Ground work: Train Your Horse to Lead Properly Copy

Purpose

The purpose of this exercise is to make your horse focus on you and pay attention to your body language. It’s easy for a horse’s attention to wander, and you can usually tell by the horse tugging on the lead trying to look at something or the horse trying to hurry past you, basically dragging you in the process. Even a lazy horse that you have to pull behind you isn’t really paying attention; rather, they’re more focused on not working hard to try and keep up with you.

The proper position for a horse to be when you are leading them is to have their nose parallel to your arm, neither ahead of it nor behind it. A great way to see if your horse is in the proper lead position is to take your lunge crop and hold it horizontal right in front of you. Make sure the crop is laying across your arm, stretching out to where your horse would walk.

If you’re leading your horse and they are constantly bumping their nose or running past this line that you created with the whip, then they are being too pushy and trying to walk ahead. Your goal is to always have your horse right behind this line.

If your horse knows how to properly lead, they’ll stay beside you without pulling on the lead or without you having to drag them. If you pick up your pace, they should do whatever they need to in order to stay in the position parallel to your arm. When you come to a stop, they should halt instantly beside you without stepping past the line.

Technique

To do this exercise, you are going to lead your horse around on a circle. You should have two hands on the lead rope, one closer to the throat latch than the other. In your other hand, also hold the lunge whip. The whip should stick out behind you, parallel to the body of the horse.

The whip is only used for lazy horses who won’t keep up or for horses that don’t want to move forward right away when asked. You’re not going to smack them with it; rather, if they’re being stubborn, then you’ll hit the ground beside them asking them to speed up.

Depending on whether you have a lazy horse or an energetic horse may determine how this exercise goes. If you have an energetic horse that likes to pull on the lead, then every time they get past the point of your arm, stop and shake the lead rope side to side.

This will ask them to back up. If they don’t back up right away, increase the pressure until they do what you ask. Once they get to the point where they can lead correctly at the point of your arm, make sure to praise them.

If you’re dealing with a lazy horse, doing a lot of speed variations will get them to pay attention. When you speed up your pace, they should too. If they don’t, then use the whip on the ground beside them to ask them to go forward. When you slow your pace, they should slow too.

The variations will keep them focused on what you’re asking. As soon as you can do the speed transitions while maintaining a slack in the lead rope rather than having to apply pressure, then your horse deserves praise.

Result

Not only will this exercise get your horse focused on you, but it will also establish respect for your personal space. Before, if a horse were to pull past you, then they didn’t respect your space or the line drawn at your arm. When they learn to stay at that line, then they respect that you’re the leader and that anything ahead is considered your space.

Likewise, this exercise also teaches your horse to respond to your body language. When you slow down, they should slow down. When you speed up, they should speed up. All of this will be expanded later on in this article.