To use a headcollar or....

my horse has becomes difficult to catch since at the yard we are at now because the horses are all just put out the gate onto the driveway that leads to the fields and same in reverese, the all just run in and go to their stables.

when i catch my horse I lways use a headcollar and leadrope, although I have to admit if i have been riding and i turn her out i quite often just chuck a rope round her neck.

she has been taught to stand and face the field gate while I take her headcollar off, easily done if you make a point of giving her something to eat AFTER the headcollar comes off.
 
our standard thing to do at feed time is to open the gate and let the ponies find there own way to the stables!!! i can lead all of them with just a rope around their necks and 2 of them by putting a hand on their necks, rian can be lead with a peice of plaiting thread with no problem
 
Always use a halter and a leadrope!!! It is dangerous not to! If your horse rears up what are you going to do??? I have a feeling these people think that their horses are really safe and that they are experienced enough to handle them but a horse is a horse and they will react dangerously if they feel they need to!!!A halter and lead rope also give you more control and when working with an animal that is so much more powerful and that is so much bigger then you don't you think you would want all of the control you can get!!!:)

Anna
 
SarahB,

If you'd really like to have some fun teaching your horse to be light and yielding, then teach it to lead with just your index finger under its upper lip. This is an old Buck Brannaman technique that he used to do with some of his friend's horses.

And it doesn't take long to teach it, either.

Best regards,
Harry
 
When I was at a livery yard without exception I used a hlter and leadrope in case of emergancy the headcollars and ropes were left at the gate. I now have my horses contained in one field and do a mix of just walking her in by talking to her and leading her and just having a hand on her neck. I don't have any space betwen field and stables so this isn't that big and issue and she is very good also I have a NF filly who is pretty hard to catch at the mo so she gets called in. I think if I was going from a field to yard which were seperated I would just use a halter not worth the risk not to. :)
 
Heck, that would be one huge insurance liability from the sounds of it, especially at such a place of business as that place sounds like (not just a back yard farm ya know!)

Leading is not just leading. It can be such a predominantly important training technique and SHOULD be viewed as such. Its not just a way to get your horse from point a to b, it is one on one bonding and training time!
 
i'd use both as well! although i used to go to a yard where the horses behaved much the same as you described the place in wales: open gates, whistle and down into the stables they went, always one after the other in immaculate pecking order. it was only about 8 horses though and there was no way for them to escape or do anything silly.

julia
x
 
head collars

hi all and hi sarah .
there is a safety aspect here ,and as quiet as some horses can be, all ways be ready for the unexspected, horses are not all ways predictable as we would like to think.
a rope around a horses neck would give you less chance to take controll if some thing were to happen but with something on the nose as in a head collar gives you a better chance .
a while ago i saw a horses mouth ripped as the rope hook swung whilst he was showing happy to be going out .

the chance of fingers being caught in panic situations ,in the hook does not bear thinking about.
i would not turn the horses out for the ppl if you can not use a head collar and rope sarah you must put your safety first .

best wishes.
 
My boy changes paddocks every day goes to a small individual paddock of a night time 4 feeding and a big group one during the day so is turned out of a day time and put back of a nite. his such a good boy i've almost given up on the halter thing for that i just open the gate call him and he follows. his gotten so good now the other day i opened his gate got in my car called him and drive to the other paddock he ran behind to keep up and when i stop was at my door (so sweet) its certainly not something i would do with any horse but i trust him and its so cute. with that being said the property i keep him on is completely enclosed and would never do it if i thought he would get injured anyway.
 
I always use a headcollar and leadrope when I'm bringing Bebe in, never occurred to me not to. On a few, rare, occasions when I've ended up bringing another horse in at the same time on the spur of the moment (because it was at the gate or was injured for example), I've ended up putting the headcollar on one horse and made a makeshift halter out of the leadrope for the other horse. I don't hook my hand through the headcollar though, I slide the flat of my hand through the sidepiece of the noseband and leave my fingers open so if the horse decides to take off, my hand will just slide out. This might happen once a year though so it's not something I do regularly.

Bebe usually brings herself down to the gate without a headcollar or rope on at all, but she always has the headcollar on before I open the gate. Same goes for another mare I bring in for someone. Both horses know the way to their stables very well and I doubt that they'd go anywhere else but I don't want to risk the one time I let them bring themselves in being the one time that something spooks them and they take off.

As for turning out, I don't turn Bebe to face the gate as a general rule. Our gate opens both into the field and out away from it, so when I turn out I go through the gate first, stand behind it and pull it into the field and then Bebe comes through. She knows to stand and wait for her treats and even on mornings when she's galloped up the field, she always waits quietly for the headcollar to be taken off and her treats. Most horses on the yard are the same. If I was handling a strange horse I'd turn it to the gate though.
 
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