How can we mess up something so simple? How is it so many folks end up showing horses how to do the exact opposite of what we are looking for? You would think it is a fairly straightforward thing – and it is. But we have a tendency to get the cart before the horse in a lot of ways.

By being task oriented and wanting to just get it done regardless of how the horse feels about it, we end up making the right thing hard for them without even realizing it. If you think about it, this is very common in many things humans do with horses.

I’d like to discuss both the mental side and physical side of this haltering situation. Because we often want to know “what” we should do about something without understanding the “why” or “how” that fits the horse better or sets them up for success better. A horse that gets evasive about haltering or bridling has already been thinking that way prior to the actual haltering. So, it’s like Ray Hunt always used to say, “What happened before what happened happened?” It’s always cause and effect.

I can remember as a kid, fumbling around trying to get a halter on one that was hard to catch, with a grain can in one hand and attempting to fend off a couple others, all at the same time. Looking back, it’s hard for me to believe. Why was I doing it this way? Because the only way we could catch one of them was with a bribe of grain or treat. This is a common way we get around the fact that the horse is not with us mentally or really a willing participant in the partnership.

Instead, lets get to where we can direct the feet to get to the mind. There are horses that will help you with this. They tend to be a little more stand-offish, whether by nature or through their experience with people. We want to be able to “catch them” mentally before we physically put a halter on them. The best setting to work on this is in a roundpen or enclosed area, where we can work on communication through body language (see episode 5, where I go over the elements of Body Language, taking it out of the abstract realm into some concrete aspects we can really sink our teeth into), being able to ask them to go, stop, turn and transition through the gaits and learn that mental focus is one of the most important things we are looking for.

As I’m working on this, I’ll often use a little sound in conjunction with my body language to draw their attention. A little whistle or snap of my fingers work well. As they look or glance at me, I can offer them release. Remember, at this point if we’re working them free, we only have the indirect feel to work with so the “pressure and release” is not physical, it’s phycological. I think a lot of folks don’t understand how noise and movement can be used intentionally to offer a feel to a horse or used to increase a sense of pressure in a situation or decrease that sense of pressure. This may be another subject for another day….

So, with a little practice, we now have the ability when the horse is moving to ask them to stop and “look us up” – or mentally engage with us in other words – and they know there is release there. This is how they know they’ve found the “answer”.

Now, out in the pasture among the other horses, they may have some other tricks up their sleeve with the amount of space to work with or positioning themselves strategically by putting others between them and you. If you have one that is particularly practiced at this behavior, it will take some time to build up to being able to catch them like we’re talking about here. One might also think about their overall approach and if it fits the horse in such a way as to build willingness and true partnership so as to also help change this evasive mindset.

With some practice, you can start to see for the most part when they are “caught” mentally. Maybe they walked off for a while or cut you off behind another horse, but with consistent pressure to move their feet and position them away from the others, then releasing as they look you up, you’ll be able to walk slowly up to them. One note here for the really sensitive type that’s not evasive just for the sake of being evasive, is to approach quietly, not too slowly (like a sneaky predator), not too directly and with your intention aimed away from them. I’ve got a video on YouTube that addresses this, the first of the 2020 Basic Series – check it out.

As you come alongside (and I would work on being able to get along either side), it’s important that we don’t always halter them. With the more difficult ones, I may go through this process when I’m actually intending to work with one of the others. I just want them to have a little practice getting there mentally with me and then having the release of not actually having to go to work.

So don’t always be catching them and don’t be in a hurry to catch them, if you can help it. If they’re caught mentally, then you shouldn’t have to rush and the energy of being in a rush doesn’t offer a great feel to them right then.

Now, as to the actually physical aspect of putting the halter on. I often see an approach used that is really not helpful and I used to think it was mainly in the English disciplines, as that’s where I saw it the most down in New Zealand. But just the other day, I saw a young western rider use this same approach, so there ya go. That being to come from underneath, slipping the nose band on and then proceeding to flick the top of the halter over the poll in order to tie or buckle it, usually either hitting oneself in the head or the horse in the eye. I did a video on this a few years ago – it’s probably easiest to find on my YouTube channel called “Helping a Horse to Get Haltered”.

The worst part though, is the starting by coming in under their chin. This very easily encourages the horse to raise its head and it’s not hard to see how that is counter productive for what we’re trying to accomplish. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say, “he’s just too tall for me…”, I’d be a rich man. Why do we set things up for them to learn things that aren’t helpful?

Instead, with my right hand above their head and my left on the bridge of the nose, I will use as little pressure as possible to ask the horse to position THEMSELVES with their head down and around toward me. In other words, as they move away from my hands they find release – I do not hold them there. But if they push away or leave before we’re done, then they run back into pressure. Sometimes I’ll need to help one with this without even having the halter involved.

If and when I do have the halter, I will start by laying my right hand on top of his neck. If he’s ok with that I will then see if I can draw his attention with the halter in my left hand. At the very least, I want to see that this doesn’t make him want to leave. I will then hand the top part of the halter under his neck from my left hand to my right. Having worked with just my hands before, I want to be able to ask him with my right hand on the right side of his neck up towards his ear to bring his head down and around to me. Again, he should position himself – I’m not pushing or holding!

As he comes around, he finds the hole for his nose and I’m already in position to tie (or buckle) the halter as my right hand lifts and slips it onto his nose. This approach avoids driving his head up and thus encouraging evasive position and thinking, as well as the sometimes-fractious throwing of the top of the halter across their poll. Remember, at any point or stage, a person may need to take it in smaller steps or quit when its good so as to build a better mindset in the horse. As with anything we are doing with them, the quality of the physical side is directly related to how the horse thinks and feels about it.

Hope you found this helpful. Be sure and check out our free videos on Youtube and our full Online Video Library at truewesthorsemanship.com