Training for Halter

[Mini Horse Lover]

Hey everyone!

I have this minaiture that is lead broke and has been set up for pictures. How do you train them for halter? Like feet placement and get their neck out?

Thanks!

 

[MiLo Minis]

The first thing you need to do is teach WHOA and get him standing without moving until you release him. Ask him to whoa while you count sloooowwwwly to 10. If he moves at all give a small downward tug to the lead shank repeating whoa. Do this very patiently till he will stand without moving for a slow 10 count then walk him out of it and turn him out or put him back in his stall with a treat - whichever would be the bigger reward for him. You need to ask him to stand long enough that he understands what a whoa is but if you are having difficulty with getting him to stand for a slow 10 try shortening it slightly. You can do this at any time during the day but I don't advocate doing it on the way to morning turnout or just before meal time when he would not be likely to want to stand still or might become angry at food or turnout time being withheld. A good time to do it is after he has had a workout or when he is coming in from play/free time.

Once you get him standing well then you can start to work on foot placement off the lead shank. Tug gently down and forward or back to move a front foot and push up gently to move a back foot. At the same time as you move up or down you can move the head and neck away from the side you want to move eg. To move a right foot turn the head to the left and vice versa. This takes his weight off the limb you want to move and allows him to move easily and in balance. You will need to use bigger movement to start and once he gets the hang of it you will gradually be able to almost imperceptibly move his head to place a foot.

Keep your sessions short and praise lavishly when he moves the way you want him to. Release (remove the pressure) him and walk him out of it.

 

[Zipper]

What a great thread. I was going to ask the same question.

Do you touch them on the opposite side of their chest to place their back feet?

I place margarine containers on the floor or chalk out with circles but that is for me to try and stand them in the proper spot because I think I stretch mine out to far.

Mine are never going to be ready for spring but I am trying.

Going to use Lori and hope she gives us a step 2.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I was watching the World Show, last year as it happens, although I watched this year as well, and I saw a gentleman, whose name I never managed to ascertain, he was in quite a few classes.

Anyway, I watched him as the manners of his horses caught my eye, and this is what he did, and what I now emulate.

You will see a lot of people doing what I call (forgive me, mea culpa

) "The Chicken Dance" in front of their horse, trying to get and then keep their attention.

They also drop and throw grain around, and do all sorts of strange things to get the horses ears up, etc.

This gentleman stood still in front of his horse, watching the others, but keeping a good eye on his own horse, whether in the ring or on the rail.

The horse stood like a rock. He appeared to have an internal clock as, every so many minutes he would "release" the horse and that is when he rewarded it with a small handful of something out of his pocket.

This is the easiest thing in the world to do, as well!!

Just do as the others have said to get the horses attention, and get it to stand (The "whoa" has to be the most important word in your vocabulary IMO) but, once they are standing, ask for a few seconds more, then reward. It does not IMO have to be food, but a small, immediate, titbit seems to be the easiest thing to do.

No amount of unacceptable pushing or bullying should be accepted.

The only way the horse gets the titbit is to do as you want.

It is still hard work, but, watching this person in the ring, I have to say it is well worth it.

He enjoyed it, as he could relax and still have his horse work for him.

His horses enjoyed it as they knew what to do, and knew they would be rewarded for doing it.

He never took his eye off them, they always got their reward, but my gosh, it was a joy to watch his calm, gentle, approach, and the relaxed, alert look of his horses!

So, reward them for behaving, do not reward them to get them to behave!

 

[Mini Horse Lover]

This does help! Thank you! Now what about getting their neck out?

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Lord knows I am NOBODY'S halter expert (the idea is laughable) but over the last year I got serious about teaching my stubborn, uninterested, totally non-spooky gelding to pose so we could enter the versatility class he's otherwise very well-suited for. With clicker training it was surprisingly easy and I'm now teaching my yearling stallion to pose the same way.

I started by teaching an iron-clad "Whoa, Stand" as MiLo recommends. The horse needs to learn to stay back off of you and to hold the position you put them in so this is the foundation of everything you want to teach them. Once the horse can be told to stand and knows how to do so, I teach them to set up the front feet. Having done showmanship in 4-H for years that was pretty easy- I just taught the horse to move a foot forward and back off my body language and rewarded him when he put the front feet down square. I taught him that "Set" meant to square the front feet, then we practiced setting up and then staying there. He naturally looked at me fairly bright-eyed at that point wondering what was next and I clicked him for that so he learned to stay focused on me and put his ears up. My older gelding is a bit cowhocked and naturally stands way too close in the back when resting so the next thing I taught him was to move his hind legs apart and square them as well. The sequence at that point was stop the horse, rock him back until his hind feet are where I want them, ask him to step the front feet up square, say "Good" and then "Whoa, Stand" and step away from the horse.

Getting the horse to stretch his neck is easy. Getting him to ARCH his neck is much harder! *LOL* You want them to lift the root of the neck at the withers and then almost drape the rest of it, reaching out at the last second to touch your hand and then bumping back off that contact to rebalance and reach again. You don't want them to start leaning forward and stretch that neck out flat; the horse should stay balanced over his or her forelegs. I taught my horses to target, meaning they get clicked for reaching out to touch an object I'm holding or in this case my hand. That gave me the "reach forward" cue. Then I taught them to tighten their abs and rock back away from me and clicked them for that too. What I ended up with was an interested horse I can stop, set up in moments, then ask to reach for me and if I don't like the angle he's reaching at I can ask him to pull his weight rearwards and start over. The horses quickly learn to stay back off of me and arch without ever having to pop their leads or do anything unpleasant, and because it is a game to them they stay bright and interested.

I doubt I'll ever win at halter as it's simply not a game I enjoy playing and my horses are definitely performance-bred, but it's fun to be able to set them up for pictures and they enjoy learning to do it over those long winter evenings.

Leia

 

[kaykay]

I think it is helpful for the horse to have a cue. Ours are trained that we we stand directly in front of them its time to work. When we stand to the side they can relax.

So I trot them out and as we round the corner and go to where to stand I am in front of them. Hard to describe in type.

It is helpful to use pressure on the opposite side of the chest that you want the back leg moved. We also always set their croup until they get used to doing it on their own. Pressure on the halter does the same thing.

We always keep sessions short but eventually with repitition they will just set up when they see the cue.

For the hook in the neck you have to bring then nose down a bit. But remember not all horses have hooky necks. If they dont have one you cant "get the hook"

 

[krissy3]

I was watching the World Show, last year as it happens, although I watched this year as well, and I saw a gentleman, whose name I never managed to ascertain, he was in quite a few classes.Anyway, I watched him as the manners of his horses caught my eye, and this is what he did, and what I now emulate.

You will see a lot of people doing what I call (forgive me, mea culpa

) "The Chicken Dance" in front of their horse, trying to get and then keep their attention.

They also drop and throw grain around, and do all sorts of strange things to get the horses ears up, etc.

This gentleman stood still in front of his horse, watching the others, but keeping a good eye on his own horse, whether in the ring or on the rail.

The horse stood like a rock. He appeared to have an internal clock as, every so many minutes he would "release" the horse and that is when he rewarded it with a small handful of something out of his pocket.

This is the easiest thing in the world to do, as well!!

Just do as the others have said to get the horses attention, and get it to stand (The "whoa" has to be the most important word in your vocabulary IMO) but, once they are standing, ask for a few seconds more, then reward. It does not IMO have to be food, but a small, immediate, titbit seems to be the easiest thing to do.

No amount of unacceptable pushing or bullying should be accepted.

The only way the horse gets the titbit is to do as you want.

It is still hard work, but, watching this person in the ring, I have to say it is well worth it.

He enjoyed it, as he could relax and still have his horse work for him.

His horses enjoyed it as they knew what to do, and knew they would be rewarded for doing it.

He never took his eye off them, they always got their reward, but my gosh, it was a joy to watch his calm, gentle, approach, and the relaxed, alert look of his horses!

So, reward them for behaving, do not reward them to get them to behave!

This is great!! I am working with a trainer now because i dont like the "dance" either. We are doing the same and it works well. Only thing different is that we only do it for a few min once a week , as she is only 2 going on 3, and he feels everyday is too much for her at the moment, however she ground ties for 1/2 a day if you want her to . just a short light downward motion on her rope and she will stay put forever .

I have had very good luck with taking the training slow... so I am sticking with the slow and consistant method. She took 2x ,2nd and a 3 rd at her last show without any training. I am happy.

 

[Leeana]

I stay infront and teach the horse to stay off from me and out of my space, when I get infront and ask them to pose, I want them to back up and be "alert". I like to hand set feet myself, and do not mind doing so, I do have one gelding that will set his feet himself and step up on the front end and get it close enough to perfect that I do not have to mess with his feet much. I always set the back feet and then a small yank on the halter (to apply pressure to the poll) to ask them to step up and then a yank to apply pressure to the nose of the halter and I move infront / slight off the side and start to bait then either with my hand, foal, paper, treat, hay...whatever and at that point if they move they get backed several feet and then we walk forward and start over. The first thing I train them to do is stay off from me / away from me. I like my horses to be alert and sensitive to pressure on the halter.

I had a gelding that was "wired differently" this year that just would not get it, so had to go about a totally different way this year and that was fine..

 

[~Lisa~]

the advice given has been great the only thing I do different is I do not use the word Whoa when working on halter- for me I think it is an overused word and I am guilty of using myself.

I often hear people use Whoa when driving and wanting the horse to slow down a bit- or when a horse is spooky some people say easy some say whoa.. as well as when they want the horse to stop. for me I want my horse to know the difference between whoa as in slow down- easy stop and stand as in stand still and do not move (not that it works all the time and happens that way) so for me I use the word Stand when doing halter stuff it doesnt sound like any other word I use and I only use it during halter training or obstacle or in a pinch.. in the line up of a driving class lol

 

[Reble]

so for me I use the word Stand when doing halter stuff it doesnt sound like any other word I use and I only use it during halter training or obstacle or in a pinch.. in the line up of a driving class lol

I agree Lisa the word stand is best for us in halter and whoa in driving.

We find the best place to teach standing for long periods of time, is going into the barn.

They learn to stand and have patients this way.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

You definitely have to be careful how you use the word "Whoa." If you want it to mean "Stop completely," then you shouldn't use it indiscriminately to ask the horse to slow down or calm down. Use other words for that! For me "Easy," means to slow down or relax, "Whoa" means come to a halt, and "Stand" means grow roots and don't move a single foot until I say otherwise.

I do not use Stand while actively driving, only for halter, ground-tying for obstacle work, and standing loose for hitching/unhitching. When we enter a lineup I say "Whoa" and hold contact until the backup is done, then his release is to loosen the reins and allow him to relax. He may rest a hind foot, shift his weight, etc.; things that are not allowed when he's on a Stand. Stand means he must keep his head up and wait attentively to be released.

Leia