Having had my finger in many equestrian pies over the years, for me, raising foals is the absolute pinnacle.

It’s often just as magical and joyful as the romanticized clichés, but can also be incredibly challenging, frustrating, and heart-breaking.

Above all, I think it is an enormous responsibility and privilege. Your interactions with a foal in its first year of life can literally set it up for life, or not.

Some of the most basic ingredients for raising a happy, well-adjusted, healthy foal with a bright future ahead are a field full of good grass, companions to play with and learn from, boundaries and discipline, routine, and time/patience.

When it comes to teaching your foal life lessons, don’t throw too much at them at once. Their brains can get overwhelmed, and then they get frustrated and misbehave, and you end up instilling bad habits.

They might weigh nearly more than you do at birth, but they are still just babies.

Patience and firm kindness, consistency and compassion are all key.

Never be afraid to ask for help. No one knows it all, and the day you stop learning is the day you should walk away.

Don’t discount out of hand alternative methods either. Whether it be for training or for treatments, out-of-the-box ideas sometimes prove to be the ones that make a difference!

There is no one-size-fits-all, and one of my personal highlights is finding out what makes each individual tick. It is challenging, but so rewarding!

Just because they’re cute and cuddly doesn’t mean they don’t share the adult equine’s propensity for manufacturing maladies out of thin air.

One of your best secret weapons in your journey with a foal will be having a good relationship with a capable and reliable vet and farrier.

The one thing that pays huge dividends when things go wrong is timely observation and intervention. With pregnancy, foaling and foals, things can and do go downhill incredibly quickly.

Knowing your mare, and then your foal, is vital. Anything that is unusual for that individual warrants a closer look. Observation never hurts, and it’s saved many a life…

Know your TPR, always have a thermometer in your pocket, and if in doubt, err on the side of caution.

The entire process of breeding and raising a foal is expensive, time-consuming, and I’d actually consider it as great a gamble as the race that foal may one day win…