I have a 6yr old mare who thinks she can dominate me and just try and run me over. She invades my space and pushes all over me. When I go to lunge her she just trys to jump on to of me and disrespects me completely. What are some training techniques or tips that you guys can give me to help improve my horsemanship?

Your best option is to work w/ a good trainer.
But just a general rule to keep in mind-for every action there needs to be an equal and opposite reaction.
Ex.-You take one step towards her [shoulders back/head held high/eyes on her] she should raise her head/neck stand upright. Take another step she should take one step away, etc...
Think military body posture, that in of itself will help gain you some respect.
I don't recommend books/videos as they say you do A horse will do B, 75% of the time this is true. But if you do A and horse does Q there is nothing to help you work through that problem.

I completely disagree w/ the tapping on the nose advise- never hit above the point of shoulder-unless a horse bites than you can kill them.

But your best option really is to find outside help.

You should be friendly with her.



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HorseHealthAndGrooming

Horses are herd animals. They need to have a leader to their herd who they need to both love and respect. I've recently worked with several horses which are similar to this in a sale barn. One thing is that if your in the barn and she tries to walk over u, smack her neck, pull her where she's supposed to be and if she moves, move her back. Making her learn that she has one place to stand and that she's not supposed to go anywhere else really helps. Eventually she will learn that she doesn't get to choose where she stands which also helps in riding. When lunging her, do it in a round pen and hold a lunge whip. If she comes near u, say "move out" in a strong voice and move the whip towards her. If she keeps coming, smack her on the butt with the whip. Eventually she'll learn to stay out to avoid getting hit and you'll also give her a command word so she'll know that if she doesn't go out, there will be consequences. The round pen fence will also help to give her a guide line of where she needs to be and not let her learn to pull on u when she's told to move out. I learned this through my own horse who did a similar thing. With riding, you need to have the ability to put her in her place as well. I've ridden several horses who no one else can ride because they jerk around the riders but u have to have the mentality that it's my way and there is no highway option. Take out spurs and whip if necessary and ride her until she gives in and does what she's supposed to do. Also compliment this with treats and petting when she's good. When she stands in her place and doesn't move, give her a treat. If she moves out when told, give her a treat after u lunge to tell her that was a good session. And same for a good ride. Don't give her treats at all if there's been any bad behavior because it will only reinforce the negative behavior. Do this and she'll be listening in no time. Goodluck

let her know it is never ok to be in your space..get big and shoo her off or use a whip to let her know. start with basic leading, backing just because you look at her and ask. she should move back if you face her and take a step toward her. I start facing her and shacking the lead rope getting big my self, saying loudly "back". if no respospse, go to tapping the chest with the whip, saying back. till they will back just because they know what you want. I also am assumming she will back to basic pressure on the lead rope. Once they make a couple steps reward with pets and praise give a few seconds for them to think and start all over again. she will get it and be more complient. that is just the first step then go to lunging, being just as consice, know what you are asking for and expect it.

Several great uses for lunging, to (aid) in teaching proper balance and carriage, or starting a green horse under saddle (get them moving under the saddle BEFORE you mount and get tossed into orbit), starting a beginning jumper over ground poles/jumps. All of this is safer if started from the ground and not in the saddle.
Also lunging is great for warming up or settling a nervous horse. I especially loved using this at a show. But I also use communication tricks while I'm lunging and lots of change of direction, until I get my horse focusing on me. 20 minutes of that at a busy bustling horse show and my horse is settled and focusing well on me.



Jessbeck: Definitely don't hit on nose/facial area. This always starts head-shyness. And then you have haltering/bridleing/petting issues on top of her other problems.

As others have said, get "bigger" stand dominatly, carry a crop, firmly tap/smack her backwards on chest when she walks into your "personal space bubble."

i have an arab/morgan mix who does the same thing. when i got her, she was COMPLETELY disrespectful with absolutely everything because of the way she was treated by her previous owner. she walked all over me and had an attitude problem, and found real quick that while establishing a respectful relationship, i had to tweak my techniques to her personality. heres how i did it. sometimes, to establish respect, you just have to start over and clean the slate.

i started from square one, re-establishing everything. she didnt want to tie, so i made her stand tied longer than usual. she hated grooming, so id just stand there and brush her for 20 minutes and if she moved i followed her. when she stood for 5 seconds, whether her ears were back or not, i walked away for 10 seconds. if she got too antsy, i tied her shorter. as she began to warm up to this, respect began to build so i went to step 2.

pressure. i worked her outside of the roundpen with just basic stuff, like stopping when i stop. for this, when i stop and she doesnt, i didnt turn around, but kicked out like another horse would and essentially back-kicked her in the chest. at first it didnt work so i body-slammed her with my elbow into her chest after the kick, all in one motion. not hard, but enough that she didnt like it and eventually saw me as the "lead mare." worked pretty well and before i knew it she was stopping and taking a step back before i could even lift my leg. in the horse world, the first to give up ground loses. getting a horse to back up is very powerful, and i didnt use any technique that she didnt already see in the pasture from the other horses. from the front i did almost the same thing only without walking. if she didnt give to the pressure i just added more and more until she did what i asked.

then it was on to flexion. from flexion, i expanded it to flex, tap on hip, swing hips over.

with the combination of tying respectfully, giving to pressure, and yielding sideways and backing up, i avoided roundpenning and lunging with her altogether. she hates lunging, and to suit her i had to work with her and not force her.

horses are like people....some people dont like lunging, and some horses dont like it either, so you find other ways. i can lunge all my others, but she says no mom, lets try something else.

you may never be able to lunge your horse, but if you two can work together to find something else, youll both be just as happy like ellie and i are. i still cant roundpen her without a fight, but i was able to establish respect in other ways where it isnt necessary anyway.

i hope that helps you out.