Readying Weanlings for Halter Breaking

Basic Ground Work

"Intermediate"
Readying Weanlings for Halter Breaking
Many times colts can teach themselves better & faster than the trainer can teach them
Submitted by P. D. Jones, 12/31/2008

Video:

Sometimes being lazy is a good thing as I have found over the years that many times colts can teach themselves better & faster than i can teach them. I usually buy colts that in most cases have had little or no handling, right off the mares.

When I get them home I back the trailer up to a good solid, safe round pen & get them crowded up in the trailer & just get in among them & get halters & leads on them. Crowded up like that you might get your toes stepped on a few times but it is the easiest & least stressful way I know to do it.

The leads I use are about 8ft long & STIFF, I don't want a soft lead that could get wrapped around a leg or on a post or something. Then I just turn them out in the pen to teach themselves. They will spend around a week stepping on their own & each other's leads, each time putting some pressure on their heads & they soon learn that some pressure isn't going to hurt them, & soon think nothing of it. Also they drag the leads over & around each other & it's just a pretty good, low stress way of sacking them out.

The colts in the video have been haltered for around 24 hours & you can see that already it just isn't a big deal to them. During the week they spend like this I just walk among them every chance I get & catch & kinda hold & pet on them for a minute or so & turn them loose. After the week is up they are leading some & it's time to tie them up for the first time.

I DO NOT like to tie them to a fence or something where they will feel really trapped & cause them to fight or maybe jump forward & hurt themselves whacking into something. A hot walker is perfect (or an over hanging branch or something will do). They can move around some & not feel so trapped & it gets them to bending & kinda following their heads. Doing it this way is easy for you & never gets the colts stressed out. Another great benefit from this is that I've never had a colt that I've started like this that would haul back on the lead when tied. In some cases I have found that leaving a stiff lead or two on those horses that are bad to haul back can benefit them too, but as always, it is better to do it right in the first place & not have to try to fix things later.

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