teach-your-horse-to-put-nose-in-halter

May 23rd,  2022

By Karine Vandenborre

Teach your horse to put his head in the halter himself

Horses are intelligent creatures and are able to find solutions to problems, challenges or questions they are faced with.  Take simply the fact of putting on a halter. What often happens is that the trainer brings the halter up to the head.

However, when horses have an intrinsic motivation to get the halter on, over time they will put their nose in the halter themselves.

If, for example, your horse wants to go to the pasture, you can be ready with the halter in such a way that the horse can put its nose in the halter, and you close it.  

Just wait long enough for the horse to try. Hold the halter low enough, so the horse can "drop" his nose into it.

If you offer this every day, every time you need to put the halter on to take the horse to a place it wants to go himself as well (like going from the paddock to the field, from the field to the stall where food waits, ...), it won't take long before your horse understands what you want him to do: come to the halter and put his nose inside. 

It's that easy!


PS: if your horse is difficult to halter, and he runs away from you when you try to approach or halter him, then it’s probably because there is a lack of trust and your horse needs to get more time to connect with you in a meaningful way (= the way horses connect naturally). If you want to know and learn how to do that, then the Horsefulness Liberty Connection Program might be something for you and your horse.