Babies and trails

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

We usually let our babies go out from about a month old. Once mom can be
ridden again, we start in the paddock for a week or so and then move out to
the desert. The nice thing is that we don't have too much out there for them
to hurt themselves on, although there are wild dogs who know perfectly well
that going after a foal is a quick ticket to extreme pain. I find that the
exposure to "the real world" helps a lot later as my kids are not afraid of
anything and they learn to watch their feet early on. There's nothing
funnier (and more possibly disastrous) than a foal who thinks the whole
world is as flat and smooth as the paddock. The first time I took Nazeer up
to the plateau he almost fell on his nose when he went tearing off and
rocketed out into the air over a 50 cm (18 in) drop. This place is where the
army used to practice with bulldozers about 30 years ago and is very uneven.
He slowed down immediately after that and paid attention to the holes and
changes in the ground. The other thing we've always done is to take things
slow (the foal is usually way ahead, to one side, or behind mom but rarely
where he's supposed to be) and stop for milk breaks. My human kids always
appreciated a snack and a break so I figure the foals are the same.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
gabbani@starnet.com.eg
www.ratbusters.net

I am lucky to be able to have places to take my youngsters where there is no
danger of loose dogs or traffic..

Karen