Question:

Haflinger -how to stop the head tugging? Placement of feet ?

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I bought a good sized (1500lbs) Haflinger gelding. His previous owner used him for driving...I want to trail ride. But he has a habit of tugging at the reins constantly, eventually pulling the reins out of your hands. I always give him slack but it doesn't matter, he still tugs. Even on a lead rope, he tugs. He will wear you out doing this. I believe that this is just something a driving horse is trained to do. But I don't want him to do this out on the trails during riding. I used a tie down but it doesn't stop him. Was thinking of using a stud chain but would like to find out if there is a better way.

I even tied him out for awhile, thinking he would eventually quit but he didn't and when I got back out there he had the ropes slipknot so tight I barely got it untied.

So is there anyway to stop the head tugging?

Also since he was used for driving pretty much all his life (10 years old now) and just used to plodding along .....what is a good way to get him to pay attention to where he places his feet?

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  1. My Haflinger gelding was a professional carriage horse, he'd pull wedding carriages, and I chose him to ride as a trail horse.  He's been fantastic out there, crosses water, follows the other horses, although he's rather pushy and likes to be on the lead (but he will follow if he has to.)  Once they get the hang of trails, they're super duper horses, and I've even been able to incorporate his driving commands into riding ones.  My favorite one is "Car coming." which tells him that something is moving up behind him so he shouldn't panic and spook.

    If there's one thing I've learned though, it's that Haflingers are very very pushy critters, and they're stubborn.  I know the exact feeling about getting tugged around on a lead rope (or at least, having a Haflinger try and tug me around) although I don't think I've ever had any tugging on the reins.  I ride in a full cheek french-link snaffle, and that might have to do with the lack of tugging -- he doesn't resist the bit therefore, no tugging.

    Anyway, when I am walking my Haflinger on the lead, he will try and tug, mainly because he wants to graze (being the food hog that he is) and I will have to keep him from doing so without my permission.  I pretty much work with him on the ground, I've got him in a rope halter with a wrapped noseband, and carry a dressage whip if necessary to give him a little tap. when he tries to tug.

    As for trying to get him to pay attention to his feet, I'm not sure if I can help much.  My gelding is quite surefooted, and I didn't really do anything in particular to help him.

    Good luck with your Haffie though. They're great horses once they get everything together.  


  2. Summer - I've been having problems with this answers forum, so I don't know if you'll get this or not.

    Usually tugging at the bit is a sign of bit resistance, however, since he's doing it while in hand, it's possibly become a habit that he must be trained to forego.  Additionally, getting a horse that's used to plodding to energize is a little tricky as well.

    The key is exactly what you mentioned - getting him to pay attention to where his feet are.  In order to do this, gain complete control of his feet, you will need to go back to some basics with him and make learning fun for him.  He'll naturally start to step out when you do some fun things with him.

    Keep in mind that a horse's main way of learning is positive reinforcement - they don't learn well from negative reinforcement.  Also, they learn in smaller steps than humans do - so each thing you are trying to teach should be done in smaller steps.

    I would suggest you get some books, videos or watch RFD TV as much as you can to learn some basics from people like Pat Parelli, Clinton Anderson, Chris Cox and Craig Cameron.  Pat Parelli and Dennis Reis have some great training packages that may cost some dollars, but are the next best thing to having a world class trainer in your arena with you.  The techniques you need to know are not ones in which can be explained here in a few lines, it takes many lessons and a basic foundation.

    I have given people a LOT of good information on the basics of starting a horse naturally here, unfortunately with the changes Answers has made, whenever I give a complete (long) answer, the system times out.  So though I've gotten a lot of "best answers" due to the completeness of them, it seems I am disallowed now from making such complete answers.

    How about if you check out my profile, look through similar questions about training and such and see what you can find there?

    If no luck, I'll try again and see if this thing kicks me out.

  3. I think that you should discourage this behavior by making him walk forward more. He should learn when he pulls down it means more work for him. Halflingers are usually very good plod horses. I would definitely suggest a dressage whip and maybe some dummy spurs to encourage him forward. I used to canter and gallop a halflinger bareback, if I didn't have a whip he wouldn't move or he would trot for like a minute and then just stop no matter how persistent I was with my aids. As soon as I picked up a whip he was VERY quick to respond, even though I hardly ever touched him with it. Anyway, back to the original point, when he pulls you push him to go faster so he'll realize pulling means more work for him. Also, as he pulls allow it to basically pull you deeper into the saddle and don't let your upper body collapse when he pulls. As for feet placement, we used a lot of cavelliti and low poles so he needed to lift his feet up. He was never super conscious of his feet, but it definitely did help.

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