Horse stops when being asked to walk

Question
I have a 12 yr old TB Gelding that sometimes when you're just leading him he stops dead in his tracks. Side to side doesn't seem to work and if you hit him in his belly while you're facing ahead, he backs up. How do I fix this?

Answer
Hi Jen!

Your guy just has a little brace.  Heres how to go about fixing this up...

When he stops, face him, my guess is that you will be standing on his left side, take your lead rope in your left hand and open (point) to the left (your arm will now be pointing in the direction you were heading) with the tail end of your lead rope, now in your right hand, swing overhand at his rump.  If this is not enough pressure to get him to step forward, give him a nip on the bum.  Just enough to get him to understand that standing still is not the answer, but moving forward is.  As soon as he tries to move, this may be as little as rocking his weight forward, release the pressure, that is to say, quit swinging the tail end of your lead.  When your horse walks forward you will ask him to move in an arc (semi-circle) in front of you, as you are walking toward your destination.  When his profile tail-head passes in front of you, yield his hind quarters so he is facing up on you then send his front quarters through to the new direction which is back to the right.  Keep sending him in this arc as you are moving toward your goal, by yielding the hinds and getting the fronts to move through to the new direction.  Continue with this pattern until his feet are free and he is following your direction softly with willingness.  Then when he is shaped up properly, step up to his left side again and ask him to lead off like a partner.  If he becomes stuck again, go back to sending him off, yielding hindquarters etc...

This exercise will do several things for you and your horse, it will really free up the feet, it will get him to understand how to come off pressure, you will not have to haul him around like a barge because you will be teaching him how to follow a feel, you will be increasing lateral suppleness.  I am going to get a slide show of this on my website.  The site is slow for some folks to load due to the amount of pictures on the site, so I hope you have DSL or cable!  

If you are having trouble understanding some of this, let me know and I will clarify.  Looking at the diagrams and pictures of this exercise, we call it "The Dance"  will really help you where words alone sometimes fall short.  

Keep me posted!

Smiles!  Denise