Ask the Trainer: Difficulty Leading Horse & Respect on the Ground

Horse Behavior Question:

Say that I am taking my horse out of a pasture (through a gate) or leading my horse around. If my horse becomes spooked or just misbehaves (bucking, kicking out, rearing, and running ahead of me, hard to control), what EXACTLY should I do in that situation? How should I control my horse? Should I turn them in a tight circle or back them up? I am clueless!  

Note: I do not own my horse/ride often; this is a bit of a beginner question, but this happened to me a little bit ago, and I was clueless about what to do.  

Answer:

I would start by offering your horse a "clean slate" and assume she knows nothing. One of the challenging aspects of understanding horse behavior, is learning to raise your level of awareness and sensitivity. Many people are "late" in recognizing the equine's feedback, and find it challenging to influence the movement at peak stress levels. 

A horse never randomly does something, so learning to observe and check-in with them at the initial, subtle signs of having a problem. Then taking the time to address mental anticipation, drain physical tension, etc. to help her learn to think and work through her triggers, creates reasonable behaviors that replace the fearful, fleeing ones.

Instead of repetitiously "practicing" locational familiarity, I suggest prioritizing clear communication presented in short, specific segments. 

Learning to have different cues with the lead rope i.e. directing the thought, following the energy of the rope, yielding to pressure used with it, starts to give one options in addressing the horse mentally and physically.

Learning to ask movement in the head, neck, shoulders, ribcage, hindquarters, and all four feet separately, is important to help the horse let go of braced behavior when concerned.

 

There also needs to be an assessment of if the horse is defensive towards your use of the rope. Many people trigger fear in their attempts to communicate, which only gets exacerbated as the "real world" encounters add to a horse's concern.

Your horse's defensiveness towards you (her fleeing or bolting) is her way of showing her lack of trust and her insecurities.  Right now the horse is "making" the decisions because there is a lack of mental availability towards your communication. The goal is to help the horse's brain slow down and address you, to influence her mental and emotional availability.

This crucial aspect allows for you to redirect her focus, helping her let go of anticipation. Offering a "Positive Alternative"- or a "How about this" is  proactive guidance to the horse.

Most people tend to critique unwanted responses and then go silent in their communication until the horse does something "wrong" again. This creates vicious cycles of teaching an already fearful horse to be more concerned about the human.

Timing, awareness, energy, sensitivity, and clarity are all things you will need to refine.

Most times, when people catch a horse, he mindlessly follow on the end of the lead. The horse may be physically complying out of familiarity but may still be mentally resistant.

 

You should be able to ask your horse to first stop and think, then look, and then step in a designated direction (left, right, forward, backward sideways, etc.)  You should be able to do all of this without having to move your feet, lead your horse or "drive" her (with a whip, stick, tail of the rope,etc.) to get an willing, soft, mental, and physical response.

Remember, the goal is for your horse to ask, "What would you like?" instead of tolerating being told what to do every step of the way.  The more confident she is that you are address her when she is having a problem, the "safer the space" you create. When triggered, she will turn to for help, rather than avoiding (bolting).

For example, let's say that you are presenting walking through the gate in your arena. Before you ever get near the gate you need to check-in and assess the horse's focus and directability. If you ask her to look left, straight, or right, can she do so without moving her feet? If asked to stop, back up, step forward and so on, is there a delay in her response, does she step into your personal space, and is she walking forward but looking somewhere else? Do you have to ask multiple times before she responds? If she offers an unasked for behavior, can she let it go without getting defensive?

These are all things you will need to address and clarify if there is any delay, lack of understanding, or resistance from your horse before you present an obstacle such as the gate.  

Remember that the more you can break down crossing the gate into baby steps the more confidence he will gain in "trying" to address what you are asking.  The more she believes she can "get it" (it being whatever you are asking of her) right, the more she will try when you present new things.

By the time you present the gate, grooming, standing tied, etc., you will have enough tools just using your lead rope; if you can, ask your horse to walk up to the gate and stop and address it (smell it, look at, etc.)   Then you would imagine that you are presenting an imaginary line that you would like your horse to follow as she crosses the gate.  

First, she has to be looking at this "line."  In most cases, if she is worried or insecure about the gate, she'll try and avoid it by looking at everything EXCEPT the gate. So you'll need to address helping him focus using the aid of your lead rope by being able to establish looking specifically at the gate. She will not cross the gate with a "warm fuzzy feeling" until she decides to look at the gate.  

Once she looks at the "line" you want her to walk on, you increase your energy (probably using the excess of your lead rope - but NOT driving her or chasing him) across the gate, literally one step at a time.  You do not want your horse to "survive" crossing the gate, rather, you want him to think and feel confident with each step he is taking as he crosses the gate.  As she is on the gate you want to feel that you could stop her movement or pick a specific place that you would like to have her move.

After you successfully help her address and cross the gate from both directions (with plenty of breaks and spatial releases in between,) you might ask her to focus on something else and then present the gate again later in the session.  The slower you can have her think about what you are asking, the better the quality of her response and greater her confidence will be.

 Remember, your safety is a number one priority, if you hear that little voice in the back of your head telling you not to do something, listen to it. Too many horse-related accidents occur because people are "hopeful" that it will work out.