When Training for Halter Class what all should I be Training my horse to do?

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ManyMinisFarm

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I'm a little stuck? What all should I be training my halter horse to do during a show. I know he has to stand square but I know that's not all. What else should I be training my horse to do in halter?
 
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Basic leading and ground manners... The horse should be able to walk and trot next to you and also halt. Some judges ask to check the bite, so horse should be reasonable about handling the muzzle.

Squaring up is important.

After that, getting expression/hooking neck/using the body while set up are the art form that can be tricky.
 
Its hard to explain how to get the best out of your horse on here as setting up a horse to show off his best conformation features is hard without actually seeing him in person. At home what I like to do is set my horse up and figure out exactly how I would like to stand him in the ring. I use a big mirror so I can see the side of the horse at about where the judge would see - your view and the judges view is much different.
If you don't have a giant mirror, you could get someone to help you - they stand the horse up and you look from the judges perspective.

After I stand the horse up, I run my hand along his back to make him relax it. Its such a subtle thing that makes a huge difference in the overall picture.

To make him 'use his head', its hard to explain but basically, I think it as, up and out. Meaning, don't just get him to stretch his neck up so the underneath muscle is showing (ewe neck = conformation fault) or don't just get him to stretch his neck straight out and low. BUT in saying this, if he has a naturally built ewe neck, this is partly how you can help disguise it.
Now, when getting a horse to use his neck, he must stand how I want him, I then get his attention, thus he raises his head (and neck), then with a treat (or something yummy smelling) I get his attention then he will stretch his head out = up and out. Do not let him nibble at you or step forward or stretch too much.
This is a basic way of looking at it but, I think you need to get a mentor who's happy enough to help and has a lot of experience in miniature horse showing, that can come and see you and your horse in person to help out. I would, but I live in a whole different country.

Conformation comes into play so much here and I personally think you should study up on it and give your horse a fair evaluation.
 
Head and neck position--I personally hate the nose up and out pose so many people use--I always say there is a horse that would drown if it were pouring rain!--I get them to drop the nose just a bit as that will show off a nice hooky neck the best.

Now -- some horse's simply cannot hook their neck and for one of those you will not want to pose him as if he does have a hook. Such a pose will only draw attention to a plain neck. It pays to have someone take photos or a video as you pose him, that way you can see which pose suits him best. Then you coordinate your view--from the handlers position--with the view the judge (photographer) gets, and you will be able to show your horse to his best advantage.

What to work on--walk and trot in hand, proper pose,--and you will want him to set up quickly, judges don't want to wait too long to see your horse "show"-- and holding that pose while the judge walks around him.
 
Find something they like or interests them and make a cue out of it. I show my horse a treat and say "treat" in a higher pitched voice, when she perks her ears I give it to her. Also play around with different stuff like wrappers, click pens, etc. some people use a small piece of bear fur... I guess the scent interests them. Don't show anything too much or they will get bored.
 

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