Any tips on training a horse?

Question

I have a horse that's three years old at the moment and barely even halter broke. She flinches when you touch her ears and we've only had the saddle and bridle on her once, which took nearly an hour to do. She allowed us to sit on her back, but freaked out when we had someone on her back and someone leading her. I've been seeing her on a daily basis for four months and she's barely shown any progress. She's already head strong on the lead and likes to just go back to the barn to feed. Any tips on where else I could start or any easy tips I could try to handle her better? I'm ready to ride this horse!

Answer 1

get a professional trainer to work with the horse for 30 or ideally 60 days

she needs to learn how to be FULLY halter broke first.. before you rush into saddling.. she must be able to be tied without pulling back and ground tied...
THEN you progress to lunging.. then the saddle and bridle can be introduced...
THEN she learns ground driving so she understands how to turn when asked with the rein

THEN and only then does she learn to accept a rider...

if you rush her you will mess her up

Answer 2

OK if she's barely halter broke, and nervous about physical contact she's not ready to be ridden. If you've been at it for 4 months without getting past this point I'd suggest you take her to a professional to get her over some of these issues. 30 days with a trainer will make a world of difference with her. At that point your trainer can help you decide if she's the mount you need. This will cost you some money, but not as much as a broken bone will cost you.
I know you're attached to her, but it sounds like she's stubborn, nervous, and barn sour, and not really a mount for a beginner. You'll be better off with a horse that's already trained. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I broke my hip trying to handle a horse I wasn't ready for, and it just isn't worth it. It's not fair to you, and it's really not fair to her either.

Answer 3

i think you need a professional trainer, it seems as though you have not trained other horses in the past, i suggest that you need to at lest get some help from a friend that knows more about training, or wach a trainer and use what you learn, but with this horse, i think she has already had some bad experiences and will probably need a professional now. you need to be very carefull with what you do with a young horse, every experience has to be calm and pleasureful, and not rushed, otherwise she can easly be ruined. a 3 yr old should have already been halter broke and ground worked with alot, you cant just decide to ride her oneday and expect her to learn and be a good horse right away.

Answer 4

first and foremost you are not ready to ride this horse because she is not even close to being ready for you to ride her. With her being barely halter broke you dont need to have the saddle or bridle on her. At this point it sounds like you need to treat her like shes 3 months old and not 3 years old. You need to start from scratch and make sure she lets you lead her, catch her, and touch her all over before you do anything else. Its going to take time - alot of time and patience if you get ahead of yourself and her all that is going to happen is one of you is going to get hurt

Answer 5

It sounds like you really need the help of a professional on this one. Starting a horse is no easy task when everything goes smoothly and according to plan, but it sounds as though you have a horse with some special issues that need to be sorted out BEFORE anyone gets on her back again and tries to ride her. I work with problem horses everyday and this is not something that can't be fixed, but it is something that can be made MUCH worse if things aren't done correctly. Good luck.

Answer 6

Just one tip for you when you're breaking out this horse- don't make the experience tragic for it. A good tip is to have your horse lie down for you (make sure to read into it, and find out the proper way to do it) When she lies down, she will be in her most vulnerable position, and you will show her, by being extremely gentle with her in that position, and talking to her in a calm, soothing voice, that you can be trusted. Also, make sure to take everything step-by-step. Training a horse should be a delightful experience, and time cannot be a factor. If you know that you have to go do something that afternoon, or anything at all that day, don't choose to train that day. When you're working with horses you need to have an open schedule and plenty of time to work with your horse.
But most of all, make the experience a good one for your horse!!
:)
Best of Luck!!!

Answer 7

You need to start doing ground work with her.
There are many exercises you can do with her to get her ready to saddle and ready to ride. I would start on the ground and teach her how to lunge and then move on to long lineing. Then get her used to saddle and bridle. Work her with the tack on.
Then get someone who rides really well or has experience starting colts to put about 30-60 days on her and the first few rides.
Then after she is green broke you can start working her on trails with an older more stable horse and getting her used to the things she will see out on trails or work her in the arena doing what ever event you are going to do on her.
Good luck.

Answer 8

I agree with the others in that you need to get a professional trainer. You are wanting to ride her already and she is not properly broke yet. She needs lots of hours on the ground. It sounds like she needs a lot of desensitizing and lunging to begin to work her through her gaits. Then whoever is working on her on the ground will get her to respond to the 7 points so she will be responsive then they will introduce her to the saddle and work through it all again then eventually someone will get on her back and work her through the same motions. So as you can see there is a lot of work involved and it would be best handled by someone in the know.

Answer 9

I strongly recommend you hire a qualified trainer.
If you don't know what you're doing, more harm can be done than good. If she's not halter broken, why are you trying to sit on her back? It doesn't really sound like you know how to train a horse and it's not something you can learn from a few lines on a website.

So I suggest you get a trainer, and good luck ^^

Answer 10

First and foremost, Patience! You are not going to get results overnight. If money is not an issue, find a reputble trainer in your area to do the dirty work of training the horse for you. Otherwise, there are many videos and publications out there from very well respected trainers and "horse whisperers".. I personally use the John Lyons system of training, http://www.johnlyons.com/ with very successful results...