Training Tips

QUESTION: The situation that I need advice on is concerning halter training 2 colts and a filly. They have been put in their stalls for weaning from their mothers for about 6 weeks by the stable manager that used to work there. All of them are approximately 9 months old, well 10 months now. It's horrible! I feel so sorry for them. Please don't get me wrong, they are taken care of, but the owner after many requests hasn't gotten halters for them. There is no one there that really knows what to do.

I started going to the stable a week before they were put in the stalls. The three of them had never had contact with humans before until I started going in and bonding with them. They seem to really enjoy it for a while and then they started rearing up and jumping around the stall. I have taken my halter and lead rope in a couple of times to try to get them use to it, but here lately they seem a little more irritable than they used to be (which I totally understand!!!). Their stalls are approx. 10 x 10 and makes me a little worried about making them too upset with me in there with them.

The owners work and live at the beach which is about an hour away and really don't have a clue to what's going on at the stables. I really want to get busy halter training "the little ones" as I'm helping out there at that barn. But every day I go out there I get a little more discouraged. I can imagine what kind of damage it's doing to them (mentally and physically).

I guess my question is, should I just try to get them to lead by the lead rope wrapped around their necks and pray we can make it to the arena or round pen, or put my rope halter on them one at a time? Either way it will take some doing as they are not that trusting yet and really not so little, all the while being in the stall. What would you do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

REPLY: Hi, thanks for writing. Yeah, that's tough how they've got them cooped up there. Weanlings that young (yet getting big already!) are a bundle of energy and are meant to run around in a pasture 24/7 to burn up that energy. So...you're not only dealing with untouchable/untrained weanlings, but pent-up energy weanlings to boot!

No, I wouldn't try leading them to the round pen with just rope around neck. That usually won't work. The second you step outside that stall with one like that, even if you got them tolerating that inside the stall, they're going to get real scared and woo-hooey and explode, my guess, because horses "compartmentalize learn" and you're either going to lose control there or hurt their necks or potentially get hurt yourself in the struggle. Young horse necks are pretty fragile so you don't want to be pulling on them because their growth plates haven't closed up there yet and won't for a while.

What I would do there is break things down into smaller baby steps. Focus first on which one you perceive is the easiest horse there for a start. I would do the following myself (might want to put a helmet on by the way, as you enter the stall for this; want you kept safe!).

I would utilize that stall as a makeshift round pen, but greatly altering how we round pen untouchable/untrained horses, not applying too much pressure there so they don't get too woo-hooey and you are kept safest, because there's just not enough room for them to get away from you there without them feeling trapped. But I would use some of the round penning concepts/psychology there, just altered.

First step is to get them desensitized to human touch. I teach that here toward the end of my round penning section on my site:

http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/RoundPen8.html (Read that, but you're going to alter it a little and I'm going to go into that below, but wanted you to get a foundational understanding there of what desensitizing to touch is all about and the applied prey animal psychology you are going to use there.)

Bring in with you a 6 foot long piece of twine and wad it imperceptibly in your hand (invisible to the horse at first) or better yet, stick it in your pocket to have handy when it's time. Walking into the stall and trying to desensitize them to rope & halter as you've been doing is too "A to N" a jump (skipping the understanding letter/baby steps in between) for such horses. You have to start in even smaller baby steps.

First step then is them allowing for your hand to touch and stroke them all around the areas you are soon going to be putting the halter. So you are going to want to work on that first, getting them accustomed to just your hand all over and around neck/face, using advance/retreat like I teach in that link above. Don't be goal focused there, be retreat focused. The more you retreat after the horse allows every baby step progression, the faster it will go. During the retreat and pause, lean against a stall wall, eyes averted away from the horse, cock one leg. That is body language to them that you are relaxed and not a predator threat to them. And during the pause/retreat, the horse thinks and digests each success. Humans have a tendency there to do the opposite: be too goal focused, going too far & too fast for the "goal," which is predator language, when the opposite is what works better with horses (a prey animal): be retreat focused. You cannot retreat too much!

If the horse cannot even be touched yet, you are going to have to break this down into even smaller baby steps which I'll go into below.

FYI - When you do this desensitizing lesson, and if the horse acts up, quickly ask him to move his feet, moving him to the opposite side of the stall by raising your arms up and making a kissing noise. Shoo horsey! After he moves away, release the pressure, drop your arms, go silent, turn your shoulder to the horse, no full eye-to-eye contact, lean on stall wall, one leg cocked to show the horse: right answer. You're establishing yourself there as "lead mare" in your little "herd of two." And he who moves the other's feet is higher up on the pecking order is horse language. Move his feet away from you, but release the pressure when he complies. If he at any point turns his rear to you there (a sign of disrespect), keep your kissing pressure up, put up and direct an arm at the hind quarter, asking the hind quarters to move away and the horse to turn and face you. Then release the pressure. Turn your shoulder to the horse, look away, no eye-to-eye contact. All horses learn from the release of pressure what it is you want, not the pressure itself, so get your release timing quick there for right behavior answers. Even for "tries" for right answers.

If the weanling walks away from you at any point while you're in there, quickly make it your (you the leader's) idea and drive him away, but don't use a lot of pressure there, you're in a small confined area! Just calmly kiss, hold your arms up, like you're "flapping wings," or just one arm up if that's all that's needed and ask him to leave to go to the other side of the stall, you're the leader there, not him.

When he stops/stands quietly there, remove the pressure, turn back or side to horse (but always keep the corner of your eye/your peripheral vision on them), go soft and quiet in your body language.

After a rest pause, then use advance/retreat to approach him, but bend over low at the waist, your head down, no eye-to-eye contact (but do keep an eye on the horse out of the corner of your eye to read him), reach out a hand, palm down, limp wrist, coming in at the shoulder of the horse. But retreat half way there, break even this down into baby steps. Go part way to the horse, but then retreat before making contact.

Even when you first make contact, touching by the shoulder or neck (only approach on the side, coming in toward the shoulder so they can well see you there, never straight in the front which is their blind spot), you will retreat instantly after one brief stroke-swipe with the back of your hand. Always use the back of your hand for fearful horses like that when first approaching/first touch; coming at them with the front/palm of your hand is a "predator claw" to them! Via the retreat, the horse grows braver and more confident about it. And you're also showing them you're not a predator to fear. Predators don't retreat (in their minds!). You're just "another herd member," but a "lead mare," in charge there.

Watch for the mouth working after your retreats, that means he's digesting your thoughts, accepting, "letting down." After many approaches/retreats like that, linger longer & longer before retreating. But read the horse well. Only linger when he's ready. Pretty soon the horse will allow you to keep stroking there on the neck and shoulder area (keep the area small at first; you're "painting" a "base" you can return to later) and you won't have to retreat after that. Mother horses lick their baby's neck in long, gentle strokes to comfort them, so this is familiar "language" you are speaking there to them. It's okay to use the palm of your hand for strokes once the horse accepts your preliminary touches.

From there, stroke the neck gently until you have a "safe base" to return to as you further the desensitizing process, and the horse allows that well. Next, move outside that "base" range briefly, fleetingly, crossing the line there over into undesensitized area, stroking one part of the face area, but just one fleeting touch there and very quickly return to the "base" again before the horse has time to react/be afraid. Stay real perceptive there and retreat back to base before the horse retreats. If he moves his feet at any point there, you went too far too fast. Slow down.

Move away from the new area quicker than the horse has time to react/move and he'll get there quicker. Scratch with your fingernails and stroke. You're beginning "search touching" to find that horse's favorite spots to be bonded on. But when you find those spots and the weanling leans into it with an "ahhh...yeah, right there -- that feels gooooood," indulge that only for a second and move away from it. Leave him wanting more. This bonds the horse deeper to you.

Continue this desensitizing dance until you've got the entire neck and face desensitized to touching/scratching (never pat a horse), and do it on both sides of the horse's face and neck because what you do on one side of the horse does not translate to the other because they "compartmentalize learn."

Read this section so you understand how horse's brains work and how they learn -- helps to know this stuff for deeper trainer understanding:

Once you've got the neck and face areas, both sides, accepting touch, now bring out the 6-foot piece of twine and wad it up in your hand. Repeat the above, but this time you're going to rub the horse all over with the twine wadded up in your hand, at first imperceptibly. As the horse accepts this all over that region, every spot "painted" with it, now let a little bit of the twine open up in your hand as a "glob" as you continue rubbing (don't jump too "A to N" there, do this in baby step increments! A-B-C-D...). Rub again, this time with the wadded up twine all over face, neck.

After that is accomplished, next, slowly let the twine open up more and rub all over again. Do it all in precise stages. Every area there. As the weanling accepts this, now let even more of the twine dangle long on the horse as you continue rubbing. Read the horse well there and if he reacts at any point, tenses up, scrunch up the twine again, back up, and go back to what he was comfortable with earlier and build up again, this time more slowly.

Pretty soon there, you'll have the twine dangling down pretty long as you rub the neck & face area with it, both sides, all over there, if you've broken it down properly enough in baby steps. When he's cool with all that, both sides, now drape the twine over the neck, but break even that down so that at first it's doubled over and not as long. Now it's just resting there on the neck, hanging on both sides. Let it sit there as you stroke and scratch the horse all around neck and face with your hands. When he's okay with that, let the twine now dangle longer across his neck, opening it up to full length, one half hanging on one side of the neck, other half on other side of neck. Stroke, scratch, bond.

Incidentally, whenever the horse allows it throughout all the above, hold the nose handle (the hard ridge across the muzzle) with one hand and with the other hand, stick a finger in the corner of the horse's mouth (no teeth there, don't worry) and feather the tongue with that finger to produce the horse working the mouth. Then remove your finger the second the horse works the mouth (licking/chewing). This horse whispering "trick of the trade" instantly relaxes a horse. Once you get that "tool" in place, return to it often from then on to keep the horse relaxed throughout this desensitizing lesson. It's a very powerful training/relaxing technique!

Stick a finger in the corner of the mouth & feather the tongue to

get them working their mouth, producing the same results as

if they worked their mouth at liberty, instantly relaxing the horse.

On this note, regarding "horse whispering tricks of the trade" to relax a horse and get them more deeply bonded to you, you can learn further helpful whisper techniques we use in this field that will really help you out there when you feel it fits a particular weanling as you gentle them -- check that out here:

Once the horse accepts the twine dangling over the neck, position it over the pole (the top of the neck where the head connects) and grasp both ends, face forward, bend at the waist, looking down, and gently pull steady pressure downward and just wait. The second the horse gives downward to that pressure, lowers the head even an inch, open your hand and release the pressure. Pause. Repeat. Do this until the head is low to the ground, releasing for every give-try. If the horse's head shoots up there instead of coming down when that downward pressure is applied, do not release the pressure, just act like the twine is a bungee cord and keep the pressure there. I'm not talking about pulling hard or tugging or jerking the rope, just a steady few pounds of pressure applied downward. You will only be releasing there for downward head movement, not for the head coming up, or you'll accidentally teach the horse to shoot the head up when he feels that pressure (remember: they learn from the release of pressure not the pressure itself, so only release there for downward head movement; but release for the smallest tries, the slightest changes in the right direction there and he'll get there faster).

Once the horse's head has been dropped there low to the ground, love on him down there. If you feel safe, squat there to love on him; if you don't sense it's safe, don't squat. Squatting is less threatening posture and helps the horse to relax even more, but do not squat if the horse is overly wired or you sense it's unsafe to do so, and if you do squat, do it off to the side, not in front of the horse.

Head down is a relaxed horse; high head is a tense/on alert horse. Where the head goes, their mind follows. So...you're teaching the horse to relax around you there when you ask for the head down. And reward lavishly with quiet strokes, scratches to show the horse: head down is a wonderful spot to be in.

Once the weanling can do that well, next you are going to bring in a rope, a step up from the twine you just used. Do all the above now with the thicker rope, starting from the beginning, desensitizing, etc., just as you did in all the above, but this time with a little bit thicker rope. I like to use my training string for this next step and you can check that out in the sidebar to the left above on this page.

Once the horse can handle all that, go ahead and bring in your natural horsemanship halter with 12' lead rope attached and again, wad it up small and rub all over, just as above to show the horse: it's all the same, but you've broken it all down into baby steps so the horse can find his way there digestibly. After the horse can handle having the halter/lead combo rubbed all over his face and neck, you'll usually find they are easy to halter now. But even here, you want to break it down into baby steps. But before we go any further here, I want to direct you to the proper way to halter a horse with the natural horsemanship halter/lead combo. For step-by-step directions for how we put the natural horsemanship halter/lead combo on, read this: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips219.html

So...you want to break even that down into baby steps for the first-time-haltered horse. Put the halter long end around the neck, but then immediately remove it/release the pressure/retreat it. Pause. Stroke. Let the horse digest that in increments. And do it a few times (can't retreat too much in my training book!!) until it's no big deal.

Now, leaving the long end of the halter around the neck, using the same pressure/release you did earlier with the twine, do the same now with the halter/lead combo, ask for the head to come down so the horse will relax.

Next, bring the halter part over the horse's muzzle, but just as you put it on, quickly remove it/retreat it. Do this many times until it's no big deal. Via retreats, the horse gains confidence. When the horse is calm & accepting of this process, go ahead and tie the halter on; tie it tightly; it'll loosen on its own as you work the horse. Stroke/praise/bond on the horse as before, finger in mouth, relax the horse. Take a pause break there to let the horse digest his success there. Via breaks, they think. Via thinking, they learn.

Now that you've got the halter/lead on, right there in the stall, you are going to teach the horse to give/yield to pressure so he knows how to lead when asked by the lead rope. Stand in front of the horse, but off to the side a little, more parallel to the shoulder. Draw in all the lead rope slack and apply steady pressure forward, but off to the side there. And hold the pressure. Don't tug or jerk the rope, just apply a few pounds of steady pressure. This throws the horse a little off balance and when he steps forward or off to the side to regain his balance, release the pressure instantly, open your hand, let slack in the rope to show: right answer. Repeat. Several times. Slowly he'll realize when he steps forward, yielding to the rope (if your releases are quick and crisp there), all pressure comes off of him.

Now do this on the other side, standing parallel to the other shoulder. Hold pressure and release for the "give." Do this a number of times and the horse will learn how to yield to that rope pressure for leading. Now take him for a short walk inside the stall in circles, keeping slack in the rope when he's moving forward yielding to the pressure correctly. If he stops, gets stuck, step off to the side, parallel to the shoulder and repeat the above to get him unstuck, then continue your walk. Approach the horse now and then to bond/stroke for reward when he's getting it right. Get his head down, your finger in his mouth to keep him relaxed.

When he's doing all that well, now you are going to want to teach him how to back up on cue. You'll need all this in place before you exit that stall and attempt to move him anywhere else, like the round pen, for further lessons. And to teach him to back up on cue, let me direct you to a segment on my web site that teaches how to do this step by step:

Once you've taught the horse to back up on cue, and lead a safe distance from you in the stall, now it's time to take him outside the stall. Or, better yet, come back another day for that lesson. This is possibly quite enough for one lesson for a weanling.

But when it comes time to take him out of the stall to the round pen, since all horses "compartmentalize" learn, what you just taught in the stall there is not going to automatically transfer to when you first step outside the stall, but you at least now have well in place the "tools" to remind him that "it's all the same" instantly. Open the stall door, have a long lead between you and the horse and step out of the stall. Ask the horse to follow, but be ready, there's a good chance once he steps outside the stall he's going to panic a little, especially after being confined there as he's been, but you have taught him to listen to you as "lead mare" and you can quickly get him back under control. Once he steps outside the stall, right then and there back him up on the lead rope with the cue you now have planted into his foundation for this. After he backs, ask him to come forward. Take a step or two, turn and ask him to back again. Quickly he'll forget about his fears/irrational behavior and he'll only focus on you, his leader there, as he works to get right answers in your backing/come forward requests as he has to stay on his toes to keep listening to your directives there. Do this all the way to the round pen, however long it takes. Don't rush to get there, take that time to keep him focused on you via asking him to back/come forward.

When you get to the round pen gate, don't be surprised if he's first afraid to go through the gate, which quite common. The fear there: going through "tight spaces" (the opening of the gate, & horses can be claustrophobic) and fear of "things overhead," which is about the bar over the top of the gate. Horses as prey animals (food for predators!), until they are desensitized more, have a natural fear of things overhead/above them and that fear comes from a genetic (instinctual) fear of predators leaping onto them from up high and this instinct has served wild horses quite well for thousands of years, because, in the wild, the wild cats are their greatest predator enemy and many stalk and capture their prey via climbing a tree or rock overhang and leaping down upon them for the kill. So know that's a potential fear there and the why's when they are first asked to enter a round pen. If he balks, just use the backup cue to back him up, unlocking his feet. Have him come forward a few steps, then back him up again. Pretty soon, making the right thing easy, wrong thing hard (it is harder for them to back up than come forward), going forward will seem like a good idea to them and you'll get them through the round pen gate. But take your time, there is no rush. If he's really afraid there, stop and bond on him, get head down using pressure/release on the lead rope, finger in his mouth to get him working his mouth, love on him to reassure him. Pause, let him relax, then try again. And you'll get there.

Once inside the round pen, because those colts have been cooped up so long (that is quite cruel in my book, by the way), I personally would remove the halter, shoo the weanling away and let him go run around for recess a bit. Even me exiting the round pen for a while to let him have some freedom before working with him further. Once he's "shaken the willies out" (expect a lot of whinnying, crying out to others as he gets upset being alone there, even as he's running around), I'd return to join him in the round pen and start some round pen training which you can learn how to do here:

My Whispering Way Round Pen Leadership DVD also teaches the art of natural horsemanship round penning visually. To learn more about and order that video: CLICK HERE

But you have to be careful round penning younger horses and need to alter the program a bit for them because with young horses you don't want to push them too hard or too fast or too long there because:

You can alter that round penning lesson there by having them turn often, not running them around in circles too fast or too hard, but even when turning them, don't drive them to run or turn too hard. Use common sense there so you well protect their still growing legs. Your only goal there in round penning is to teach them that you direct their feet and also to teach them to come to you for the latch on. And honestly, I probably wouldn't even round pen them there unless if upon return to the round pen after their recess, the weanling won't allow me to approach to halter them. If they didn't want to be caught, then I would round pen them gently to teach them to choose to be caught/haltered. I'm not a big proponent of round penning really young horses. It simply is not good for their still developing legs/bones. Once haltered, either scenario, I would then begin their real foundation training.

And here's where I would suggest applying horse whispering/natural horsemanship training techniques in a very clear step-by-step program, which you can learn more about in my DVD set, the Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System, and you can order that here: CLICK HERE

After watching the videos, and after learning and applying the methods, you, as the horse's primary teacher, will have taught the horse:

This video set will help you to lay down an even stronger, more solid and trusting foundation under your horse that will then serve you well, tremendously, actually, when you do step up into the saddle. By the time you complete the steps, you will have a transformed horse. The final steps are in the saddle and those exercises will more deeply plant into your horse's foundation the one-rein stop/the "safety zone," and more, that will turn the horse into a far, far more rational, trusting, happier -- and safer -- horse in saddle as well.

And you can do this yourself if you just back up and learn a few things yourself there. This video set will get you there the fastest with your horse, which is why I'm recommending this route. It's designed for anyone on any level, horse or human, to get professional trainer-like results.

And incidentally...my Whispering Way Complete Training Package contains all my videos and training tools that you need to train or retrain your horse yourself the natural horsemanship Whispering Way. You can check out/order the Whispering Way Complete Training Package on my web site here: CLICK HERE

And once they've mastered the ground foundation work, further lessons would be just about reinforcement so they can be well handled/directed on the ground by me, by any other human, by farriers and by vets. And that's all they need until they are older and saddle training is introduced. The rest of the time, just let them go live with other horses, ideally in pasture, to just "be a horse" during those early formative years and so they become well socialized around other horses.

Do all the above one by one with each of those foals there and you'll get on top of them all, you'll see. Don't be scared of them, they're babies, with baby brains (in the wild, they would be the lowest in the pecking order), but do be careful as you gentle them because even 10-month-old-babies can be big and accidentally hurt you. As for rearing or any other aggressive behavior they may show while in lessons, you are going to want to make a loud "shhing" sound that means "stop it" as you move their feet away from you as such times they do something like that. In halter/lead that would mean jerking the lead rope to send their feet backwards. At liberty that would be shooing them away from you with a shhhh sound and arms up and flapping an arm against your leg. But, truth is, babies are looking for a competent, calm, rational, fair, kind-but-directive leader and if you show them you are, they settle down quickly.

Now, foals/weanlings/younger horses have very short attention spans, so lessons shouldn't be longer than 15 or so minutes tops. So keep track of the time as best you can and be happy with progressions and walk away on a positive after that time period, and return later for another lesson after they've had a long break (maybe even the next day). After 15-20 minutes that's about all they can handle learning-wise before they get on "information overload" and begin to get stressed or just zone out. So keep that in mind and construct your lessons (inside or outside the stall) accordingly.

And please, try to talk to the horses' owners and the stable owners there about getting these poor foals "out of jail" as soon as you have them gentled and are able to be caught, and talk them into at least putting the foals into a larger paddock, and all together, during non-lesson times, so they are not emotionally damaged by the awful route they are presently going right now, keeping them isolated and cooped up. That is cruel as all get out in my opinion and immensely unhealthy mentally and physically for them! Know you feel the same way. Listen to those instincts; they are good! Ideal for youngsters that age: pasturing with a variety of other horses, including older horses who will well school them on how to respect. Young horses kept alone and isolated turn out to be 1) very spoiled and difficult horses later and 2) unsocialized properly to other horses, which must be done during these early formative years or they will never handle well being around other horses later. Later is too late; nature set them up to learn heard social behavior now while they are young. Horses are herd animals and it is most ideal to keep them that way, with other horses.

One more thing: when the lessons are over, do not (repeat: do NOT) leave a halter on young horses for stalling or turnout. Ever. They can get seriously injured and even killed wearing a halter when turned out if/when it gets caught on something, which babies sure have a way of doing! Plus, it can rub raw the tender skin underneath. No horse should ever be turned out still wearing a halter, but that goes even more true for youngsters. Halter should always be removed first and turn them out or restall them wearing nothing. Remove the halter and via the work you do with them in lessons, they will learn to be caught willingly. Spend a lot of time the first lesson putting on/taking off repeatedly the halter and you'll have no problem putting one back on again in the future, because they will have compartmentalized learned that haltering is a pleasant and safe experience because you will never have forced the issue there.

Keep me posted how it goes! And keep up the good and very worthwhile work there!