Helping our riders to solve riding problems and horse management problems

When leading a horse you should set a rule that the horse mustn't put his head in front of your shoulder.

My husband and I have been running our equestrian riding centre in Tuscany for nearly 30 years and we found out that most of our students, who come from all over the world, often encounter lots of problems with their horses at home just because there is a lack of aknowledge about horse's behaviour.

Very often we found oursevelves involved in the retraining of horses who used to walk throwing their head all over the place , showing agitated behaviour and overtaking their rider. We think that education starts from the way you lead a horse too.

When leading a horse you should set a rule that the horse mustn't put his head in front of your shoulder.

You should never forget that one of the basic priciples in training is that like children horses need consistent rules and boundaries in order to feel secure. If you are clear with boundaries horses will usually relax and feel afer.

Going back to how to lead a horse you should not allow him to put his head in front of the leader's shoulder. If he does, stop him, back him up a few steps, then walk him up again.

This may take many repetitions and if you want you can also add a verbal command. Of course these look like simple things but, depending on the level of experience of the rider, it could be that you need a help of an expert at least for the beginning.