I have a two year old filly who can be head strong. Literally. I always lead in a chain because when she decides she wants to go somewhere she just does and it takes all of my strength to turn her head. Going for a patch of grass for example. She handles fine with a chain but now I’m starting work on the lunge line and the filly pulls sometimes. I don’t want to put a chain on her to lunge, I think it’s dangerous. How can I teach her to just give to pressure consistently!?
She needs to have good manners just leading before she will have good manners on a lunge line. Have you trained a young horse before? Do you have regular help from a trainer? This horse needs experienced people involved to keep everyone safe.
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Lol she’s really not dangerous. I’m very experienced thank you very much. Just never had one that pulled. Any helpful ideas?
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When leading, does she automatically stop when you stop, turn when you turn, and back up when you back up? Does she respectfully stay in the correct leading position all of the time, with you near the front of her shoulder, no matter what? All of this should happen without you pulling on the rope. If it doesn’t, firmly insist on that every time you handle her.
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Aside from when there’s grass involved yes.
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You need to insist on manners all of the time, grass or no grass. How are you responding when she tries to drag you around? You say you have a chain but how are you using it? Do you carry a whip?
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Flex and send sideways…I don’t use the chain over the nose I use a rope halter and carry a whip so I can tap them in the chest if needed. Both of my last two horses were gelded late and challenged me constantly but I “got the poll” by flexing and lowering it until they started to get that I was the boss LOL.
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I run the lunge through the near halter ring/bit over the poll and clip to the other side of the bit/halter.
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When leading, carry a crop across/in front of her chest. If she doesn’t stop off a light pressure aid, use the crop against the chest to reinforce the halt. You don’t want the horse to SEE the whip - it’s an unexpected mystery tap that they can’t anticipate. At first do it while leading along a fence/wall.
Then work on asking for that halt while your feet are still moving, so you know she is listening to pressure rather than “following your feet”.
These are both “Equitation Science” techniques, and they work well and it will translate to listening to lighter aids when lunging or under saddle.
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Ground manners 101. She has to, non negotiable, give to you (pressure), period. She’s learned she’s big enough to not have to listen to you, so now you have a bigger problem. Put her in a smaller area, such as a round pen, paddock, whatever you’ve got. Carry a whip, use a rope halter.
Practice walk, halt, turn forehand, turn haunch, flex ribs - all of it. Practice putting her feet where YOU want them. Practice showmanship patterns! Set up poles and practice thru them.
Nip it now, because sure as heck won’t get easier.
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In a situation like this I would work on her response in the normal working area. As you know some horses require a firmer hand. By that I mean instant response to what you ask and be very precise in what you ask and insist on precise responses.
She needs to move when you move, stop when you stop, never letting the line lose the slack. She should follow your lead, if you turn she needs to turn, both directions leading from both sides.
When doing groundwork, she needs to respond now, this is where the whip comes in to reinforce your asking.
After reinforcing always re-ask quietly so she learns to respond to the cue not the re-inforcement.
Add something to your work area so she has something to work around, change it up so she learns to ignore distractions.
If a horse pulls on me I ask them to move a bit more, sometimes they change gait and try to run from their troubles, that’s fine, let them move, if you feel like you are in the middle of a centrifugal force experiment you need to go back to in hand work and teach ‘give to pressure’, and bending.
Then go back to lunging at a walk, I do this on maybe a 15’ line, we are just walking, they learn move in, move out.
There are different ways of saying this but the horse can’t give you the right answer unless they know the answer, or don’t ask the question until you teach the answer. With this philosophy I teach give to pressure. So if I take the tension out of the leadline I want the horse to ‘give’ so they put slack in the rope, ie they follow the line. To start this I teach head down to pressure, also I ask the nose to come to the side by increasing tension on the line, when the nose ‘follows’ the tension is released. From here I also teach to lead with the front feet, I place the rope around the front foot, apply pressure as the horse leans into the pressure/picks up the foot I release, pretty soon I can lead the horse with the rope pressure on the foot. Why you ask? If the horse gets a foot caught in a rope/rein/wire they now know what to do, give to the pressure, don’t pull and fight it. I also include teaching them to move their hips away. About where your heel will go I apply thumb pressure, I want the inside hind leg to cross over and move the hips away from me. At first you may only get a body lean, then the leg lifts…reward the try.
But you are asking about leading, yes, all this translates into the horse learning to yield, pay attention to what you are asking and actually doing what you ask. You are teaching them to learn and the answers to your questions.
At first you reward the try but as you progress you aim for immediate response, focus on you. If she focuses on something else, move her feet.
Do practice walk and halt, stand there with her head up, if she is restless move her, I never chase but I will get louder with my ask if I don’t get response, then ask again quieter so she learns to respond to a soft cue, but do move her around, it doesn’t have to be pretty, then she will learn its better to stand quiet or I have to work.
If she pulls make her feet move.
Try to think of what you want for a finished response, a horse that seems to have an invisible elastic tied to you, as you walk, she walks, if you halt she halts, not take four steps past you and then has to swing her haunches around, if you back she simply backs with you…This won’t happen right away but if you think of this as your goal now you can gauge her progress. When she seems at least 60% add distractions in her work area, or take her to a new work area which could simply be a different part of the yard, expect her performance to drop as she learns she can work in any new environment. Stay consistent. It will come. 
I know I have written a lot, if something doesn’t make sense please ask.
I do a lot of groundwork so may not explain something well.
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Thank you!!! This is helpful. I think I will start her on the grass and just expect her to pay better attention. I know she’s just being a bully but it’s hard to reprimand her when A. She’s so great for everything else and B. She will fight back if I’m being “unfair.” Good things to think about it. I might also try to stay giving her a cue when it is okay for her to have a bite of grass. That seems like it could help. Thanks again!
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I would do some clicker/ positive reinforcement training for her. She’s not being a “bully”, she just sees something she wants (the grass) and is going for it. I would start in an eclosed space with no distractions including grass and work with pressure and release. When she understands that, then move on to having temptations like grass
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She doesn’t see you as worthwhile to follow.
Go work on your connection and clicker training vs a chain.
The invisible whip works until it doesn’t.
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1000% go back to the basics of leading in a confined environment. Work up to leading outside the round pen.
And food with horses like these must be black and white.
This sounds like classic Fjord bully behavior-- no idea if your horse is a Fjord or some type of big hauling breed that is bred to use its body like this. And, honestly, any horse can become like this if they’re not trained properly. No, they’re not like human bullies, but when they want something, they have no problem using their big bodies to get to food or something they want. Some people think it’s cute and funny, but I can lead my mare with her food in the same leading hand without an issue because she and I have personally spoken to Jesus about her past foolish behavior.
She’s not allowed to hand graze or do anything like that. I won’t tolerate that sort of behavior because it’s dangerous, and she could accidentally hurt or even kill someone.
The goal is to teach your horse to listen to you, and have that ear and that body language centered on you even when the horse desperately wants something. There is also a difference between the horse wanting something and needing something.
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You want a nice rope halter. Brent Graef sells soft halters that aren’t expensive. You also want a long 15 ft lead to have more length on the line. Working in a traditional halter for better ground work when you are solving problems just doesn’t cut it.
I’m guessing you meant to direct this to the OP and not me?
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May I say horses don’t understand “you are so good at everything else, I’ll let this slide”. They do understand that sometimes they can get what they want.
It might help to understand what you mean by saying she is a bully. Again, I don’t believe horses think in those terms.
Would you accept bullying from a coworker just because most of the time she isn’t? Nope!
IMO it’s these kinds of behaviour that produce the ‘gee he never did anything like that before’, response.
Either you make the rules or the horse does. You are not being mean. You are establishing boundaries which will keep you safe and keep the horse safe. (and usable).
Your other comment about fighting back if you are being unfair,
frankly this comment worries me. Your horse fights back? I strongly doubt you are being unfair, trying to imagine what this scenario might look like.
For a few minutes at feeding time my horses are expected not to fight with each other, keep their teeth and feet to themselves, give me space while I am walking with a bucket or hay, move aside if I chirp to them.
About every 2nd day I get in their space, put a halter on one or both, file feet, do groundwork, take for a hand walk, my time my rules. for this intrusion into their time they get about 42 hours out of every 48 to eat, drink, poop, sunbathe or lay down for a nice sleep. Food, water, minerals, dewormer, vaccinations, fly spray, vet as needed, regular pedicures, dental, plenty of scratches where they can’t itch and cleaning those places are all supplied. Even if it were an hour or two a day 5x a week seems like a pretty good deal for them.
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My vote is no hand grazing for now. Does this horse not get pasture? Grazing is just too much over threshold for a horse already struggling to listen.
Her listening to you and finding calm being with you is all about consistency and it starts from the moment you approach her. And her learning to self regulate.
God I’ve come to love a rope halter and short of hauling it’s only thing I use. Do you use one? Do need to know how to properly tie it up.
My suspicion is there are many clues leading up to a moment of her not listening or “behaving” where she isn’t sure who is in charge and leading.
I say that because I had the incredible opportunity to spend a week with Frederic Pignon and OMG time stood still. Look him up. So one thing I remember so much was him saying you need your horse to stay a foot away from you (when they are on the lead) - when walking with you for example…because they come to see you as in charge and then they can relax knowing YOU are in charge. I always thought of good manners being just good manners - but no…they actually FEEL better. Wow.
So every little thing, every encounter, all your handling leads up to EVERYTHING else.
Like Warwick says, “How’s your groundwork?” It all starts there. The details.
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