Reader Question on QH-Morgan cross with Bad Ground Manners Including Rearing

A reader sent me the following question on a horse of theirs with bad ground manners,…”I recently bought a Quarter Morgan cross she has horrible ground manners. Last time I took her out off the halter she bucked and reared and I had a hell of a time getting back under control. I have been doing basic round pen work with her and trying to get her to pay more attention to me. Any suggestions to help her and I get on the same page. I like her spunk but I like my fingers and arms too lol. Thank you”

Having fingers are good. Having thumbs is what separates us from monkeys, although I have seen people act as monkeys when working around horses.

If your QH-Morgan mare is stalled or not handled for days on end, especially when the weather is cold, then this will tend to make them more “energetic”. If you are using a webbing halter, then I suggest you get a good rope halter such as a Double Diamond Halter and tied on lead rope. Your horse should, of course, stand still as you remove the halter, and should even position her head to make it easier for you to remove the halter and not move off until you walk away.

Re-building ground manners starts from haltering and instilling these habits. She'll learn from the release of pressure be it pressure from the halter or pressure that she perceives from you. I would lead her around until she does everything I ask her to do under halter, before turning her loose. I would walk off, stopping, back then standing still. Mix it up some.

She’ll rapidly figure out what you want. If she doesn’t stop then back her with a bump on the lead rope tied to your rope halter. I like my horses to stop immediately when I stop, even at a jog, then back one step. This will translate to a better stop under saddle. When she is correctly position then let her stand for a few seconds then move off. Not necessarily each time you walk of then stop, but more than occasionally, I would also stop and back her. Horses get better at almost everything else when they can back well. But you have to stop before they want to stop or before they resist otherwise it does no good.

When I’m leading or lunging a horse on a long lead or lunge line and they rear, I sharply bump on the lead line as their front end is off the ground,…this is a good point on why the rope halter is good. I didn't have much effect on one horse, until he time he reared, I bumped the halter lead sharply then back him with energy.

Before I take off the halter, I ask the horse to drop his head through a slight downward pressure on the lead line and slight downward pressure with my off hand on their poll. You need to quickly release the pressure at the slightest try in dropping their head. Several repetitions will make them better at this, until they can drop their head, like in a collected position – nose vertical, and hold it there until you take the halter off and walk away.

I would try to keep on hand (left) on the lead and use my right hand to un-tie the halter,...if the horse tries to move away before the halter is off you can use the lead rope to bump her and get her attention.

I hope this helps you. A QH-Morgan horse is an excellent cross. Safe Journey.

Reader Question: Bad Manners Coming Off The Halter

A woman named Carol wrote to me about her horse having bad manners coming off the halter when she went to turn her horse loose, both in the stall and in turn out. Carol says that otherwise her horse is good to ride and a fairly well mannered horse.

Actually this is pretty common, you have to let your horse know you expect him to stand until you cue him to move away after the halter is taken off. The better the overall ground manners is with this horse, the better he will be standing for the halter to be removed. I’ll just bet that Carol’s horse will continue to walk off if she stops when leading it.

If you get in a routine of keeping a horse in the stall for a couple days, then taking the horse to a turn out, the horse is going to pretty antsy about it and will often anticipate the halter release and pull away before that is complete. When putting the horse back in the stall when feed is present is another common point where the horse will be quick to get out of the halter and get to the feed.

Every time I get a halter on a horse to lead him someplace or other (shoeing stand, wash rack, round pen, tie rail for grooming, etc.) I always make it a short training exercise by stopping the horse, backing him, have him move his fore end or hind end over,…..having him drop his head, and sometimes just stand until I’m ready to move off. I think you should do this each and every time you put a halter on a horse to reestablish those ground manners which will transfer to other things as well such as standing when the halter is removed….only takes a minute or so to do this.

I always use a rope halter. I prefer the Double Diamond brand. The rope halter can be used to get the horse attention just a little more because the rope will apply more pressure than the traditional webbing halters. So Carol, I suggest you use a rope halter.

I don’t have a horse with this problem, so I am demonstrating in the video with a horse I board. Biscuit is a black, grade mare who is not handled a great deal and gets away with some things because of it. The night before I shot this video I had put her back in her stall, with feed present and she pulled away as I getting the halter off. I put the halter back on and off until she understood to stand still until I had the halter completely removed and cued her to move off. So she remembered this lesson the next day when I shot the video below. So you won’t really see a horse having this problem corrected. You’ll see me lead the horse out of her stall, stopping, backing to reminder her of her manners, then placing her in the arena where I ask her to stand still while I get the halter off.

So Carol, I suggest you tighten up all the ground manners and don’t let your horse get away with the halter routine. Do it right until the horse gets the message. Good luck and safe journey.