How-To Teach a Horse to Lead Safely

Although riding a horse is fun and exciting, most of the rewards of owning a horse happen on the ground. Leading a horse safely is the most basic and essential lesson of horsemanship. This must be mastered long before mounting and riding can be attempted.

Begin lead training with the foal.

Before the halter and lead may be introduced, the newborn foal must become familiar with human contact. Handling him immediately is essential. Grooming helps him grow acquainted with your touch. If this is done correctly and courteously, both mare and foal will usually accept this attention quite comfortably.

Ideally, a young horse learns to lead while he is still a foal at his dam's side. In most breeding barns, this is the case. While one handler leads the mare, another places a lead rope on the foal's halter. Looping the rope behind the baby's rump, he guides him gently to follow, as the mare is led forward.

Frequent halts and starts add to the lesson. Within a few days, the foal is usually read to lead independently. By the time he has been weaned, he will be well-schooled in leading.

Teaching a horse to lead at this early stage is much simpler than attempting to introduce this training later, such as during his yearling stage or older, when he is considerably bigger and stronger.

Here's how to start leading your horse.

In the stall, place a halter on your horse. Use a lead line with a snap-clip on the end. Clip this to the ring on the halter (under your horse's head).

Hold the lead rope about 6" under your horse's nose with the nearest hand, and hold the slack in your free hand.

Turn your back to the horse, so he will follow behind you. (You can certainly peek back at him, but try to avoid turning your body, as this will signal him to stop.)

Give a few gentle tugs on the lead-rope, jingling the clip a bit, and cluck to your horse to follow you. Begin walking slowly.

Every few yards, stop walking, and tell your horse to "Whoa." This is a test.

If your horse wavers, veers, oversteps your speed, or refuses to follow, just pop him under the chin with the lead rope and clip. If you do this correctly, he will get the message.

Practice leading your horse in an enclosed area.

If you are learning to lead your horse, you will want to start in the stall. Guide him gently but firmly around the stall a few times before changing directions and repeating this. Try to keep these mini-training sessions short, to ensure success with his short attention span.

Move on to practice leading your young horse in the barn aisle, a round pen, or an enclosed riding arena. The walls will help you to keep your activity confined to a controllable area, until you can confidently pilot your horse by hand.

Teach your horse to lead from both sides.

Customarily, horses are taught to lead from the near, or right, side only. Occasionally, a horse may learn to lead from the left. Horses should lead from either side, particularly in situations where multiple horses may have to be led in an emergency. Practice changing sides often, to keep your horse open to either possibility.

Lead your horse outdoors.

If your horse enjoys outdoor turnout (as he should), you may often need to fetch your horse from a pasture. Make him walk (not trot) back to the barn. Trotting to the barn is a bad habit and a dangerous practice. Horses should enter the barn slowly and safely. You never know what may be occurring in the aisles. Horses may be cross-tied. Horseshoers may be working. Folks may be standing there.

Reward your horse by leading him outside.

After a good workout, it is fun to lead your horse to turnout or grazing. What a great way to reward a trusted horse! Here's the secret: When you open the pasture gate and enter with your horse, you must make him stop and turn around. When he is facing the gate and standing quietly, you can unclip the lead rope and set him free. No one wants a horse to bolt through the gate and gallop away with his lead rope flapping off his halter!

After a schooling session, you may choose to hand-graze your horse outdoors on a lead rope. This offers a wonderful opportunity to prevent your horse from overheating on a hot day. As peaceful as he may seem, you should always pay attention. A giant horsefly, a screeching tire, or a barking dog might send him airborne at any time. Be vigilant, and you won't be sorry.

What if your horse is extra spirited or frisky?

Lead ropes are also available with chain-shanks on the end. You can run the chain through the ring on one side of the halter, lap it over your horse's nose, and run it through the loop on the other side before clipping it. The chain will give you significantly more leverage and control, if you should need it.

Be cautious when you lead your horse.

A few safety pointers are needed for leading.

First, never loop a lead rope around your hand. If the horse should pull suddenly, you do not want your hand to be injured.

If you use a lead rope with a chain shank, do not loop the chain through the halter ring and back onto itself. If the horse should spook, this chain loop could catch a hoof, causing serious injury to your panicked horse.

As you lead, position your steps slightly to one side of the horse's front legs. Of course, he would not mean to step on you, but it happens!

Never wear flip-flops to lead a horse! Whether you plan to ride or not, you should always wear hard-soled, closed-toed boots or shoes around horses.

Generally, it is a good idea to lead just one horse at a time. At many stables, the barn staff members will lead multiple horses to and from turnout pastures at one time. This can be difficult to do, even with friendly pasture buddies. Of course, if stormy weather looms, you may have to grab multiple equines and head for the barn in a hurry!