The Question: Can You Give Me Some Advice on Halter Breaking?

I recently bought a 3 year old, Paint mare who is not trained at all. We have been working with her for 3 months now with very little progress. I had a cowboy rope her for me to give me a chance at halter breaking her. She lunged for a week now all she does is look at me, she wont run and she only lets me touch the tip of her muzzle. She will not accept other people handling her. She ran off 2 trainers. I love this horse with all my heart but I cannot tame her. There has to be some way to get through. She also is very spooky and she needs serious desensitizing, but I cannot take any steps until we halter break her.

The Answer

Howdy,

It sounds like you have several issues, and halter breaking your mare is only one of them.

First you need to take this mare and teach her to trust you – once she does that, she’ll probably become less spooky and be easier to work with. But working with a three year old mare who is not broke is not something for a novice. However as you have already learned, a lot of trainers are not prepared to take on a three year old who is untrained. By this time in her life, your mare should know how to be caught, how to lead, how to tie and willingly stand for grooming and hoof work. A three year old who does not have these basic skills can be tough to handle – and even dangerous in the wrong hands.

So, your first step is to find a trainer who can work with her. You’ll need someone who has some natural horsemanship training – not someone who is going to rope her and force her to submit. Roping horses can be dangerous – it can hurt and even kill them – and I wouldn’t let anyone else rope her in the future unless she’s injured and needs immediately veterinary help (and then I would only allow someone to rope her with a veterinarian there who is able to immediately administer a tranquillizer).

Once your mare is halter broke by a professional trainer, then you can teach her to longe and allow you to handle her. If your mare isn’t halter broke, she isn’t longing. Longing involves either a halter, longing caveson or bridle. If she’s just running around a round pen, she’s not longing. If she’s running around a round pen with no purpose, she’s also not learning much from you.

Good luck with your horse – find a good professional who can help both you and she learn to work together.

The Equine Behaviorist

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