how do you halter break an older horse

Question
How do you halter break an older horse about a four year old?  She doesn't trust anyone.  She will not let anyone get close to her.

Answer
Hi Kelly!

Boy, this is the good stuff!  You will learn SO much from this horse!  You really have answered your own question!  She does not trust so, earn her trust!  

You cannot bribe a horse.  Treats will not work.  Your mare is just saying "Prove it to me!  SHOW me WHY I should trust YOU!"  I have had the privilege of working with two of these types of horses this year.  One was a darling little QH cross mare that was abused badly by two different owners.  This mare made some wonderful changes, but there is still a long road ahead.  The second was a 2year old Morgan mare that was just a wild little thing.  There was just a lot of "horse" in this horse.  I'm hoping that with your mare, she is more like the Morgan!  Even if your mare is a severe abuse case, I would approach them the same...here goes...

Get into a round pen.  It is the best way to start hooking your horse on.  Any small pen will do in a pinch, but a round pen has no corners for your mare to get stuck in, that is why they work so well.  About 60 feet in diameter is really nice.  If you can divide the pen she is in and round off any corners, that would work great also.  Create something to work in that will help your horse and make things better for you.

You want your mare to start thinking of you as a trusted leader.  You want her to want to be with you.  You have to show her that being with you is comfortable and that she can believe in you.  She needs to know that you will not offer hurt or harm and that she can survive, after all the horse is only doing what she thinks she must do to live!  

Start by trying to approach her in a way that says: "please stay."  If she looks like she is going to leave, stop YOUR feet, back up a step or two and see if you can get her to stay.  If she cannot stay, do a little something to send her off at a good trot.  Toss the end of your lead rope at her, or maybe all it will take to send her off is you patting your leg loudly.  You will have to experiment with this.  Do only what it takes to get her to trot off and NO MORE!  Now, you have to be really keen here...watch her carefully!  The second you see her cock an ear in your direction or maybe she will look at you with one eye, or she might slow her feet just a bit, TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF!  Get really soft and quiet, step back away from her, try and draw her in to you.  If her attention is not on you and it is somewhere outside the pen, put her to work.  A good working trot is what you are after.  No vacation here, a really good forward trot!  You will need to shape up your body so that when you want her moving forward you are standing more towards her hindquarters.  If you want to slow her or shut her down, step more toward her inside eye as she is working in a circle.  What you are trying to do is show her that if she allows you close to her good things will happen for her.  If she cannot stay with you, she has to work.  Don't get mad, frustrated, or angry.  Depending on your feel and timing this could take an hour or 12 hours!  Don't start up this process unless you have the time to spend to see it through to a good place.  Pay very close attention to her.  If she gives the slightest try to be with you, reward by getting soft and quiet.  If she cannot be with you put her to work.  Continue this pattern until she will stop and face up on you.  Depending on how troubled she is, this may be my stopping place for the day, just getting her to consider you.  If you can get to this point with some quality, and again this process requires a lot of "feel" I may ask for more.  What I want in the end is to be able to approach her and rub her.  Make it feel really good to her.  When I turned to walk away, I would do so with a feel that says "come with me."  I would want her to feel good enough about me to want to be with me and to follow me.  This process is called hooking on.  You will continue the process of putting her to work and then getting soft and quiet when she considers you until you can get her to face up on you, yield her hind quarters and then step her front feet toward the opposite direction, walk/trot/canter both ways of the pen, allow you to touch her all over and then finally to allow the halter to touch her and help you in getting it on her head.  

This is only the tip of the iceberg!  I would want to do lots of work with my lass rope with this horse.  I would want her to offer to put the rope on her head, to rope up the belly/flanks and feet.  You can see much of this being done in the DVD's by Ray Hunt.  "Back to the beginning" by Ray is a good one as well as the colt starting and "Feel, Timing and Balance".  "Groundwork" by Buck Brannaman is also wonderful.  Go to my website and check out the links to my favorite teachers.  They travel the country helping people just like you with troubled horses.  The things you will learn is just 4 short days will amaze you.  It is such a blessing to the horse.  

Watch the DVD's.  If you cannot afford them, some library's and tack stores have them to rent.  Check into attending a clinic as well.  Try the things out that we just talked about.  Let me know how it is going and I'll give you more to work on based on how things are coming along.  If I have used terms on concepts you do not quite understand, please let me know and I'll clarify!

Please don't be frustrated.  This really is a great opportunity to become a great horsewoman.  A year from now you will be looking at this mare as a wonderful gift!  I promise!

Smiles!  Denise