FOAL IMPRINTING: Benefit or Bane?
Animal behavioralists use the term “imprinting” to describe the process by which many species of newly born animals become quickly and strongly bonded to the first “social object” they see, normally a parent. When people talk about “foal imprinting”, they are referring to the practice of handling newborn foals in specific ways that are said to make a permanent, positive impression on the foal, making subsequent handling and training much easier. This is not technically imprinting, in the scientific sense, and for this reason, some proponents of this method have come to prefer the term “early learning”. However, as the term “early learning” can be very broadly interpreted, we will use “imprinting” for the purposes of this article. Like most things having to do with horses, the practice of foal imprinting has its advocates and its critics. Those who swear by it say that it produces friendly, easy to handle youngsters who grow into well-adjusted, extremely trainabl...