The ultimate goal if you wish to ride is to achieve success in saddle training; however, it is necessary to do the groundwork first. Your horse will need to be led from his stall or pasture to the tack area before you can tack-up and ride. You can’t begin to teach point B if you’ve not first mastered how to get there from point A. The two of you can only act as a team if your horse cooperates with you. This cooperation begins with your ability to approach, catch, and halter him first. Only then can you lead your horse using a halter and lead rope.
The primary objective in teaching a horse acceptable behaviour is safety for both of you. Pulling against the lead rope, for example, is natural behaviour for a horse which you will need to teach him not to do. It’s important that your horse knows not to invade the personal space of the person holding the lead rope. Many an accident has occurred as a direct result of inattention to the importance of teaching your horse basic safety manners before attempting anything more advanced. Whilst a good equine insurance policy may cover you for accidents that happen in training, it’s obviously far more preferable not to have to find this out!
Patience, persistence, and positive reinforcement, the essential three P’s of horse training, come into play when leading your horse. If you have already achieved success at haltering, then you probably know all about the three Ps already.
The best plan is to begin lead training with your horse when he is still a foal. Basic ground manners should be taught from an early age, before the horse is old enough to worry about saddles and riding. The young horse will need to cooperate for farrier and vet visits, as well as for the various people moving about the yard, stables or paddock.
Lead training is made easier if the dam is with you as the foal will automatically mirror the behaviours of it’s mother. Even if the dam is not on site, the foal will copy any other horse with which he spends time. Young horses naturally learn from the older ones in the herd. For example, you don’t need to teach a horse in the pasture how to graze or go to the water and drink. They watch the other horses to learn these things. If your student is older, you can still use another horse’s example by haltering and leading the other horse first. Your student will be watching, as they do notice everything that happens around them, particularly if it involves other horses in their own herd.
Start off by leading two horses – the foal and either it’s dam or a more experienced horse – side by side with you in the middle. Stay to the left of your student’s shoulder area as it is the safest spot for you, with the older horse to the left of you. Never wrap the lead rope around your hand or anywhere else, just in case your student bolts or otherwise kicks up a fuss. The last thing you need at this stage is complicating the process with an injury for which you may need to claim on your horse insurance.
Alternatively, if you have a calm horse that you are comfortable riding and that the foal will follow, you can use the pony method. Using a longer lead rope and simply tow the young trainee behind the more experienced horse. Since it’s natural for the young to follow the elders behaviours, this is actually a quite natural method for teaching the lead.
If you don’t have the luxury of having other horses close by from which your student can learn, you will need to rely heavily on your skills of patience, persistence and positive reinforcement. Use these three Ps of horse training when trying to get the horse to understand what it is you would like him to do.
After satisfactory progress, it’s time to try it alone. Again, standing to the left of your young horse’s shoulder and with both of you looking straight ahead, gently walk forward and as you step out, tug very gently forward, then release any pressure on the rope as soon as the horse makes any motion to go forward. Understanding that release is a reward to your horse is a valuable tip used by professional trainers. It tells him that he’s doing things right.
Once he has mastered walking with you in a straight line you can then attempt a small turn to the left while still maintaining the space between you. If he crowds you, use your right hand to push him out away from you and hold your arm out to the appropriate distance. Then try turning to the right with the same safety distance between the two of you, still using your right hand to guide him into the correct zone. Every time he takes a step in the right direction, remember to release the pressure on the lead rope.
Lead training requires large reserves of patience. Stay with it and you will see great improvement. Work every day if possible for short periods and you’ll be pleased with the results; then you will be moving closer to the time when you can saddle up and begin riding.
