongst horses friendship is at least as important as domination - who is reasonable. That way they can find out which way to behave. For the ones that think they are human, having to find their place in a good size horse herd lets them find the way back to the genetically programmed behaviour that we rely on as trainers and handlers and for the ones that are timid and touchy it improves their self-confidence and mental balance to the point where they become actively interested in a horse-human relationship. In my experience it takes maybe 6 months, maybe a year to go "back to normal" but then you have a horse reacting naturally and you "only" have to keep cool and patient and push the right buttons. In our own foals after weaning we accept a phase of growing up when the horses are only visited daily but not handled much at all. We watch them and when we have the feeling they are ready and not just busy growing up any more we move them to the farm and start doing some easy things. If they're not ready, they go out again for another half year of maturing. Domination is not our main goal, as I said - amongst horses the pecking order is much less clear than for instance with dogs. Horses work much more on "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" -basis. That doesn't mean we don't insist on being dominant ourselves but only to the necessary extent. What I'd like to know is how do you reprimand a very young foal for rearing, kicking, nipping? I always try to avoid the situation by preparing the action I want to take so that these things don't happen. If they happen you can not allow them to happen successfully so what do you do? I would welcome views on that! Best wishes from another sunny day in dried up Leopoldshagen - no more than 3 inches of rain since end of march! Eike
