Horse-Mania

INTERVIEW WITH KIM TAYLOR
HORSE BREEDER AND TRAINER
SILVERWOOD ARABIAN FARM
By Morgan Killingbeck 8G

Q: WHEN DID YOU START IMPRINTING AND HOW MANY FOALS HAVE YOU IMPRINTED?
A: We started in 1980 and have imprinted approximately 400-500 foals.
Q: WHAT CONVINCED YOU TO START IMPRINTING THE HORSES THAT YOU FOAL? WAS THERE ANYONE WHO INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION?
A: We collect old books and vet manuals from a hundred years ago or even older, back when horses were a necessary part of progressive living and in one old book, there was a section on interviews that were done with native people who had known for many years that when they did certain things when horses were born that it made them much easier to trust and much easier to train.  This was our first introduction to “flooding” a foal with stimuli to induce a reaction.  Over time, we’ve tried a number of different things and learned that by simply whistling for 30-40 minutes at birth, that foal would always come running to use when we whistled in the same fashion.  We basically showed horses for 25 years in the USA and over time, have met a lot of excellent trainers.  During various conversations, we talked about different things they were doing and our list of stimuli grew and grew until it is what it is today.  Some time in the mid to late 80’s, a vet named Dr. Robert Miller made the practice of imprinting popular with a book.  Giving away all our hard-learned secrets – lol!  But it is extremely important to have someone who has a lot of experience with imprinting to guide you through the process a few times as it can have the opposite effect on a foal as well – timing is EVERYTHING!
Q: WHEN YOU IMPRINT, HOW LONG DO YOU WAIT AFTER BIRTH TO HANDLE THE FOAL AND WHY?
A: Generally, we like to assist with the birth so we will have our hands on the foal’s front foot as it starts out after the mare’s water breaks.  There are many advantages to this as you are making sure that the foal presents properly and has a normal birth.  As a quick note, we have delivered “unexpected” twins, have delivered foals backwards, have delivered foals standing up – and have still imprinted them properly.  Oh - so many stories we could tell!
Q: DOES THE LENGTH OF TIME THAT YOU WAIT AFTER BIRTH TO IMPRINT AFFECT THE EFFICIENCY OR EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROCESS?
A: YES. It has been our experience that you need to be there a couple of minutes after the mare’s water breaks and she has laid down or is getting ready to lay down as sometimes you can help place the mare in a position in the stall so when she lays down, you are at the door and the mare delivers her foal there.  It is much safer and much easier for the helper to pass and take stuff away as you need it during the imprinting process.

Q: WHAT PROCEDURES DO YOU FIND THE MOST BENEFICIAL FOR IMPRINTING (I.E., FLOODING, HALTER TRAINING, ETC.)?
A: Well flooding is the process used when imprinting.  What this means is that you simply flood the foal’s senses until it does not present any reaction to that particular stimuli.  Then you move on to the next stimuli and sometimes come back to re-check that what you did has the expected reaction that you were trying to get.  Remember, the very first thing you want to teach is to release from pressure.  Understanding this will help you understand the halter process – first the giving of the head and neck FREELY.
Q: WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC BENEFITS OF IMPRINTING?  
A: Some of the specific benefits of a properly imprinted foal are development of a true human / horse bond, trust, and leadership.  This is something the foal naturally understands; therefore, the foal will willingly take direction from the handler more readily.  The foal is also taught to come off pressure.  So at the time of “ASSISTED” birth, during imprinting, the foal is taught to release pressure such as giving all four legs at all joints and the release of the neck and head, back and forth and side to side, until there is no resistance at all.  This helps later when giving hand or leg cues to the horse – it will move away from the pressure.
Q: DOES IMPRINTING CHANGE THE EFFICIENCY OF TRAINING A YOUNG FOAL?
A: If a new born foal is properly imprinted at birth, it has been our long experience that it takes between 6 and 12 months off a regular training regiment.  Newborn equines are born physically and neurologically developed. This is called a “precocial” species, meaning ALL senses and abilities are fully functional at birth as opposed to say a human or dog which are born “autricial”.
Q: DO THE THINGS THAT ARE TAUGHT DURING IMPRINTING LAST THE HORSES’ WHOLE LIVES? AND IF SO, WHY?
A: An important thing to remember is that horses will learn to live within the confines of their environment – stall, barn, paddocks, people, other horses, sounds, etc.  Any horse taught a cue properly has a short-term memory of about 18 months in our experience.  If the particular cue is used again in exactly the same fashion then we can keep extending that memory and over time, shape a “good habit”.  As a human that interacts daily with horses, we might as well know we are safe doing so as opposed to wondering what is hidden in the closet – so to speak.  Over many years, we now have in our tool kit I think 31 separate and distinct stimuli that we use to imprint the foals to make their jobs easier living in a human farm environment.  For example, while the foal is physically held in place comfortably on the stall floor in front of the mare, we take a water spritzer and squirt the foal over its entire body, head, and face – then we KNOW that we have properly imprinted that foal to water being sprayed on it.  We then use a hair dryer to blow dry the entire foal not only to dry him off so he is not wet BUT we have learned over time that by doing these two things, we have imprinted the foal to “wind and rain”.  Then we will never have to worry about that horse getting scared during a “storm” - whether it is out in a paddock where it might have run through the fence or being scared and upset in its stall during a bad storm or more importantly, if we are riding that horse in the future, we will always know that as long as we are dominate and “giving cues” while on the horse’s back, we will be safe.
Q: HAVE YOU BRED A MARE THAT WAS IMPRINTED? IF SO, DID SHE SHOW ANY CHARACTERISTICS WHILE YOU WERE IMPRINTING HER FOAL THAT WAS DIFFERENT THAN A MARE THAT WAS NOT IMPRINTED?
A: Yes.  We have bred many mares that were imprinted and our experience has been that they accept what we are doing to their baby easier and are much more comfortable.  In fact, we have had mares that will stay laying down the entire time we are imprinting her baby, laying nose-to-nose which is also important as they bond at the same time as well.  Imprinting can take up to an hour the first time so that is a lot to ask a new mom.  We have foaled more mares that were not imprinted and it is generally a three to four person job her first time as they can become very agitated at a human doing so much handling of their foal, not to mention the sometimes loud and “scary” stuff we may be doing to their babies.  Having said that, we have also foaled out those mares some 15 times and generally after the first couple of times, they become more trustworthy and understand that we are not there to hurt her baby.  
Q: IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT IS THE HIGHEST RISK OF IMPRINTING?
A: Doing it wrong - its all in the timing and knowing when you have done that particular stimuli just perfect – not too little or too much but just right.  You have a process that flows when imprinting the foal.  If the mare is nasty and you have started then quit, you have done more damage than good.  You need to be prepared for everything before you enter the stall.  It takes 3-4-5 people sometimes if you know it may not go well with the mare, especially if she is a first-time mom and nervous. 
Q: ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD ADD?
A: We estimate that between Silverwood Arabian Farm and Silverwood Standardbreds, we have delivered somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800-900 foals or even more and about half of those we’ve imprinted.  For many years, horses from as far away as Florida, Michigan, New York, Ontario, and all the maritime provinces would come to us because of our imprinting program.  People from many walks of life involved with many breeds of horses and disciplines could see the benefits of our well-known program as the proof was in the pudding.  Those horses that were properly imprinted and imprinted in the way the owners wanted reaped the benefits of much less training time, calmer training sessions, longer lasting companionships, and winning.