Horse Fear

In order not to express fear when exposed to stimuli in later life, it is important for a foal to have a positive experience during the sensitive period of its life when learning occurs. There is a school of thought that believes that foals should undergo “nature training” which is not the same as the natural tempering that occurs between a mare and foal, but involves humans getting the foal accustomed to fearful stimuli in the first few hours of life, to make it less likely to respond to them later. Although animals that are accustomed to humans and treat them like their young do show less fearful responses later on, there are some critics of the method of imprint training, because it is done before the foal can even stand.