Help - teaching a 5 year old horse to lead

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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We have a new horse on our yard... beautiful intellegent mare - she has no idea how to lead.... she has only been hurded onto the box, arrived yesterday and the owner is already in floods of tears.... I am only just starting to walk, so everything I do will be at a snails pace.

I helped her get her out this morning, she was running in circles, so I did the old - pony nut trick... that all worked well but now she is transfixed on me and almost cuddles into me with her nose... she is not pushy she is just almost walking to heal, with her nose pushed into my naval... she has no idea of space, so I have worked with her on this tonight too - but I am just too slow to be of much help and I have my own youngster to sort out too.... but she could be a really nice mare - she and the owner just need a bit of support and some ideas.

so what suggestions do you have
 
Teach her to give to pressure.
You can do that in a stable, yard, field, anywhere you like. Take the headcollar rope and just apply steady pressure - and wait. Might take a while, she might pull back or toss her head (that's when you could do with a 12ft line, and it's fine, means she is trying to find out how to get rid of the pressure) but eventually she will offer the tiniest bit of movement towards you. Even if it is only her head, release the pressure instantly, rub her face as a reward, give her a second and do it again. After just a few times she will be stepping towards you and you have the beginnings of leading. Redo it in different environments and different number of steps and you will have a horse who has not only learned to lead, but to give to pressure so eventually she will tie up, or lower her head, or flex to the left or right and do all the things a horse needs to know about pressure to do. The key is INSTANT release. Good luck - that kind of watching a horse learn is huge fun.
 
Jilla - she is happy to come to me.... she even cantered to me in field tonight when her owner could not get near her ??? she seams to have bonded to me and the pony nuts !

She was quite good tonight as i was teaching her to stay in the corner in the stable when i went in with her.... picking her feet out... well that was a laugh... she just wanted to be with me, so where ever i went round her she tired to turn her head to me, poor lamb - i cant get too invloved as I know whats going to happen here and i cannot have 5 !

She just transfixes on me... if she was a dog i would be so proud.... but its a 16hh horse ! lol

The owner has already text me to see if i want her !
 
I posted a little while ago about a 9yr old forest run mare I took on - obviously she had never worn a head collar let alone been led!

I first taught her walk on and whoa voice commands in the stable with the aid of a lunge whip. Then once I got a head collar on her I also popped my rope halter on, gave the voice cue for walk on and put lots of pressure on the rope. She freaked out a little at first, I ignored her, kept the pressure there and then as soon as she took a fraction of a step forward I released the pressure and praised her. We repeated this lots, also did much the same for the stopping. Whenever I enter her stable I always raise both hands and say back. She learnt that one pretty quickly and now I can use my hands to direct her, for example when I was teaching her to lead/halt she got a little carried away and didn't want to stop. So I raised my outside hand to her eye level and directed her in to the wall. I can also use them to get her to back out of my space too.

Its all basically pressure/release stuff with none of that fancy/expensive crap you get with some of the NH schools ;) Hope the above makes sense, my brain is a mass of confused jelly atm!
 
Has the owner tried pony nuts (no secret I know!) and then you can pass on some help about pressure and release as JillA says, or show her? You don't want the owner feeling left out with her new horse, I should think she'll feel much better if she can achieve it herself with a little help.
 
She is fundamentally scared of her - i have no idea why - yes she is a big strong mare but as soft as soft can be - she is a bit jumpy - well wouldnt you be in a new place and all this wind about - she is just so so clingy ..... she just needs a confident friend.

Apparantly I can have her for £100 - :(
 
I guess if the owner is afraid of her, its having an adverse effect on the horse. Where as if you are confident and calm ( plus you have treats!) then you are more appealing to her.

The owner needs to work on being less anxious around her before she can help... or realise she is mis matched :(
 
I was afraid of a horse. No particular reason just she was bigger than me and I had no confidence.
If you want to help your friend with her horse than I think (and please don't misunderstand me) you need to help her do the things you do with it rather than you doing them. Personally there is nothing worse for my selfconfidence that seeing someone else doing something I don't believe I can do - even if the reality is I can!
If the horse is more than your friend can manage then its the wrong horse - if the issue is a lack of confidence on your friends part then its a different scenario.

I was helped by Richard Maxwell. He taught me to move my horse forwards and backwards with the pressure halter etc. At on point my horse was on her hindlegs and I was just told to be clear and consistent.
He also taught me about my space and her space and when she comes to close to poke her back on her nose - not to hurt just to say "oi too close". I didn't need treats - just clarity. Calm and precise one command at a time.

worth getting hold of one of his books, or getting him to visit or find a similar trainer near you that does something similar.
 
I fully understand - the owner is really nervous becuase the mare is quite sharp at the moment - she is really kind though.

She could not catch her again tonight, but as soon as she saw me she called out and cantered across - que friend in tears and saying she hated her ! :(

I have contacted a mutual friend whom is going to spend the day with them tomorrow - I hope this works I really do.
 
Do it GW! and take on my feral Welshie too while you are about it :D

Seriously, if the horse/owner relationship is a mismatch then I would step in to see if you can turn things around for the horse. If the relationship is there somewhere though I would see if they could work it out between themselves first
 
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