Improving the ground manners of an adult horse

[Hypancistrus]

Since we got our new mare, Sugar, home from the rescue, she's been acting a bit anti-social on the ground. She does not lead well and has a tendency to drag us all over the place, unlike our other mare, Rita, who is well mannered on lead. It would appear that these are issues that ought to have been worked out when she was small, but weren't.

It is also worth noting that she is very young for a horse-- only 4 years old or so. Also worth noting that she leads MUCH better when we have both of them out... she starts to pull and behave badly when alone more than in tandem with Rita.

She can also be very pushy about personal space. The usual reaction-- pushing back to make her move out of YOUR way, to show her YOU are boss, works once, but she tries again soon after.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to improve the ground manners of an adult horse?

 

[Kaminoke]

Do you have a round pen? I trained horses for years, and my specialty was groundwork. I can give you some very, very specific advice that has worked for me on many horses off all ages and genders. One example was a 2 year old Friesian stallion. He was very sweet, but he had no respect for your personal space whatsoever and would walk all over you and pull hard on his lead. After his training, he would not approach without permission, walked calmly on a loose lead, and the greatest effort to get him to back away involved lifting your index finger and pointing it back and forth towards him (imagine an air traffic controller). I have used the same methods on much older horses, many of which were neglected or abused at some point in their lives, all with great results.

It will take me a while to put it all together... I can post it here or email you, either way, just give me a day or so (I'm not used to typing instructions like that out - just showing it and doing it many many times). And let me know whether or not you have a round pen. You can definitely still work with her without one, but having one is a huge help.

 

[Nanci]

I would check into John Lyons training methods. He uses a round pen.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Do you have a round pen?

Yes, we do have a round pen. We use it to warm them up before we ride, and to do saddle training.