Rural Heritage October/November 2025

start here with tying the horse up. Make sure it is safe and can’t hurt itself and then let it learn that we will come back. Being tied up is the first step toward independence, but the next one is just a little harder. Now it is time to start leading them away from the group. If you have two or more horses, being able to tie some of them up goes hand in hand with leading another one away. This can cause a lot of anxiety for horses and people at first, but, as with tying up, we need to make the distinction in our own mind about the difference between being unhappy and being unsafe. You can gently, calmly and patiently persevere in leading a young horse further from the group. Use its natural curiosity to go exploring. By the time Duke was 15 months old he was well prepared to go to school, but we were not in a rush. We don’t expect any real work from him for up to another year. For the last three months we have worked with him one or two times a week for 20 or 30 minutes on average. Initially the first step is to just gain his attention, get him away from the herd and have him focus on us for a while. We do this by teaching him something he already knows: leading. We try to up his game as far as leading “properly.” The right amount of rope between him and us, good distance forward and back. Moving and stopping with the voice commands. Walking and following our directions on a nice slack line. Things like that. Here are a few things to consider with these first steps. I am not a huge fan of round pens. They can be useful in a few specific circumstances (think wild horse), and they can be helpful in a few more, but they also often become a trap. They really should be used to help a horse feel comfortable, and the trap is set when they are used to make a person feel comfortable. You can’t get trapped if you never go in one. I think of my halter and long lead rope (12 feet) as my round pen. They keep them with me, and then it is up to me to hold the horse’s attention. As soon as we take these first few steps, people will ask about “teaching” the horse to stand. We teach the horse to move and we “let” the horse stand. Something I keep repeating to myself is “moving to stand, standing to move.” What this means to me is using the movement to prepare the horse to stop and stand. Only stand as long as the horse is comfortable and relaxed. You will hear this repeated, as it is one of the basic principles of this

Leading at a trot is hard work!

training for the next few months. In the beginning move, move, move. Don’t worry about stopping or standing just yet, it will come. In order to gauge how a horse is progressing at these simple tasks and to help prepare for the harness and lines to come, I add a couple exercises we can work on. Each one, in and of itself, is not critical to our success, but, collectively, they prepare the horse for things we will be asking for soon. I like to teach the horse to trot in hand. At first this may seem simple, but the young horse will likely be confused by this. It may take some initiative and energy on our part to get them going. Then they may overreact and try to go too fast! We need to be prepared for that and be able to “bend” the horse into a circle if need be. Ultimately, the horse will trot on a loose lead at our side down the driveway, and it is a surprisingly satisfying feeling (it is also a quick way to find out how old you are – I don’t ask them to trot very far!) I also use some lunging techniques, by breaking in and out of leading in a straight line and having

Rural Heritage

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