A bad idea is offered to stop a mustang from pulling away on the end of the rope. Why it was a bad idea, and what was done to help the horse.
Heart of the Redwoods Horse Rescue acquired some mustangs recently that you may already be familiar with if you have been following my blogs on wild horses. Both horses had learned a particularly frustrating response on the end of a rope from the way they had been previously handled. Whenever they became afraid they would brace their neck against me, facing their nose in the opposite direction and run off, dragging the rope through my hands. Actually, this is a pretty common problem among horses that are poorly halter trained.
The bad advice I got? Put a chain over his nose and jerk it when he pulls back. NEVER! Not only is that entirely disrespectful of the horse but it's like throwing gasoline on a fire - eventually it will blow up in your face.
The proper way? There are many, but here is what I did:
I started by working where the horse was comfortable and unlikely to be too frightened. I stood near the horses shoulder and asked repeatedly with a light feel on the rope for him to bend his neck towards me without moving his feet. I kept doing this until he could respond softly and without fear.
When he was good with that I asked him to bend and move his hindquarters away, very carefully avoiding frightening him. When he was good with that I got a little more careless with the rope and when it bothered him I asked him, softly, lightly, and with "feel" to bend towards me and move his hindquarters away. Eventually I used a lasso in one hand to move his hindquarters while asking him to bend his neck towards me, and here is the kicker, RESPOND IN THE WAY I ASKED WHEN HE BECAME FRIGHTENED.
What I did was to show the horse a different way to respond when he became frightened. Now when he becomes frightened he can choose to bend and come towards me and relax instead of running off.
No chains, no gimmicks, no fight - The only reason a horse pulls back is because he does not know what else to do!
