Training a pesky filly?

I just bought a new 2 year old AQHA reg. sorrel filly. SHE IS HUGE! It's quite intimidating. She's young and already around 16 hands. She is really responsive and very kind. She just has a leading issue. She likes to turn her head and take off. And no matter how hard I try to pull, she, quite easily mind you, rips the rope from my hands and hauls butt. I don't really know why she does this...I, as a horse, wouldn't like to be lead around but, this habit needs to break. It's dangerous to the other horses with a baby running around the whole time. Some people have advised using a stud chain around her chin, although I don't want her to get face shy because she's yanking on that. What to do? Please let me know. I've worked with A LOT of horses and broke many more, however this is one issus where my teaching tactics haven't solved. Looking for more input. Thanks!

Training a pesky filly?
Linny:


You sound like you have given this a lot of thought, and its certainly not your first horse to train.


My best friend just got paid a sack of cash to condition a 3 year old stallion to be kind, not bite,and lead nicely by anyone be they good with horses or just ranch help. Her secret? Horses DO like to be lead,they outweigh us by a great deal, and ten minutes a day of voice commands rewarded with banana chips,carrot pieces and pats on the withers worked great. It gets their head down and into a chewing happy "all is well" feeling they will associate with you.Its not bribery, its using their behavior for both your advantage. It makes sense, and it is easy.


Lead always from the horses girth area,as opposed to his head.When your in front or at the halter its too easy to pull you around.,and you ride from the girth so, lead from there too. She used a padded crown halter and avoided all pain.


Reward "easy" :whoa" " waaaalk" and OK! with a pat to his shoulder. This is where you are really in control, be you 100 pounds or a musclebound brute. This works for all the pushy problem children, do give it a go. I like that you care about the danger of a loose horse too.


Have a lot of fun with your new beautiful sorrel Linny
Reply:Clinton Anderson, Pat Parelli, Chris Cox, and Craig Cameron have excellent DVDs/videos, books, clinics, and TV shows that deal with teaching respect on the ground. Google their names and you'll find their websites.





http://downunderhorsemanship.com/catalog...





http://www.chris-cox.com/Merchant2/merch...





These trainers have humane, safe, time-honored methods that work with any horse. Recommending these DVD's/Videos is safer than trying to tell you what to do not knowing your ability or seeing the horse.





Please don't ride your filly until you have the leading issue under control. A horse that is this disrespectful of you when you are doing something as simple as leading her is a time bomb under saddle. She's young and needs work. She's learned that she is bigger than you, and knows how to use it. She's stiff and either didn't learn or doesn't care to give to pressure. Having control of your filly on the ground is crucial to any other work you will do with her. If she doesn't lead well, back up without pressure, and give her head, shoulders, and hips from the ground, she will not do them correctly under saddle. If she is not a problem to ride now, it is only a matter of time before she decides to ignore your commands and do what she wants when under saddle. Trust me, I've retrained WAY too many horses that were dangerous to ride because nobody ever taught them control and respect from the ground.





I'd use a quality rope halter (double diamond is a good brand, or the trainers I mentioned above sell them through their websites, too) and a long lead made of yacht line. This material is easy on your hands, won't jam when tied, and has enough weight to be able to effectively communicate with your horse.





If you try the stud chain, be VERY certain the filly can't pull away from you. If she does, she's going to be even harder to work with the next time. Used properly, a stud chain can quickly teach a horse respect without injury. Used incorrectly, it teaches the horse headshyness, rearing, and that it can get away from you no matter what you use.
Reply:Here is a couple choices that I have tried:


One option you might try is a rope halter or come along halter. The rope halter gives more pressure on the poll which gives you more latitude to control her. I use a rope halter on all my weanling, yearlings, two years olds to give me that little more edge when handling them. When you tie them to stand it also helps if they have any pull back issues with the pressure being on top of their head instead of nose area. She sounds like a great filly at 16 hands already!! and a sweet filly for her size.





The stud chain could be a good idea I usually use it over the nose then the filly won't go over backwards when the pressure is applied I think some horses putting under the chin makes their head go up in the air and you risk them going over backwards. Light pressure on the top of the nose with the chain may give you the little extra strength you need to break her of this. I don't think any human can fight a filly that big and be the one still standing:) You wouldn't need to be strong handed with the chain, just a bit of pressure.
Reply:You don't say what halter you are using, but I would definately put a rope halter on her and fit it correctly. Those along are awesome training tools. Take her in an enclosed area first and work with her on verbal commands reinforcing with the halter. I would have her walk/trot/back etc and have her good and solid in that area.





Then take her out, wear gloves and use a cotton lead rope. Again, go through her walk/trot/back etc. If at any time she bolts, you need to flip her around to face you and walk off again.





Repetition helps and shes just seeing boundaries.
Reply:Be ready when you lead her and when she turns her head yank it in the opposite direction and knock her on her butt. sooner or later she will get annoyed and will stop but keep persistancy and you will avail.
Reply:i know its hard to do but u really need to put a stud chain on her till she breakes the habit... heres a little trick also when u feel her terning to run turn that way also and walk that way a couple steps then turn her back around do a full circle it kinda confuses them.... i dont belive that a stud chain will make her face shy i use them on my stud colts and missbehaivin fillys all the time.
Reply:Hi, Your filly sounds like a typical 2 year old still learning the ropes (no pun intended) :-). Poll pressure is very effective in teaching to stop on the ground, but in your situation increasing poll pressure will make her either lift her fore off of the ground or cause her to bring her head down as I am sure you know, so you have to use it sparingly. Constant poll pressure will not stop her from turning her head and running, since she is already used to running off and already understands that she is stronger than you at this point, this hard handed poll pressure may only agitate her and force to simulate the same action again.





Remember always that horses respond to fight or flight. Her choice is fight and then flight. The more pressure you apply to her, the more she is going to want to get her head away from you and use her fight/flight reactions.





If and only she doesn't fear you, I recommend walking her in a small round pen or stall run on a halter without the lead and when she does try her little thing automatically release her, turn your back on her and walk away a few steps, don't fight her, then go back catch her and work on the same thing but use care not to overdo it so much that she gets sour. Its also important to remember to work off of the same side everyday since the horses corpus collosum or the center area that attaches and transmits information between the two brain hemispheres is weak. Therefore it is harder for them to transfer information from left to right and right to left. Stay steady on one side and then move onto the other side when she masters off side. Stay tuned into the movement she uses before she wants to run off, maybe she moves her ears a certain way or tenses up her hind and begins to try to flex the neck. When you see these signs of anticipation, immediately release her, turn your back away from her and walk away.





Work according to her temperament everyday or at the point that you think her mind can handle what you are teaching her effectively. When she stops fighting and flighting, (which she should when she realizes there is nowhere fun to run or if and when she becomes bored with her routine) then reward her after she does well and stops pulling away, I hate to say utilize it, but give a handful of grain. (In the meantime, if you have her on grain as a feed, take her off of it until she sees the grain as a reward and not as a meal.)





After she has realized she has nowhere to, put her on the lead rope allowing for praise with grain for a few minutes and move her neck with the rope, try to get her to flex her neck. Take the lead off walk away and finish your session. After flex start taking small steps with the praise still involved. You want her to see the lead as a something that accompanies praise so it may be good to start brushing her while keeping slack in your lead rope. Work with her on the rope for a few minutes everyday teaching her to respond to pressure when you apply it. When she is walking the length of a stall run or a round pen and not pulling away from you, then start to take her out into an enclosed paddock using the lead and halter and see if she tries her risky business again. She shouldn’t .





But.. If she does, and your area is enclosed, don't immediately go run after her but let her come to you. It may take some time, a long time even, but she will eventually come to you looking for the grain or hay. When she comes to you. Pick up the lead and walk her back to her stall, you may want to leave the lead on, make sure you have a safe halter and no places where she can freak and get tangled. I had a horse learn to stop fighting the lead using his own weight. He ran off in a paddock, wouldn't let anyone catch him and two days with the lead on, he learned to respond to halting pressure. He eventually began to think that his own weight was the force behind the rope and he stopped pulling. Allot of old cowboys have been known to do the same thing. They turn a horse out with a lead for a few days and the lead might come back busted but a new one is attached and eventually they learn to stop resisting pressure.





You can also try to teach her not to pull away from pressure by tying her to a solid hitching post and using the inner tube. This and I would say a stud chain are last resort. Stud chains are used for control not for flighty horses. If you have that stud chain on there, and she fights it and manages to get lose, you have a problem on your hand because she can step on the stud chain which has a ton more pressure behind it than a nylon or rope halter and she may end up breaking her noseband or possibly bruising the poll area. This would lead you to problems in the future with bridling and poll pressure.








I am sure there are several ways to go about this, these are just a couple of ideas that I know to more than likely succeed if you work at it and go about it while really paying attention to your filly’s anticipations.





Best of luck! I really hope you can find something that works for you and your girl!
Reply:Ok, another one that I hate to respond too. Your getting a lot of responses and some pretty good too! But, let me state what I see as detrimental (please don't be attack dogs now). First... treats, avoid the heck out them. I don't care if it makes the horse "act" like it loves you. They still won't pick you up, no matter how many treats, if they buck you off...etc, etc, ) Second, on a young horse... don't do chains or cheap tricks unless you want to continue adding harsh devices. These are sensitive responses that you are deadening.





As already said, stay behind the head, by the shoulder/girth area. At this location you have full control of that horses body... in most situations. "check" your filly the minute she thinks about "playing". When she gets ahead of you, step away, plant your feet and pull!!!, Yank that head around and let her know you mean it when you say, NO. Pulling them around, hard, takes them off balance and they loose control to an extent, for a moment. If they freak, they may go over backward, just remember.... yank, get a response and stop pulling on them, give them room to stop and look bewildered. FORGET IT at this point and go about your business until you need it again. (Stallion owner,with over 100 years, combined, experience with studs, colts and a lot in between!) P.S. Stop with everyone needing a dang round pen!!! PLEASE! Its a device, NOT a tool.
Reply:when I trained a gelding we would first lunge him so he was really tired then we would tack him up, and if he acted up we would lunge him again!or splatter an egg on her head when she takes off so she thinks she's bleeding!and after you get the tack on lunge her again then get on her!! I hope that helps!