Sooo I’ve been watching a lot of horse vines lately and got inspired. Got me thinking about how very young pony foals could behave a lot like young horses. c: Before ponies are a year old, they’re very much instinctual little critters. That means lil babies do some pretty embarrassing things sometimes.

1) Little Ipomoea tried her very best, but she was no match for the mighty ball beast

2) There’s a lil thing horses do called the Flehmen response, where they lift their upper lip to get a better whiff of an interesting smell. All horses do it, but stallions often do it when they smell a mare in heat. Ponies do it too, and it is one of the rudest possible gestures in modern pony society. To lift ones lip in pubic is a disgrace, possibly more offensive than giving someone the finger due to its sexual connotation. Hence Rarity’s utter embarrassment and Applejack quietly laughing her ass off. and honestly Ashemeade is probably just smelling someone’s liberally applied perfume.

(Side note: Ponies do go into heats, but it’s not an irresistible desire to breed. More like, they know when it’s time to have babies aaaand unfortunately everyone can smell it. Special, strong perfumes are used to fight off the smell since it’s far too personal for strangers to know that sort of thing.)

3) When foals are afraid, they often let out soft whinnies in lieu of crying to call their parents for help. Indigo Sky here is a very worried boy that needs his mamas.

4) Plumeria splish splosh. Baby ponies are typically very curious and will explore new things with their hooves.

5) When ponies are very young, they can sometimes confuse their mothers. They don’t really imprint the same way ducklings or goslings might, so it’s not uncommon for a foal to attempt to suckle from a mare that’s not their mother. Zephyr Breeze and Trenderhoof had their sons only a few months after Fluttershy had Larkspur, and so she was still udder-feeding her own baby. Something that did not go unnoticed by baby Brick Hoof.