Last Modified: 7/24/2009
Enhanced Foal Training
New updated photos for 2009
Scroll down about 20 photos to see the newest members of our growing Liberty troupe. Some of them are now all grown up and are seasoned performers.
Sue With a Foal in Her Lap
Sue with a week old Andalusian filly in her lap. This filly has almost outgrown her which shows the importance of getting this lesson accomplished very early.
A Foal's First Experience
Enhanced Foal Training was developed to be practiced in conjunction with basic Imprinting. EFT recommends the addition of a comfortable bean bag to allow the handler and foal to remain above floor level and very much at ease.
Sombra at One Week
This Lusitano/Arabian filly is shown in the Enhanced Foal Training I video at three days of age. She was a very active foal, born quite strong and with a lot of spirit. Here she is sitting quite comfortably in Allen's lap, but as you can see at one week of age she is getting big already.
Isabelle Learns to Step Up
Pedestals are introduced within the first few days. This is the beginning of teaching the foal that there is a special place where she can always feel safe.
Isabelle's First Pedestal Mount
Within just minutes you can teach any foal to step up. Teaching her to remain in place takes a little longer. The details of this lesson are expanded upon in the EFT II video.
Sending a Foal to a Pedestal
Teaching a foal to step up is different than sending a foal to a pedestal. This is the beginning of Liberty schooling.
A Foal Learns to Sit
Sitting down with a foal is the first step.
Next is teaching the foal to sit down and remain sitting on her own.
This is an extremely useful exercise as well as an age appropriate challenge. Most foals have little patience and learning to sit begins to instill patience in the foal and also impress upon her the correct herd hierarchy.
So Easy a Child Can Cue Her
This is a perfect illustration of just how easy it becomes to sit a foal down. This foal had only a couple days to learn this part of the lesson. All foals adapt quickly to this challenge and actually end up truly enjoying the bean bag. Sabrina was just 5 yrs. old and the foal sat willing for her.
Mare and Foal at One Week
Isabelle is shown here outside repeating the same lesson she learned in her schooling stall. As you can see she is completely comfortable resting on the oversize bean bag.
Isabelle Diving on Her Bean Bag
Just a few months later Isabelle enjoys her bean bag just like it is just another play toy. She is shown here diving onto it just for fun.
Saber in School
Saber is shown here learning to stay put on the bean bag according to Allen's directive.
Saber and Isabelle Schooling Together
Saber at two weeks of age and Isabelle at ten days.
Notice the foal's dams are no where to be seen, yet they foals are perfectly attentive, respectful and obviously capable of schooling together.
Isabelle Sitting with Her Feet Up
This is a further gymnastic exercise that teaches a foal to be more aware of her ability to control her body in different ways.
Two Foals on a Pedestal
This is a scene from the EFT I dvd showing two young foals schooling together.
First Adult Friend
Isabelle is shown here being introduced to her first adult horse (besides her dam).
Hasana was raised using the EFT methods and so she was perfectly at ease with the foal. The foal demonstrated an enormous amount of confidence by standing her ground while she was being investigated for the first time by a strange horse.
Remarkable Confidence
The early training these horses received was obvious, yet the foals were only two weeks old.
This illustration appears in Dr. Robert Miller's book The Revolution in Horsemanship along with a brief mention of Allen's innovative schooling techniques.
Click on the image to open a link to Dr. Miller's foal imprinting web page.
Enhanced Foal Training I
This photo was taken during the filming of our Enhanced Foal Training I program. This style of schooling young foals has never been demonstrated before by anyone.
Saber Learning to Hold a Cap
Teaching a foal to step up is the first part of a series of new learning situations all linked to a pedestal. Here is the way Allen teaches a foal to hold an object in its mouth.
Learning to Hold a Flag
This variation of holding an object was well established in this very young foal.
Isabelle and Navegador
Gater and Isabelle are full brother and sister. Navegador aka Gate is now our #1 horse in the Imagine A Horse entertainment routines and also he is a very capable assistant when it come to training the younger ones.
Every horse who has acted as an assistant seemed to enjoy the opportunity.
Touching Noses
By associating a raised platform (in this case carpet covered hay bales) with the foal's natural desire to sniff noses with his dam, he can easily be taught to hop up and remain in place.
Schooling in The Aisleway with New Friends
Here the young foal is seeking refuge up on the platform near his dam and away from the newest member to our school.
The palomino QH was sent to us for training the day after weaning on a big ranch. He had almost no handling at all and was as wild as they come. Here he is shown just a few weeks into his schooling.
First Morning
This young Arabian colt is shown participating in a Big and Little act on the very first morning of his life.
His dam was raised using the EFT methods.
Sombra On a Bean Bag
Sombra is pictured above sitting on my lap when just a week or two old. Here she is after weaning sitting on a bean bag out of doors. I used to think that teaching a horse to sit down was about the hardest trick in the book. Now I know that it is one of the easiest. IF you know how to do it.
Starting when the horse is a foal is the easiest method, but not the only way.
Sombra Sitting On a Pedestal
Once a horse has been totally accustomed to sitting on a bean bag they will sit down anywhere because the beanbag has become 'their place'.
Imagineahorse innovated the use of bean bags in the education of a horse and now the trick it has been picked up by some of the most well-known folks in the business.
Big Pedestal
It is always easiest if you start with big pedestals for training and then as the horse becomes confident and adept the size of the pedestal can be reduced.
The top of this pedestal is about 3ft by 6ft.
Taller and Smaller Pedestal
This pedestal is another Imagineahorse innovation. It is a two-tiered, or multi-level pedestal.The top tier is about 16" square.
Here Sombra is shown confidently posed on the top level. This is a great way to prepare your horse to trust your guidance and his own ability to balance.
Balance Beam or "Walk the Plank"
Sombra is shown balanced on a narrow pedestal. This balance beam is 11 inches wide and again a great way to teach the horse to trust their abilities. This just might save the day in years to come when negotiating difficult narrow mountain trails.