Leading a yearling

H

Horlicks

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 October 2011
Messages
184
Location
Surrey Hills
Visit site
We brought a completely unhandled foal last year and with a lot of work and patience we have manged to get a head collar on him without him panicking and are leading him in and out of the field.

The problem is.... when he is not following his field mate - he will not walk forward he drags along behind and I feel like Im pulling him in from the field. Ive tried people walking behind him encouraging, swishing him with the lead rope (he just plants himself !):confused:

Any suggestions on how I can improve this ? He also point blank refuses to trot on the lead rein unless his field mate is trotting ahead of him (my poor old 23 year old retired cob - is not very impressed).

Id like to take him to some shows and do youngstock classes in the future but obviously need to crack this. I dont want to rush him by any means. He is a dream in every other respect - brilliant with my 8 year old son, happy having his feet picked up, groomed, etc.

Grateful for any tips/advice.
 
Try someone behind him clapping, no lead rein slapping.

Once you've got the walk marching forward then use the same tactic for the trot.
 
:) Yep, that happens. This is one of those questions that you can ask ten different people and get at least ten different answers, all of which will probably work, maybe pick the ones that suit you, him and your situation best :)

First things first, forget trot :) until you have walk and whoa, so your old boy can have a break from trotting.

Personally, there are two things I try first before getting out the big guns, mainly because most of the time I am by myself and haven't got a convenient bod to move them on from behind. Both of these can be done with or without a lead horse, depending on the help you have.

Firstly, a schooling whip (helpful if he is used to it all over him so he doesn't go into orbit when he sees it out of the corner of his eye) you in normal position, whip -------> tap, tap, tap on his rear end (just above the hock is where I aim)
and I mean tap, not a whack, just an annoying little tap. When he moves forward, which he will, stop the tap, when he stops, start it again, takes a while but it does work.

Second one, works better on small ponies and foals that you can manhandle a bit, but is simply the old rope around the bum thing, and put pressure on that, different technique, but should get the same resort as the stick.

It will come, it just takes time and baby steps.

Does he understand giving to pressure? It sounds as if he doesn't because he is pulling against you, which is a natural reaction of course, that has to be dealt with first of all. Sounds pink and fluffy, (which I am not) but it is a basic lesson that makes complete and utter sense, that they have absolutely have to learn to make their entire life more comfortable. If he will move his head towards you, and step away from pressure on his side, you have your movement there, you just have to channel it into a forward direction.

Good luck, once it clicks, and some are very slow to understand what is required, he will be fine.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top