Leading yearling - chewing and staying straight!

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zoon

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My yearling normally leads well - walks on, trots and halts and backs up nicely with a hand on the chest. But he is all of a sudden determined to chew everything. Normal, I know. The thing is, he'll reach round towards me as I lead him to try to chew the rope (it is infact half chain, but chewing a chain doesn't deter him!) and therefore turn inwards, bumping into me and we sort of do a long line of little circles with me struggling to push him out of my space and him determined to chew the lead! If, for some reason, he doesn't feel the need to chew, he leads wonderfully. We have out first show in a couple of weeks - just a small local one, 5 mins up the road - we'll walk about and maybe enter a class depending on how he is. He'll be wearing his little inhand bridle for this with his little rubber bit, haven't put this on since his sudden need to chew so maybe he'll be happy chomping on his bit ratehr than the lead, but anyone have any tips to help keep him straight/ stop him chewing for 5 mins just so we can trot inhand in some sort of a straight line for the judge!?
 
my boy was like that.. i had to give him a break because i had a baby, ive just brought him back into things now with lunging and leading etc and he appears to have grown out of it.. id be tempted to say dont make n issue out of it ..someone else probably has more practical advice but it worked for me! hes now a bit nibbley and gets told off for biting especially if hes being led but hes nowhere near as bad as he was!
 
His teeth might be hurting a bit or he could be teathing. B who is rising 2 now still chews quite a bit, i just gentle pull the rope out of her mouth and carry on as normal when leading her. Shes manages to keep walking fairly straight though so no need to circle. Have you taugh him to move over yet by putting pressure on his side? might be worth teaching that as then when he tries to cross your path you could get him to take a step to the side. Might just be enough of a reminder that he remembers hes got to keep out of your space.
 
Easy!
Holding the end of the leadrope in the hand furthest from him, when he starts to chew or invade your space, start twirling the end of the rope. Just twirl the last six inches so it isn't a big movement, and keep it away from him to start, only moving it closer to him across your body if he continues to chew.

If he persists in misbehaving, keep moving it closer, even bopping him on the nose if necessary (not hard, just enough to make him move away).

Obviously, the instant he responds correctly you stop twirling the rope.
 
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