How to halter break a 3 month old colt?

Question

I'm 13 and have been riding for about 1 1/2 years. I bought a mare and found out she was pregnant a month before she had the baby. He is friendly and lets me pet him all over. I stated haltering at a day old but it was off and on he started getting good about putting the halter on but then Couldn't put the halter on for a couple weeks and now he won't let me. He will move away, pretend to nurse, hide behind his mama, pull back and so on. THEN when I get it half on he will shake his head and back up. ANY suggestions will be great. THANKS

Answer 1

you shouldn't put the halter on until he is completely approachable.  Go up to him as often as possible, sometimes carrying a halter and sometimes empty handed- and just pet him all over until he gets used to being approached at any time and being handled.  Then try putting the rope over his neck and just rubbing him all over with the rope and halter-to show that the halter can be nice too...

then once he stands nicely and lets you pet him put the halter on...make sure you can pet him on his face and ears too before puttting on the halter

I would also suggest you get help- training a baby horse is only suited for very experienced horse people.

Answer 2

until he gets used to the look of the halter, just bring it into the stall each time you go in there and let him investigate it, look at it, smell it, get used to its presence. mabey once it seems hes gotten used to it, try gently putting it on. if he refuses keep trying.

Answer 3

I feel for ya!  It took 2 BIG men to help me get my 3 month old loaded into a stock trailer last month.  Basically I had the SAME problem, but didn't get to imprint the foal when she arrived and she's NEVER been very social.  

Your best bet is to get yourself a squeeze chute and get him in one, then when he figures out he's been captured, get the halter on with a lead.  Once he's been caught, then use a butt rope around his rear end to get him to move forward when asked to.

DO NOT try and corner this colt using humans, babies are unpredictable and somebody could get run over BTDT.

Answer 4

You are probably going to need a little help.

Have someone help you by holding the colt around his chest and around his back end, between his hocks and his rump.  

Hopefully you can slip the halter back on his head but you are going to need to teach him to lead all over again.

Answer 5

My mare had a filly just a couple of months ago. I've had previous experience with mares and foals and I learned over time what works the best and to my convience.

My horse's are outside all day long so when I bring them into their stalls to eat I catch the foals. I halter them and let them stand with the mom's while i feed my hay. (the trick to haltering is to just walk up to them and keep following them no matter where they go. But don't make any fast movements. Just act like you do this all time and it's a regular routine. Because if you have confidence so will your colt) Then I'll take a cotton lead and make a butt rope to bring them out of the stall if they won't lead out. The first time you do this it can often be a strain on the foal and mom because of the seperation but ignore that. A 3 month old is old enough to be seperated for a while. I even take my week old foals and do this. But anyways I'll tie them near their mom, but not close enough where they can touch. Then I will begin petting and touching and bonding and showing them a good time. Once they are old enough to eat grain and hay, I'll feed them in the aisle so they associate me with good things.

A lot of people will tell you not to tie young foals up because they can cause damage to their neck, but in all reality if we don't teach them when they're young, once they get older they will have more force to pull back and do more harm. I won't lie to you, they usually will figit and carry on at first but by the second week of allowing them to stand for about 30 minutes - 1 hour they become very respectful of the rope and halter. It makes leading much easier because they have already learned to yield to the rope.

Hope I could help (:

Answer 6

Hi, I also have a filly that is 3 mths right now, and know exactly what you are talking about.  My first question is, does your colt let you hold him?  What I mean by that is, can you walk up to him and put one arm around his chest and the other around his butt, and him willingly let you do that?  If not, I would start there.  He will try to get away by jumping up in the front or in the back, so be ware, but try to stay with him.  Just a couple of seconds at first should be fine.  If he already lets you do that, the easiest way to get a halter on him is to hold him with your body either against his mom (better if someone is holding her) or against the stall wall (assuming you are haltering him in a stall or enclosed area).  If he is used to you holding him, he should stand fairly well, put the halter on his head.  At this point you know he will try to lift his head or move backwards, so as you are putting on the halter just put more pressure on him sideways (not much, just a little) to keep him from moving backwards and follow his head with your hands (he moves up, so do your hands, he moves back, so do you) and you should be able to get the halter buckled.  You are young and should be able to keep up with him.  Just remember to be calm and be ready to spend a while working with him.  I don't put halters on my babies everyday or leave them on either.  They need to be babies and it is way too easy for them to get a foot through them unattended.  Good luck with your baby.

I always put the lead rope on when I put the halter on, whatever is your preference.  As for the rearing, if he is doing this as your are trying to put the halter on, make sure you are standing to the side of him and not trying to put the halter on standing in front of him or where he can strike you.  If he is just doing this as a play thing, you still need to reprimand him for it.  Since he is still young you maybe able to simply push him away from you and walk away.  Since he is friendly, he should get the picture that this is not acceptable and you will take all his attention away if he behaves badly.  If he is more aggressive, I would try tossing the halter at him (not forcefully) and it may startle him enough he will quite.  Trust me this will not scare him from being handled if he is already gentle.  Just use your judgement on how forcefully to reprimand him depending on his personality (you know him best).

Answer 7

Sort of back him into a corner and do what you have already done, but do it quicker and this time, when you get the halter on, keep it on.  Let him get used to it, then you can go in anytime and hook on to him with a lead rope and just lead him around in the stall.  Don't pick a fight with him when you are teaching him to lead, just put a slight, unyielding pressure on the lead rope so that when he comes, he gets the pressure off of the lead rope automatically.  Watch him closely that he isn't wearing the halter too long so that he is growing to large for it, but there is no harm in keeping it on for a while, especially if you have close contact with the mamma and him.

Answer 8

if you force him into a chute and forcefully halter him, he will only become more afraid and resistant to being haltered.  Do you really want to have to put him in a chute every time you want to halter him?

just get him used to being pet and haltered by working with him every day

the leading with the butt rope does work though.

Answer 9

Don't worry i've had the same problem before - plenty of times! its really pretty easy. All you do is when you get it on him, get a lead rope and clip it to the halter ( do not take it off or try to lead him). After you do that leave him alone for about 2-3 days. After that time, if he doesn't want to lead, get the lead rope around his hindquarters and then try. If he still doesn't want to just give him time and work on it day after day.