Please help me with lead training my colt foal - he is not keen on it at all! Help!?

Question

Hello.

Ok as some of may you know, I have this 6 month old colt who was unhandled until we got him.

After a few scared weeks, he has come to love us and depend upon me (mostly) and my children. He now whinnies when he sees or hears us which is great and he loves cuddles and attention.

Anyway, I have started lead training him which he is not keen on at all and I need your help! I have managed to get him to walk by my side with a bum rope and halter rope, but the problem is he goes into 'I hate this' mode and has his ears pinned right back and mouth ready to bite. His whole attitude is 'I dont like this!'

So what I have been doing is leading a little way with voice queue, then whoa, and then give huge cuddles to make the whole thing positive.

I have been doing this for the past fortnight or so around 3 times a day, but he still seems to hate the whole thing. :-(

Any advice would be great, thanks. x

Answer 1

First, please consider the social order of the horse - the stallion is the leader and responsible for the safety of the rest of the group.  A colt that is still a stallion will exhibit a high level of dominance - his nature requires that he test your leadership skills constantly to establish his own.  Even after gelding, he will still exhibit dominance tendencies once in a while, but they will grow less and less  - and the later you geld, the longer these tendencies will stick around.

Also understand that horses do not "cuddle" each other - horses have "personal space" which they use to cause more submissive horses to move about, they use body language and moving about to establish their place in the herd, they don't touch and cuddle each other.

Therefore, although your horse may seem to like cuddling and touching, this is not a reward to him.  In the horse world, he who moves his feet first loses.  Two horses will square off - the first one to move his feet is the one that is backing down.  

YOu sound like you're doing the right thing with a butt rope - but that tool only will reinforce forward movement.

Here's what I'd suggest:  First, if possible purchase some books and videos on natural horsemanship training - Monty Roberts might be the best place to start as he teaches the "join up" method which works to help you establish a place as the leader with the horse at liberty.

From there, you teach the horse to follow you - reinforcing that his choices are focus on you and follow you around or work.  There will come a point where sending him off to work becomes the wrong thing to do, and Monty and others will teach you this.

Once the horse has focused on you, deferred to you as it's leader, you begin teaching it to accept your touch and the touch of a rope and halter all over his body.  

At this point, the horse being allowed to stand is his reward - don't get me wrong on this - softly spoken praises always help as well as sharply spoken reprimands, but the horse will not respond to your voice as much as to your body language.

I learned somethng on RFD TV the other nite - a man was working with his horse to do these things.  The horse had locked on to him and would follow him all about the round pen.  There was no more need to send it off to work.  If the horse tipped it's nose toward him or moved his feet, he simply pushed the horse's nose back to the desired position and if it moved it's feet, he simply moved them back into position. Soon the horse learns that movements result in work to undo what they just did, and they quit doing this.

The idea here is that the horse is focused on you - and he becomes accustomed to your touch anywhere rather than being touchy as you describe.  Sessions can take anywhere from one to a dozen depending on your skill and the willingness of the horse to listen and learn.

Once the horse stands lazily and allows you to touch him with a hand, soft rope, stick - all sorts of things anywhere you want, you can begin communicating with him.

At that point, introduction of the halter and lead as tools of communication will allow better acceptance of these tools.

It sounds like your youngster has simply not been conditioned to accept human touches properly nor respect the leadership of a human.  You cannot make him stop laying his ears back or biting until you get him to accept these things.

I would also caution you - starting a green horse to do anything is also much easier than un-doing poor handling or training.  Also, just because he's gelded doesn't mean dominance tendencies will immediately subside.  IF they do, it will take some time - which will be greatly enhanced by proper handling and training.

There's a TON of steps to preparing a horse like this - and many different trainers have slightly different methods but all geared to the same result.  If you'd like to try some step by step methods, and are unable to get Videos and books necessary to learn this stuff, feel free to start up and email dialogue and I'll share with you my experiences starting young horses - also, do the same with other people here - they'll be happy, I'm sure to share information with you - you'll need to find the right fit of information and the right person for your comfort zone to interact with.

Answer 2

This might help you a bit, he is young to he might just be being stubborn and not wanting to work for you, and since he is a stud his attitude is a little more aggressive..... hope this helps!

Step1

Put your colt in a small round pen, Place the halter on your colt, adjust halter for a perfect fit, not to loose, not so tight that the halter is snug around his/her's nose.

Step2

Snap lead rope to halter,hold the lead rope about two feet from the colt and give the lead a small easy tug, more than likely the colt won't budge, tug once more, if he makes one step pet on his neck and tell him he did good.

Step3

Now stand on your colts left side facing forward looking the same direction your colt is looking, hold the lead rope with both hands about one foot from the halter turn left and pull the colts head towards the left also walk in a left circle the colt will make a step or two and then you pet him/her for a reward, continue until the colt will turn in a complete circle. Always pet your colt for a reward after each step.

Step4

Now stand on your colts right side facing forward looking the same direction your colt is looking, hold the lead rope with both hands about one foot from the halter turn right and pull the colts head towards the right also walk in a right circle the colt will make a step or two and then you pet him/her for a reward, continue until the colt will turn in a complete circle. Always pet your colt for a reward after each step.

Step5

Now stand on the left side of your colt and tug on your lead rope for your colt to move forward and the colt should walk forward with you.

good luck

Answer 3

I'm sorry i can't reply too much at the mo as lack of time

buut try

www.parelli.com

=]

Answer 4

Here's an excellent article on foal-handling:

http://liverystable.net/handling_a_new_f...

Hopefully he will learn to accept the halter and leading.  It just takes a lot of practice and staying calm and gentle will help him learn.  

As for gelding him, it is perfectly fine to wait until he is a yearling.  A lot of colts won't show any "studdiness" until then anyway, and he will be able to learn just fine while still a stallion.  Don't worry about it, but be sure your kids don't get hurt, either...teach them safe horse-handling practices.  Here's a good article on Kids and Horses and teaching them safety habits:

http://www.liverystable.net/kids_and_hor...

I wouldn't offer treats or make it a bartering game.  Just continue what you've been doing and practice it often.  He will come around.

From the pic, just wanted to ask if he's on a good worming schedule and not eating sand...when the belly is bigger than the hips like that it worries me.  He's a cutie, though!

Answer 5

well you could try kind of luring him with his favorite treat or whatever he likes to eat. or you could find an older horse (that knows how to lead) that your colt likes, and see if he will follow it

really cute (and looks sleepy)

good luck!

Answer 6

Try to get him to follow a carrot or a cookie. He may be more willing to lead that way and enjoy it more. But still reinforce with love and pats. Don't make the cookies the reward, just the bait and the occasional reward.

p.s.- SO Cute!

Answer 7

My colt just turned a year old and fortunately I have had since the day he was born.  My boy is doing an extremely good job now, because he has been worked with since day 1.  

After we took him away from mom, he was showing some stubbornness and not wanting to do what he was suppose to (like leading).  I had to get a long lead rope and clasp one end on his halter and then rope it around his rump (slightly below) and then tug lightly on the rope.  He will have to move this move.  At first your horse may not like it (mine didn't) but after a while he will learn what is expected of him and be more willing to please you.  

Just give him a little time, if he is new to you, he may be trying to adjust to his new environment and not having mom around.

Answer 8

put a halter and lead rope on him then tie him around his moms neck and lead the mom around the mom will make sure he goes if no mom, tie him to the back of a four wheeler and wheel around its harder for him to pull against. :)