Stallion first meeting with his foal

Fabuloso has been with his mare Lebrera for 3 days. Up till this moment the mare has not allowed the stallion to get close to their foal. This is the first time the mare allowed the foal to approach his father, and the stallion is very careful.

In this clip the «calming signals» are very clear; Fabuloso is showing the sleeping posture, the turned ears and most importantly; standing very still. Another interesting part is that the horses hindquarter is considered the safe side of the horse; a horse that wants to show that he is safe to approach will turn his hindquarters to the other horse, the head is more frightening.

The reaction when the stallion turns his head towards the foal is typical; the foal feels threatened and responds by not only the typical foal chewing, but also by turning his hindquarters towards the stallion.

These calming signals can be used by humans to show a timid horse that we mean it no harm; turn our backs to the horse, looking down and standing very still is a far better way to get a horses trust than to try to pet it on the head.

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Location: Skurup, Sweden

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Comment by Tiffany on October 15, 2009 at 5:24pm: Your description is SOOO helpful!! I learned something new today! Is it really true that they turn their hind end towards you? There is this stallion at the barn I go to and I could never, for the life of me, figure out what he was up to. I would go into his stall and at first I thought he was just moving around but I've noticed that every time I went in, maybe after a minute of sniffing my hand, sometimes I'd just be in there walking around and he'd always turn his rear end to me and lightly bump me once.

Half the time my friends would walk by and be like "Don't stand there! He's going to kick you!" But I never really felt threatened when he did it so I never felt the urge to move out of the way. He also adopted the same posture your horse had. If there is any inkling that he turns his bum to me in a friendly manner then I am sooo relieved.

I love your videos! The stallion and foal are so adorable together! It's rare to see stallions with their babies lately so this is one lucky man. =)