Foal imprint training

Abstract

"Foal imprint training" is widely used in the horse industry. Because the training sessions occur during the period when a foal is "imprinting on its dam", it is assumed the foal will be easier to handle and train later in life. There have been no published scientific studies that investigated the efficacy of foal imprint training. This study examined the relationship between imprint trained foals and their reaction to stimuli used in the imprint training procedure and to a novel stimulus at one and two months of age. Twenty-five foals received a standard training procedure at 2, 12, 24, and 48 h after birth. After training, the foals received minimal handling that included veterinary treatments and occasional relocation. Twenty-two foals born at the same time served as controls. All 47 foals were tested at one month of age. Only 20 were available for testing at two months of age (11 imprint trained, 9 controls) and nine were available at three months (6 imprint trained, 3 control). The testing procedure included exposing the foal to each stimulus encountered during the imprint training procedure plus a novel stimulus. Percentage change from baseline heart rate, time required to complete each training stimulus (foals that were more reactive took longer) and a behavioral score ranging from a 0 (calm) to 5 (most reactive) were recorded for each foal during the introduction of each stimulus. Foals that had an elevated heart rate that did not return to baseline within five minutes and foals that did not complete the testing procedure were given a behavioral score of 6 for each uncompleted stimulus. Overall, the non-imprint trained foals tended to receive lower (better) behavioral scores. Imprint trained foals tended to have shorter times taken to complete exposure to the stimulus and lower percentage change from baseline heart rate. By three months of age, however, there were no significant differences between imprint trained and non-imprinted trained foals for any measures, indicating that imprint training is not efficacious.