Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
halter will release and free him. Just remember not to tie up the horse with a breakaway
halter, or he could learn the bad habit of pulling to get free.
Catching
You need to be able to easily catch any horse anywhere for his own health and safety.
Horses should never turn away from you when you approach, and you can teach most
horses to come when you call or whistle.
Horses are generally difficult to catch because of fear, resentment, or habit. Unhandled
horses move away from humans due to unfamiliar movements, sound, and smell. Mis-
treated horses might evade humans from memory of bad treatment, hard work, ill-fitting
gear, painful doctoring, or tactless training (for example, the frustrated person who finally
catches a horse and then gives him a good swift slap with the halter rope).
No matter why a horse initially avoids being caught, even if the cause is removed, he
may remain difficult to catch out of habit. If a horse avoids being caught, he needs to go
back to the barn or round pen for groundwork before he can live out on pasture, because a
horse you can't catch is basically useless.
Haltering
When haltering, approach the horse from the near (left) side and hold the unbuckled halter
and rope in your left hand. With your right hand, scratch the horse on the withers and then
move your right hand across the top of the neck to the right side. Pass the end of the lead
rope under the horse's neck to your right hand and make a loop around the horse's throat-
latch. The loop is held with your right hand. If the horse starts moving, you can remind him
with this loop to stay put while you halter. Hand the halter strap under the horse's neck to
your right hand, which is holding the loop of rope. With your left hand, position the nose-
band of the halter on the horse's face and then bring the hands together to buckle the halter.
