a very bad colt ~ today but not tomorrow...

[Marv Walker <Marv@MarvWalker.com>]

>The colt?  Horrid from minute one.  Started the imprinting process 
>immediately, he was a jerk from the start. HATES being touched. 
>Period.  Head, neck, ears, definite no no's.  Fighting everytime, everyday 
>still.  Will turn his butt each time, usually at least 3 times a day, 
>doesn't kick, but a HUGE major battle each time.  Very big colt, VERY 
>strong even at this age.  Of course doesn't want to caught, now wearing a 
>halter and dangling lead rope always probably for the rest of his 
>life.  Eating lots of food on his own, totally independent of his 
>mother.  Could care less about her, goes off and sleeps on his own, very 
>cocky.  Wants to bite, but of course that's unacceptable.  One weird thing 
>that the other colts never did.  From the very start he did that mouthy 
>submission thing everytime he saw a human.  Still does, but sure as heck 
>is NOT submissive in any way.  Folks, we're ready to kill him!  Have any 
>of you had a nasty colt like this?  Will he come around?  He's not trying 
>to kick or anything, just wants absolutely nothing to do with humans 
>whatsoever.  Now he will come up to little kids, but that's very scary 
>because he's way too bold and very much in their faces.  Is there 
>something else we need to be doing with him that we're not?  What the heck 
>have we done wrong?  We're at our wits end right now, he can almost make 
>you hate him.

I will address this here to start but since this is an endurance list I will
also start it on my Horses@marvWalker.com list and quickly move may
part in it from here.  Those who wish to step outside for this thread can
join my Horses list http://MarvWalker.com/horslist.htm .  When the thread
has run its course you can simply unsub if you wish to.

You haven't done anything wrong.

This is actually more normal behavior than your first two foals.  Having foals
who are easy going and easy to deal with is the exception and not the rule.
It is not in a horse's genetics to be trusting and easy going.  In the 
wild, in a
herd situation, that behavior is called lunch.

In a herd, youngsters are cut a LOT of slack.  They are allowed to do things
that would get an adult killed.  The gum popping is not a submissive gesture.
It is a reminder to adults that "I'm just a little baby, take it easy on 
me!!"
Whenever adult horses are presented with that gesture by a youngster, they
are genetically bound to honor it.  Oh the adult may perform some sort of,
"Just remember I could kill you if I wanted to" action, but for the most part,
little comes of their threats.  And the little snot goes off to sin again.

When he gets in a position he considers threatening, he starts telling you,
"I'm just a little baby, go easy on me!"  And then the little snot goes off to
sin again.  Same situation, same result.  That's normal horse behavior.

What do you do with him then?

Well, the same thing the herd does to him.  You simply overpower him when
he is a baby or overpowerable.  "Come in this direction."  "Move over here."
"Stay here."  These things can all be accomplished on a leadline.

When he becomes bigger but is still a baby, it takes more to overpower him
so you want to overpower him as young as possible.

Once he becomes an adult then you can address such problems in a less
overpowering manner because he will then be more mature and more governed
by adult reactions to certain actions.

I would keep little kids away from him because he may view them as equals
and want to rough house with them.  By the same token, I would never turn
my back to him or stand directly in front of him until he is much older and
proven to be more trustworthy with a greater sense of place.

You haven't mentioned his age, I'm assuming he is a yearling.  As a yearling
he will act like a teenager and be continually bouncing between acting like an
adult and behaving like a child.

At that stage it becomes a matter of combining overpowering and persuasion.
During the times he acts mature, you persuade.  When he does not, you 
overpower.
As you work with him you learn to more easily recognize what mentality he's
operating in.  And you learn how to overpower and how to persuade more 
effectively
by doing it.

And all colts are gelding prospects certainly comes into play here as well.

If you are interested, let me know what ONE thing he does that drives you
toward considering violence.  We'll develop a strategy for dealing with that
and then we'll go to the next most serious thing you detest.  In a fairly 
short
time, you'll be surprised at the difference in him.

I'm not saying that I have all the answers (well, I have a lot of them), 
I'm saying
that my Horses list consists of a lot of very bright and knowledgeable people
who possess a vast amount of common sense and experience and many of
them have resolved the problem you face.

There they sit around waiting for such fodder to chew on.  Here, there is not a
whole lot of time for chewing anything other than endurance topics.

In my clinics I want EVERY horse there to be unmanageable and obnoxious.
The worse they are the better I like it.  They almost always come around so
rapidly and so dramatically they make me look like some kind of miracle worker.

I have no doubts your horse will turn out fine.  It's just a matter of 
knowing what
to do.  It really isn't all that difficult to fix him.

See you at http://MarvWalker.com/horslist.htm

Marv "When it is not necessary to make a decision, it is necessary to make a
decision not to make a decision." Walker