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Barely handled yearling gelding

2K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  Bright 
#1 ·
We just got a 1 year old gelding, they said he's halter broke, but i can't even touch him. He's been living with with mother, and several other horses. We got him 2 days ago, he's still upset about being sperated form his mom, but has calmed down, he's already jumped 2 3.5 - 4 ft fences. i had him in a stall trying to work with him but he let me pet him barely. He jumped out of the stall over the fenced area. ( we have other horses he's with right now)

Any ideas to the best way to go about getting a halter on him? He's starting to trust us more.
 
#2 ·
Do you have a round pen you can put him in until he is a bit more gentled, or add some more height to the existing stall and fencing. Now that he has learned he can get away from you by jumping over fences it is going to be that much harder.

I would suggest using positive reinforcement aka. using food to gain some trust and confidence from him, and target training to get him comfortable with the halter. Use hay at first something you can throw down and give him space to eat, just a few pieces. When he looks at you throw the hay to him, and since he does know about people it won't take long for him to start coming up to you. Once he comes to you give him something a bit more tasty, and easier to eat. Let him touch your hand then give him a treat, when he gets comfortable with your hand let him touch the halter, and reward him with the treat. It won't take long and he will be following you around. There are some threads on here about target and clicker training you can look at and lots of good information if you google.

Since he has already learned to jump out of fences your going to have to keep everything low stress, and make being with you the best place to be.
 
#4 ·
Find your starting point. Your looking to reward positive behavior, but he has to earn it, that is the key, your not just a food vending machine. When he looks at you he gets the hay, toss it if you have to, you let him eat it, if he shifts his weight in your direction he gets the hay, look for shifts in his body it may be subtle, so you have to watch for it.

Since he is so young it will not take long for him to figure it out. The goal would be for him to approach you and come to you, not the other way around. Let him reach out for your hand, then he gets the reward not the other way around. It takes patience and we humans sometimes are just in to much of a hurry.

If you can, try and do numerous small sessions every day 10-15 minutes tops. If you can only do it once a day limit it to no more then 20 minutes, he is young and will bored easily. Consistency will be the key, not only now but as he grows.
 
#5 ·
We were able to gently pet him with the lunge whip, and he looks like he really wants to come over when i give the other horses treats.

When we did the session with him in the stall and the lunge whip, he started chewing and relaxing ( we grained him in there, the first day we had him e wanted nothing to do with eating grain)
 
#7 ·
with horses like this I would usually work in a large area, and use an older horse..with me on it. Rope him if needed and let the other horse do the hard work, but also to become a familiar horse that the colt can learn to interact with. Btw...for young scared animals, I would not keep them in anything shorter than 6 ft.
 
#8 ·
We made alot of progress with the new horse, while i was grooming and saddling one up, he was messing with one of our brushes and he took a carrot form someone and we went and got some bread and he starting eating form our hands, and letting us touch his face :) ( he's still nervous but its progress)
 
#9 ·
Most of this will be because he is insecure.
Just weaned from his dam, strange people, strange horses, strange environment.

I would basically ignore him, when he gets curious -as he has - I would still ignore him for a few days, then you will find he wants your attention and haltering should be no problem.
 
#12 ·
I did get a halter on him : ) Took a few tried to finally get it on him all the way.
The old owners claim he's halter broke, but he's barely. He kept backing up while we were trying to lead him. He did act out once by rearing, but we didn't let him go, and he figured he can't get away by being bad. Took a while but he was walking around nicely, and backing on command.

We want to leave a halter on him , but were afraid he'll get caught on the hay ring. No halter on him? Or put a breakaway halter on him so if he gets caught it will snap at the leather piece?


He's also super sensitive to being touched, you can only pet him on his face working on letting him let us pet his neck.
 
#13 ·
Do not leave the halter on, too much chance he could get caught. I detest break-away halters - why would I want the horse to learn that struggling gets him free?

Just be patient and keep practicing putting the halter on and off. That will get you the brokest horse in the long run.
 
#16 ·
I'll try to work with him some more. He like my sister more than me ( he knows me as the one who took his mother away) I showed him a halter and put it over his nose, and gave him a treat, but he ran off. And i did it again wit slipping the halter over his nose and up more a little and took it off and rewarded him for staying. ( will need to have my sister to help get on him the rest of the way as really likes her) But it progress , and he semi halter broke
 
#17 ·
Bright, you're in a hurry. Grab something comfortable to sit on and let him come and check you out. Don't talk to him or pet him, just let him do it on his terms. Take a riding crop in case you have to back him away. Usually just touching his knee, the more forward one, is enough to get him to back up. It's better tho to pick up your chair and move it farther away and continue to ignore him. He's deciding if you're ok to be around.
 
#19 ·
This exactly! My husband got his then 6month old filly that had had zero human contact. The best thing for him was kneel close to her and ignore her. She couldn't stand it, her courious nature took over and she started sniffing him, his hat (took it off and threw it). He did this for a few days until she realized he was not a monstor. Now she is one if our best mannored youngsters.
Don't rush, she'll come around in her time.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#20 ·
Update on him: You can walk right up and put a halter on, he's following us a round like a puppy :P He even let us give him a "Bath" which consisted of him spending 30 minutes playing with the hose We ended up wetter than him. He's loves water on his face. And his leading is much better :) Just working on tying and getting him used to being brushed
 
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