I need some advice. I just bought a Quarter Horse she's a 3 year old gelding. I only paid $300. for her but she's not broke yet. She's really sweet she loves kids and dogs she loves to be pet and brushed. Now her down falls when I go outside to feed her she gets pushy and tries to eat her feed out of my bucket when i'm on my way to her trough. She likes her butt being scratched so when i'm trying to brush her she keeps turning til she has her butt in my face so we keep going round and round til I finally give up on brushing her and go inside for awhile or she will just turn with her butt in my face and keep backing up until i scratch her I don't want to push her butt or slap her on the butt and get kicked. . When I try to walk her with the lead rope she trots real fast til she's walking right behind me on my heels... what is the right way to lead a horse? I need to clean out her hoofs.. I tried to pick them up and suceeded about 3 out of 10 times Is there a certain way to pick them up or hold them to keep them up? I've always loved horses now that I finally own one it's like I have no Idea what i'm doing. The people I got her from had 3 girls that messed with her a little bit but they were 9, 11, and 15 so they didn't do much. She was in a very small muddy lot when I got her they only fed her about 1.5 lbs of feed in the morning and evening and a couple of handfuls of alfalfa a day... She is very skinny i used the horse tape on her and she is about 550 lbs so I put got her some Moorman's Patriot pellets, Moorman's natural glo nuggets, and the Moorman's mineral block.. Do you have anymore reccommendations to fattening her up? She also has a Round bale of Coastal hay that she eats along with whatever else she eats in the pasture. She is a very sweet horse and she trots up to us everytime we go outside and she sees us by the fence or just whenever she sees us. But I need some help in how to break her and train her because I think she would make a great riding horse.

Sounds like you have your hands full. I am assuming that your horse is a girl so she would be a mare not a gelding (geldings are castrated males). You have a lot of issues to work on but the biggest would be respect. It sounds like she was allowed to do as she pleased with her previous owners. This mare has absolutely not respect for you at all. If you can afford it I would really recommend finding a trainer in your area that would work with you and her. If that is not possible then I would look into getting videos or books of a trainer that you prefer. There are numerous ones out there and most have some type of video series that are fairly easy to follow. Your first investment will need is a round pen. You will be spending alot of time there developing a working relationship. Setting boundries and teaching her respect. At no time unless invited by you should she be in your personal space. I could tell you how to fix each problem but that wouldn't help in the long run. You need to start from the begining. Which means forgeting what has happened to her in the past and how she was treated and not feeling sorry for her. Those types of emotions will make it hard for you to do the job that needs to be done, especailly if you are worried about how she feels about you. She needs a strong leader in her life and that needs to be you. So you need to not focus on the past. But see her as a blank slate. Starting over with everything. Once a good foundation has been layed you can build a strong structure and end with a great riding horse.

I've only had her for a week so I want her to get used to me and her surroundings she's in a bigger pen then she was before so shes still exploring her new area... She loves my two kids (5 girl, 3 boy) and I guess I should just start working with her... Where do I start first? The people I bought her from said she would lead but they only had her for a year.. I guess they meant she would let you hook the rope on her and she would walk... But I think they were just trying to sell her cause they were not interested in her anymore.

Paint is right, you need to have some training and so does your horse.

However, in the interim you should know that when you lead your horse she should be to your right and you will be just behind her head. If you think of where you are standing as the center of a clock and 12 being straight ahead, your right hand would be holding the lead between the 2 and the 3 on the clock with about 8" of lead rope from the halter to your hand. You should never loop the rope over your hand, in case she pulls away (had a friend lose a finger that way!) and the remaining rope should be in your left hand, again, no loops around the hand. You should be able to direct her head left, right and stop without exaggerated movement.

So enough slack so you are not pulling when her head moves naturally, but not so lose you cannot quickly correct where you want her to go.

Now go find a good trainer or DVD!!!

Thanks for the advice... I thought gelding sounded funny but thats what the lady said when I got her.