Recent studies have addressed the ease of handling and other aspects of a foal’s interaction with humans. Most of these have attempted to modify the foal’s response by a program of intensive human interaction and handling of the foal early in their life. In this study the experimenters directed their handling toward the mare, with the hypothesis that mare’s would transfer their response to humans to their foal. Fourty-one mares and foals were involved in the study. Half of the group involved brushing of the mare, with the foal present, for 15 min a day during the first five days of the foal’s life. The other mares and foals received no handling other than a cleaning of the foal at birth and assistance in finding a teat. The foals were tested at several points during the subsequent 15 months for their response in various handling and approach tests. Foals from the treated group, whose mothers had been brushed frequently during the foal’s first five days of life, approached or remained closer to humans in subsequent tests, and accepted handling procedures, such as saddle-pads, more readily than the control foals. It would appear that a foal’s response to humans can be fairly easily influenced by regular handling of the mare in the presence of the foal.