In my opinion the most important skill we can teach a horse is to lead brilliantly. Partly this is because most of us spend more time leading our horses than any other single task. But even more importantly leading is one of the earliest training tasks that sets up our relationship with our horse. The focus and connection that leading brilliantly creates is the foundation of everything else to come and it begins at halter breaking.
No other skill we want to teach a horse supersedes the importance of leading brilliantly. The quality of that focus and connection relates strongly to how a horse loads onto a trailer, stands to be mounted, picks up its feet, pushiness at feed time, separation from the herd, shying, lunging etc. The list goes on and on. In fact, I can’t think of a single thing that is a struggle for a horse that can’t be traced back to some degree to how well it leads - from catching to canter pirouette.
Notice that I use the term “leads brilliantly”. Most people believe their horse leads well or really well. Which is why most people don’t work a lot to improve their horse’s leading skills. They get by. However, I can honestly say that in all my years and all the horses I have handled, I have only met a handful of horses (maybe less than a handful) that were brilliant to lead. I am certain many of you believe your horses lead great, but I am equally certain that so few actually do. I know this because it is what I have experienced over several decades as a trainer and clinician.
For most of us, how well our horse leads is measured by how well it does what we ask it to do on the ground. But ask yourself:
1. Does your horse wait for the pull of the lead rope before moving or does it go with you?
2. Can you direct (NOT DRIVE) a specific foot to move forward, backward, left or right purely by the feel of the rope?
3. Does your horse lead just as well on a length of 3 metres of lead rope as it does on 0.5m of lead rope?
4. Can you direct (NOT DRIVE) your horse to go somewhere just as well as to go somewhere with you?
If you can direct your horse to follow a feel to do those things (and other movements you might ask), it’s a good start. But it’s not enough.
For me, leading brilliantly entails how quiet but active is the conversation between my horse and myself. When I ask my horse a question is it a one or two-sided conversation? Is every question I ask my horse with my body and the lead rope interrupting something else the horse is pondering. Yes, I want my horse to go with my feel and yield to my idea of what we are going to do. But I want it to come from my horse believing that it is a good idea and has a good outcome and not because refusal or resistance is a bad idea and has negative consequences.
In other words, if I ask my horse to back a couple of steps I want it to think “that works for me”.
Here are a few aspects that I look for when considering the quality at which a horse leads.
* does leading involve driving or directing the horse’s thoughts
* when I direct a horse’s thought, how closely does its feet follow the thought
* how well does the horse follow the feel and energy
* when I interrupt a horse’s idea with something it does not anticipate or expect, how much trouble does it create in the horse
* does the horse respond to a cue or follow a feel
* does the horse ask me a question when it is unsure or does it react to a pattern
The quality of leading is a sliding scale that progresses over time. The quality needed to help a horse lead out of the paddock and through a gate is lower than the quality needed to load into a trailer and different again from the quality needed to teach piaffe in hand. By my standard, my own horses lead brilliantly, but they don’t lead perfectly. No horse leads perfectly, nevertheless perfection is something I am always striving to achieve.
Lastly, I want to make the point that a horse leading without equipment to connect them to the handler (in other words, at liberty), is not the measure of a horse that is leading brilliantly. Many horses can follow and be directed at liberty and still feel trapped and troubled.
Have a great year ahead everyone 🤗
Three mates going somewhere together. L>R Six, me, and Riley. Riley passed away a few months ago and we all miss him everyday.