Imprint training pioneer Dr. Robert Miller debunks some of the
common misconceptions about this useful foal handling technique.
The technique of imprinting has been used to help train foals
for more than 50 years, but common misconceptions about what it
means to imprint young horses still exist. While recent years
have seen more and more owners and trainers fully commit to
properly using this valuable foal handling procedure, a few
basic misunderstandings still remain that prevent those who
attempt to apply imprint training techniques from achieving the
results that they desire. Photo by Megan Parks Dr. Robert
Miller, one of the pioneering practitioners of equine imprint
training, believes that proper implementation of imprint
training principles make a horse more trainable and easier to
handle, but only if it is done correctly and completely—and only
if the person performing the technique is realistic about
exactly what the process is meant to achieve. “You’re not going
to change [a foal’s] personality,” Mil