Horse, Respect my Space! 

by Juli Realy
Have you ever brought feed to your horse only to have him charge at you? Have you ever opened a stall door and your horse runs over you, eager to get out? Have you ever tried leading your horse through a narrow opening only to get pushed or stepped on? Has your horse ever tried jumping in your lap when you lead it by something it doesn’t like? If your answer to any of these question is yes, then you need to teach your horse to respect you and your space.

Understanding horse’s natural behavior within a herd can help you prevent the above situations. The horses that are dominant will go wherever they want, expecting the others in the herd to move out of their way. If the less dominant horses do not move out of the way, the dominant horse can become physically aggressive to get its own way. This can lead to biting and kicking among the herd.

Unfortunately, horses that are aggressive within a herd will often show aggressive behavior towards us also. They will feel free to bully us, trample us, or knock us down if they feel we are in their way.

To eliminate this type of aggressive behavior, we must build a relationship with our horses in which we take a dominant role. The horse needs to learn to follow our lead and to respect our space. The horse needs to learn to be a willing partner. In successful partnerships, usually one person takes the lead, the others follow. (Sort of like dancing partners: one dancer leads, the other follows. If both try to lead then someone gets stepped on!)

One of the first things we should teach our horses is to respect our personal space. We can begin this lesson as we approach our horse in its stall. When we open the stall door, look at the horse and step forward, we want the horse to step back.

To accomplish this I usually have a lead rope coiled in my hand at my side. When I open the door and face the horse, I expect him to turn and face me. But if he steps toward me I will take the coiled lead rope and tap him on the chest to encourage him to step back. If the horse makes the correct choice and steps back, I go to him and praise him with stroking.

If the horse refuses to step back, or pushes forward regardless, you need to let him know he made the wrong choice by increasing the intensity of your signal (coiled rope tapping his chest, or use a crop and tap on his legs below the knees.) As your horse moves back out of your way, he will recognize your advance as a dominant act. This will help put you in the control position.

If you are fetching your horse from a paddock or pasture, and the horse comes crowding at the gate, push the gate in towards the horse to make him back. Anytime you ask your horse to move away from you and make space for you, you put yourself in the control position.

When you lead your horse, you want him to respect you by following. However, a word of caution. You want him to follow your lead by walking quietly by your side and not directly behind you. It is easier and safer to control a horse that is beside you instead of behind you, especially if the horse becomes frightened. Horses that become frightened slip into instinctual behavior that sends them running.

Often when we lead a horse, the horse will pull ahead of us and take our control away. If this is the case, you need to make the horse uncomfortable. Shake your lead rope to jiggle the halter as an irritant, or use a lead shank with a chain passed over the nose with short sharp jerks to reprimand the horse. If the horse always pulls ahead of you as you lead, you can bet the horse thinks he’s in control.

If that is the case, your horse does not recognize you as its leader yet. Try carrying a whip in your left hand as you lead with the right. When the horse wants to pass you, jiggle the lead to irritate, and swing the whip in your left hand across the front of yourself to tap the horse on the chest. This should stop him from pulling forward. At this point ask your horse to back a few steps by stroking his front legs with the whip and gently pulling back on his lead rope. As the horse steps back for you, he will be accepting your dominance.

Horses need repetition to be able to absorb these lessons and you as the handler need to be consistent. Every time you handle your horse you need to enforce the same rules. Through repetition the horse will eventually understand that it must yield to your space space just as it would to a more dominant horse in the herd.

Remember that horses are trainable only because of their natural instinct to be part of a herd and follow its leader. For safety’s sake, we must take the leadership role as we build our relationship with our horse. When the horse recognized you as its leader, the horse will respect you and your space.
©Juli S. Realy, Practitioner of Progressive Training Methods. For more information on Juli’s training methods, call 815/568-6772.