Halter breaking a 14 month old colt

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joulsey

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Just asking for some advice on how you would go about halter breaking a 14 month colt.

Background - friend got him in November 2014. He had come straight off the moors, separated from his mum, put into stocks and microchipped/headcollar on, bundled into a trailer, took to auction, sold and bundled into another trailer home.

Couldn't get anywhere near him, and he somehow got his headcollar off.

Fast forward to now, the nicely nicely approach is just not working, well it might in another 6 months, but the horse needs handling and feet trimming. You can mess with his head around the muzzle, he will lick (and nip) and I've managed to stroke his neck for a few seconds a couple of times before he shoots off. He doesn't seem malicious in anyway, when we have been working touching him all over with a lunge line he can just get frustrated and stamp his hind leg. We just can't seem to move forward. He comes up to you no problem. He wants to have contact with us, but not us with him if that makes sense

At the previous yard we had him on we had a set up where we could have him between a wall and a large stable door and touch him all over, but we don't have that at current yard

What would your next step be? Once we have a head collar on I imagine things will progress quickly. I have stopped feeding him from the hand now as he was getting too nippy for my liking considering we wasn't getting anywhere with him. He is going to be a big lad he is Welsh D x ISH.

All previous ones I have halter broken, once they had an initial scratch on the muzzle/neck they came too very quickly

Open to all suggestions
 
I would run him into a stable, or somewhere that you can corner him, or get him in a position where you can get that halter back on, with a couple of feet of grab rope (the grab rope is important) then leave him for a bit with a couple handfuls of grain on the floor.

Alternately , with 'wild' horses whatever age, is to forget the halter to start with, I have a long rope with a loop in it, get that around their neck first then just let them do what they want, fine, run around the stall, but I still have you. Mostly they give up and I pop a loop around their nose too, THEN I put a halter on over the top. When practising haltering, I put another one over the original one, on, off, on, off, on off, for maybe 15 minutes, in the end they stick their nose in the halter as if to say "Oh FGS! Here, I'll do it myself, now just buzz off and leave me in peace" So I do :)

Sounds as if he isn't scared of you, he's basically a teenager, just wants things his own way, so once you have him haltered, for a few moments, he will not like you, he may be cross, but basically, he is going to have to suck it up for his own good.

Keep him in a small dirt paddock, or large loose box until you can catch him or get him to come to you.
If you are his sole provider of sustenance that won't take long at all. He will not hurt himself having the rope on, in fact he will learn from it, most importantly, that he can't run from you, and that if he steps on something, lowering his head and moving his foot solves it - saves panic and broken harness in the future.

Next time you will be able to catch hold of him and start all the usual handling stuff, he won't forget, but he will forgive. :) Good luck, enjoy him.
 
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As above really, run him into a stable, smaller the better. No food from the hand at all. I started touching my feral carthorse (see thread My next equine project) at the wither and worked upwards. I also used a padded walking stick to get him used to being touched.

As soon as the halter is on, ring the vet and get his nuts off. Hormones will be raging at 14 months and it won't be long before he is a nuisance and/or hurts you.
 
Ok so tonight i have been throwing a rope over his back/neck, not fussed at all....then managed to stand by him and stroke his shoulder....Think the bit i was going wrong was concentrating on trying to touch his neck and head. Kept it short and sweet. Im really pleased with that progress. I will work on getting a loop around his neck so i can do some pressure/release and get him working with me

Owner has been waiting for his balls to drop to get him cut, hopefully soon.

Brilliant advise thank you
 
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