Imprint Training

1
Imprint Training
Myria Shipman, Dr. Frank Flanders and Asha
Wise Georgia Agricultural Education Curriculum
Office Georgia Department of Education February
2006
2
What is Imprinting?

• Imprinting is a naturally-occurring process
• Occurs the first few hours after birth
• The newborn foal forms impressions and bonds it
  is open to external stimuli

3
Imprinting vs. Imprint Training

• Fear is a learned behavior. During the first few
  hours of life, the foal has not yet experienced
  pain and is not fearful.
• This is a time when humans can expose a foal to
  certain stimuli or conditions that they do not
  want the foal to fear.
• This process is called Imprint Training.

4
Imprint Training

• Advantages
• Eases handling
• Enhances later training efforts
• Reduces injuries
• Gives the horse a solid base for learning later
  in life
• Makes the foal more receptive to humans early on

5
Imprint Training

• Imprint training is exposing the foal to objects
  and/or situations of which you do not want the
  foal to be fearful.
• Examples halter, clippers, hoof pick, humans,
  saddle, etc.

6
How does it work?

• Imprint training shapes behavior in the
  following ways

7

• 1. Immediately postpartum (after birth), the foal
  bonds with the dam and with the one or more
  persons handling it.

8

• 2.Submission, but not fear During imprint
  training, the foal cannot escape (its natural
  method of survival) exposure to frightened
  stimuli. As a result, it becomes dependent and
  submissive in its attitude. The foal sees the
  trainer as dominant.

9
How do you imprint a foal?

• The first step is to get the mare and foal used
  to the presence of a person. Calm the mare so she
  is not nervous with you being around her new
  baby.
• One way is to halter the mare and hold her
  loosely, where she can still see her new foal

10

• Rub your hands on the foals body in places where
  you want the foal to get used to you touching.
• Head face, poll, upper lip
• Body neck, withers, back, base of tail, tail,
  shoulder, ribcage, chest, groin, all legs, flex
  joints, feet
• Cavities mouth, ears, nostrils
• Other halter, clippers, spray bottle, bags

11
Important!

• Do not rub the foal in areas that you do not want
  desensitized.
• For example you do not want the abdomen
  desensitized because this is where a riders
  heels will be.

12
Expose the foal to objects

• During imprint training, you can expose the foal
  to objects that you want him to get used to
• Practice putting a halter on and taking it off
• Turn on clippers and get the foal used to the
  noise and the vibration
• Tap a hoof pick on the foals hooves

13
Important!

• When you first perform a task, such as tapping a
  hoof, the foal may want to pull away. Keep
  tapping the foals hoof until he is completely
  used to it and no longer minds you doing so.
• Perform each maneuver until the foal completely
  relaxes.
• Repeat process later on to establish consistency.

14
Be Thorough!

• Perform each task on
• Both ears
• All four hooves
• All four legs

15
Remember

• A newborn foal needs to bond with its mother and
  receive colostrum from the first nursing. Do not
  interfere with a foal while it is nursing.

16
The debate over imprinting

• Imprint training does have its critics.
• Most of the debate over imprinting stems from
  imprint jobs gone wrong-
• Horses that are too desensitized and no longer
  responsive.
• Horses that were not fully imprinted (the person
  stopped imprinting before the foal was fully used
  to the object) and therefore respond negatively
  to the object/situation.

17

• There is also the question how effective is
  imprinting?
• It is impossible to test imprinting (every horse
  is different and will respond differently)

18
It is important to remember

• Always be friendly
• Continue each imprinting task until the foal is
  no longer fearful of it.
• Do not over-imprint (desensitize) your foal. This
  will lead to a listless, non-responsive horse.