Help?

Question
Okay, now my neighbor has a GORGEOUS Tennessee Walking Horse mare and her 6-month old filly. I'm getting to work with them, because he does not have any time for them. I've worked with them for about two or three days now and I've pretty much sized Jenny(the mare) and her unnamed filly up. Jenny's real sweet but HATES to go faster than a walk(she's broken but hasn't been ridden in a long time and the owner wants to be there so he can help me when I start riding her again). Both are fairly hard to catch unless you have food. You can't even touch the filly unless you have carrots. Even then you can't touch her. She just grabs and runs. Anyway, she'll lip at you if your back is turned to her, but that's it. Also, Jenny, when I hold her at the end of the lead and hold out my hand and cluck(to try and get her to trot around me in a circle), she rears. Not just little rears, but huge full-out ones, too. She is great when I put my back against her shoulder and pull her head into my chest and we turn.. Her inside hoof stays perfectly in place and once, after we did this for a good two minutes, I took off out of the circles and she trotted behind me on the line, but not for long. The filly hasn't even been handled yet, and my mission is to get her halter broken before the end of the month. Oh yeah, and both horses are SUPER skittish(if I toss a brush over the fence[away from them], Jenny rears and takes off and so does the filly). Jenny is of an unknown age, and she is pastured 24-7 in about a 3-4 acre paddock with her daughter. So, I have questions that I'd appreciate getting good answers to.

1) How do I get Jenny to come to me when I come to the fence WITHOUT food?

2) How do I get Jenny to go faster than a walk when I'm leading her?

3) How do I get Jenny to STOP rearing?

4) How do I get the filly to come to me without treats?

5) How should I go about halter breaking her?

6) There are no rings here, just one big pasture, so should I build a ring? If so, how should I go about it?

Much appreciated!

Answer
Hi Michelle,

You do not say if Jenny and her foal are in the pasture with other horses. If they are I would separate them immediately. See if you can borrow or buy enough panels to make a round pen and put them in it. You will need to treat them like wild horses.

(1) How do I get Jenny to come to me when I come to the fence WITHOUT food?

Jenny has you trained to bring her food or she will not come to you. What you need to do now is reverse that.
Use the treat for about 7-10 days. Make sure you pet her while you are feeding them to her. About 10 days later call her to the fence but do not bring treats. just pet her and love on her.  

Also, get her used to your presence. Take a lawn chair and a book and a radio out to the pasture, sit down, turn on the radio, and sit in it. Don't try to chase her, touch her or anything.Just sit down and do not even look at her. For the first few days, she may stay as far from you as she can get. Horses are sociable animals, and she will become more curious, and she'll want to see what you are doing. She will start to move closer to you. Again just ignore her and read your book or listen to the radio. She needs to learn that she can come near you, run away, and come back, and you will not try to catch her. After a few days of her getting closer start to talk to her but do not stand up or look at her. This may go on for WEEKS. but don't be in a hurry.

Let her learn about YOU, start getting up, stretching, moving around a bit and then sit back down and ignore her. You want to let her approach you. When she finally approaches just let her smell and touch you. Do not touch her. A few days later bring a stiff brush out with you. When she comes back and stays then you can stroke her neck or scratch her withers. Do not touch her face area. If she will let you then brush her neck.

Keep this up until she will readily approach you without food.

2) How do I get Jenny to go faster than a walk when I'm leading her?

You want her to stay at a walk when you are leading her as it is safer for you.

3) How do I get Jenny to STOP rearing?

When she starts to rear pull firmly on the lead rope so that she feels the pressure on her poll. Also if you sense she is going to rear then walk her backwards.

4) How do I get the filly to come to me without treats?

The same way you would with Jenny.

5) How should I go about halter breaking her?

Once you are able to touch her then take the halter and rub her all over with it. Once she is used to that then give her lots of "hugs" so that she is used to you having your hands over her neck. Now put the halter around her neck but do not buckle it. When she is used to that then slide the nose area off and on her nose so that she gets used to that. Then you will bring the strap over hr neck and fasten it.

6) There are no rings here, just one big pasture, so should I build a ring? Yes. If so, how should I go about it?


You can either buy or borrow round pen panels or use T posts and a heavy tarp to fashion one.

Lisa