My horse runs me over when i lead her. any tips on how to make her walk beside me and not on my heels?

Question

she also tries to walk infront of me and pull me whenever i try to lead her. so she's either right on my heels or draging me.

Answer 1

Your horse has no respect for you and she places herself above you in the hierarchy of the herd.  She moves you around and runs over you at will because you allow it and you have taught her that she is right.  It is dangerous for you not to have control enough to keep your horse out of your personal space.  A horse this pushy should be at least 5 feet from you.  You need a good rope halter and heavy marine line lead rope so you will have a good communication tool.  There are several techniques you can use.  If you are walking with your horse and she charges ahead of you - do not jerk or yank or snatch on her face as you will never win a tug of war with a horse.  When she steps too far in front, immediately change directions - 180 degrees - and keep walking.  When you change directions, YOU are in front of her again.  If this does not get her attention - try this---  Do not let her gain momentum in the walk.  From a standstill, ask her to walk but only 3-4 steps and stop.   Exaggerate your STOP so she has no problem understanding your body language - stop quickly and stand up tall making your body rigid.   Repeat if successful and add more steps each time.  3)  Stand facing her as she stands.  Take hold of the end (farthest from your horse) of the lead rope and take a few steps backward.  If she comes toward you, wiggle the rope.  If she stops, you stop.  If she doesn't stop, the motion of the rope should escalate until she does stop but you must release as soon as you get the correct response.  Horses learn with release of pressure - not hitting, smacking, jerking, using chains, etc.  You want to look for signs of understanding - lowering of the head, l*****g lips, chewing behavior, exhaling.    The use of mechanical devices inflicts pain and does not teach your horse anything.  It's not that you can't get the apparent response, but your horse will not gain respect for you and your communication with your horse will not improve.  Overall, your relationship will not improve and you will not be able to progress with your horse.  Fear and/or pain is not the answer.  The behavior you describe is dangerous and is unacceptable, but if you are unable to correct it in the proper manner, get some help.  You have to develop feel, timing and balance to work successfully with horses and having some knowledge of horse behavior is necessary.  You didn't mention your horse's age but she has evidently been pushing her way over people all of her life, so it may take some time to help her.  Be patient and while you should not insult her or hurt her, it is most important that you be safe.  My horses walk where I ask them to walk and that is different distances at different times - 5 feet behind, beside on the left or right - sometimes with a halter and sometimes at liberty.  When we are playing, they will trot beside me at liberty  and repeatedly change directions in a 20 acre pasture and will not leave me for their buddies.  It is a frame of mind and a matter of respect and communication.  It takes time to develop a real relationship with your horse, but you have to decide if it has value to you and what level you want to achieve.  Again, you need timing to be successful so until you are more accomplished, be sure you watch your horse - always be aware of where she is and what she is doing.  While she needs to look to you for leadership and guidance, until she gains confidence in you, it could be difficult for her.  Horses will more dominant personalities can be challenging.    Above all, be safe.  best of luck to you.

Answer 2

Get a rope halter - one of those that have the knots on the nose.  Every time she steps out of line while leading her give her lead rope a good hard yank or two.  She will straighten up shortly if you do it every time.

Answer 3

I used to have a horse just like that... he had zero ground manners, plus he was only 3 years old. But the best way to train a horse to stop running you over/walking faster/stepping on you is to every time they speed up or try to run into YOU have to stop immediately and your horse will probably just walk right past you, when he tries to, give him a sharp tug on his lead line until he stops. Do this every time he speeds up or runs into you. Its a pain in the butt, but after a while he'll learn that once you stop walking he's supposed to stop walking and you'll know longer have to yank on the lead line.

Answer 4

Yeah she is probably trying to be the alpha mare and control you like in the herd

What you can do to tell her that your the leader is walk halts it sounds simple but there's more

When you stop she should be directly to your side if she's not then back her up with your leadrope against her chest or move her to the side

this is what would be done in the wild

do this repeatedly and she catch on

Answer 5

I work at a therapeutic riding facility and we have just recently had this problem with our Haflinger mare we got last summer. What I have done is work with her in the round pen with whoaing. Next I started working on ground work with her. I use a rope halter with her because we have tried a regular halter and a chain but it doesn't work. It is nice with the rope halter and a leadrope because if you are standing in the right place ,beside their head but not right beside it, then they are in their space and you are in your space. This mare if you are in her space will push you around and pull you. The rope halter helps to eliminate this problem. When she does pull, I pull back  and tell her to slow down. If she won't slow down I tell her to whoa and if she won't whoa, I make her whoa and make her back up several steps. She doesn't  like this, but it has made her learn to respect whoever is handling her.

Answer 6

When I have colts that do this, I put them to work. If they step ahead of me, I turn and start walking them in small circles and figure eights. I make them back up. I do this for a while and then start to move forward again. When they pass me, its back to work. If they invade my space, I firmly push them away.  When walking a horse, you should be walking even with his shoulder with about 18 inches between you. This is the safest place to be if the horse tries to kick or rear. Horses are lazy and by making them work, they get the message.  They will always take the easiest path. Always stay calm and focused when you do this. If you are angry or mad the, horse will respond to your anger, Keep working at this and the horse will come around.

Answer 7

This is actually a dominance issue which needs addressing... I had a gelding that did this, you need to establish that you are the boss (the leader of her herd), dont let this advance more because she may choose to try to dominate over your decisions when riding, and can then become an issue.

Answer 8

use a leadline with a chain on it. put the chain over her nose. and pull down on it every time she tries to run over you. if this doesnt work, you should pull on her with everything you've got and MAKE her stand until YOU are ready to walk on.

Answer 9

If shes walking on top of you I would suggest carrying a crop or something to get her over. It can be very dangerous when a horse walks all over you. And for the draging part you should start using a chain but only use it lightly on her when she is dragging you.

Answer 10

Try teaching her to lead properly.

Put on a well fitting halter thats adjusted correctly

Run a chain lead thru the near lower ring, under her chin thru the far lower ring and up to the eye ring on the off side.

Stand at her shoulder,  with the lead just slack.. not drooping or lose  nor so tight she cant move.

IF your beside her, she cant run you over.  NOR can she drag you with a chain shank if you use it.

Use your voice to tell her what to do.  Walk, whoa, stand, trot..

use the shank to enforce your speed on her.

Answer 11

You have to hold the harness really tight and close to her face.  That way you have more control and you start off walking beside her not ahead...

Answer 12

Try and walk beside her. If she falls behind you, move back beside her. You can try a long whip in your hand farthest away from her, when she tries to move behind you , you move beside her, she may stop, when she does, tap her in the bum with the whip and say " walk". If she gets right in your space you need to elbow her in the chest, or push her away.  I use "No" in a firm voice to back up my push or smack. She may be insecure and want to be close to you. As you are safe, right? So just let her know her actions are not OK with you.

Remember to praise her when she walks calmly beside you. I use my tone of voice and a pat or scratch in a favourite area. Resist treats as that will bring her close to you looking for more. Plus she may get excited that you have food and walk all over you. Which puts you back a square one.

Good luck and be consistent and firm! :)

Answer 13

She needs to be taught to respect your space.  I use rope halter and lead with no metal parts.  Start by shaking her back away from you on this rig.  Always leave about 2 or 3 feet of lead between your hand and the halter.  If she approaches you, shake her back away from you.  When you lead her, if she tries to move ahead of you, turn toward her and shake her back again...she should lead on the loose 3 feet of lead and stop 3 feet away from you when you stop.  Work in an arena on this every day...any time she comes toward you uninvited, shake as hard as you have to on the lead to get her back....Use the end of the lead to twirl at her if she needs more encouragement.

This rig (you can buy it on the Parelli site) gives excellent control if she tries to pull away from you as well....the pressure on her poll if she pulls will stop her, and there are no metal parts to break.

Answer 14

Try rewarding her when she is good and when you walk with her have a crop or whip  (don't use it just have it to show her who is boss) when you walk push some weight from you on her it helps!

Answer 15

We had a problem with bolting with one of our mares. Bring a crop with you, and whenever she tries to drag you somewhere, make her stop, and poke her in the chest with the handle end of the crop and say 'back up, back up'. Don't jab it into her, just poke her. It works because it's an annoyance, and she'll move away from it. Soon enough, she'll figure out that when she gets too close or tries to go faster than the leader (you), she'll just have to stop and back up.

edit: I forgot to mention to never look at your horse when you're leading, it makes them think that youre looking to them for leadership so they will act more dominant.

Answer 16

use a chain above nose and a dressage whip to make him respect you

Answer 17

Hehe, that's pretty common. Maybe if you give her a piece of carrot every time she does the right thing, she'll get used to it. It might take some time, though. Make sure you never reward her when she behaves badly.

Answer 18

First I would start off with purchasing a Parelli or Clinton Anderson halter, lead roap, and carrott stick. These halters have special knots that press on the horses preasure points in the nose. When he trys to go ahead of you tug straight down on the rope until they drop back. When they go behind you take your carrott stick and don't be afraid the wap them in the butt!!! I guarentee you that your horse does not respect you at all. You can also purchase Parelli or Clinton videos that will help your horse respect you. Believe me this works because my horse did the exact same thing. I really hope that this helps you. Don't be afraid to show your horse that your incharge and get big!!!! hope this helps :)

Answer 19

Like many people have said I would carry a whip for a while. She needs to learn to respect your space. I would take her to a roundpen or if you don't have that, an arena. Start by walking a little in front of her shoulder with a little bit of space in between you and your horse. If she starts to invade your space usethe end of the whip and poke her shoulder. Start lightly, but if she doesnt' listen harder. When she starts to get too much in front of you. Bump the leadrop a few times and if she doesn't ease up start tapping her chest wiht the whip

Another good space respecting exercise is to stand facing her get a good size whip and teach her that when you hold it up paralel to the ground slightly in front of her chest, she needs to back up

Answer 20

If she gets too close just push her away and she will back off   at least that's what my horse does.

Answer 21

My mare use to do this and to stop her i use to sit my elbow on her neck where her just in front of her shoulder bone and hold the lead with the same hand, if she tried to come into my space i would just push her with my elbow, if she tried to run ahead i would just give her a little tug on the lead to stop her ( not a pull a slight quick tug)  when she responded she got lots of praise and pats.  Lots of patience helps too. Persist and she will learn to lead nicely.