Results of Texas A&M University’s research into imprinting’s effects on six-month-old foals conclude that neither the frequency of imprinting sessions nor their timing after birth influenced foals’ later behavior. Some veterinarians disagree with the findings.

The study, published in the Equine Veterinary Journal, was conducted by Jennifer L. Williams, PhD, and colleagues in the Animal Sciences Department. They attempted to scientifically investigate the common practice developed by Robert Miller, DVM, which is documented in his 1991 book, Imprint Training of the Newborn Foal.

The study was undertaken in response to questions from Texas ranchers interested in gentling their field-born foals whose first human handling was during weaning. Imprinting was conducted by five investigators with varying degrees of horsemanship, four of whom were male Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) personnel, using 131 TDC Quarter Horse (QH) or QH/Percheron cross foals born in 1999 and 2000. Objectives included determining if four imprinting sessions conducted at birth, 12, 24, and 48 hours after birth produced calmer foals as judged by their responses to various testing procedures (see sidebar below) as 6-month-olds; and identifying whether any single session specifically produced such foals.

The imprint training was generally consistent with Miller’s methodology, but not identical, owing to investigators’ time constraints, equipment availability, and ease of catching the foals. Foals received no further handling until they were retested as 6-month-olds