Need Sum Advise about training minis

[Mini Gray Heart Mini Horse]

I have a AMHR mare I want to train for halter shows but cant get her to stand still so how can you get her to stand still on comand and how can you get them to stand right and get her to strech her neck with out her moving. Shes a 9 year old and is really pushy to how can you get her to stop being pushy when being handled.

Let me know if yall want to see pics of her shes a Lazy N Red Boy grandeaughter and a great grandeaught to Rowdy.

Thanks

 

[JMS Miniatures]

You need to get her away from your personal space first of all. Make a circle around you and keep her out of that circle. Back her out of it, and make her keep 2 eyes on you. She will move around somewhat but keep her giving you 2 eyes and she will eventually calm down and stand still. Keep praticing this til she gets the point. For training in halter if she doesn't want to stand still back her up, lounge her, do something to make her feet move and make it her reward by coming in facing you relaxed standing still.

 

[Jetiki]

Agree with JMS but wanted to add start with only asking for a few seconds of standing still and gradually increase that time. I use the word whoa for stop then Stand to tell them I want them to stand still. If you start with 5 seconds then up it to 10 but not until you get the 5 seconds every time. You can do this taking them out of the stall to the pasture, bringing them in, before feeding etc. It won't take long before they get it down.

Karen

 

[Heart of Gold Minis]

Both jetiki and JMS have given you good advice. To answer your question about setting you horse up-

I've always been taught to hand-set a horse in a halter class. To do that, get your mare to stop and stand. Tell her whoa and hold on to her halter with your left hand as you kneel down on her left side. Using your right hand, pick up her feet ( you might need to work on this first if she's not used to it) and set them so they are even with each other and "square". I've also been taught that you should never move the right hind foot. Always use that foot as a guide to set the other hooves. If this is the mare I said was a little cowhocked, you'll want to gently pull her hocks to the outside to straighten her up. As you stand up, I suggest running your hand (with fingers on each side) down her back bone to her hips, pressing firmly. This will make her lift her but and make her tailset look better (if you have a horse that is already butt high you don't want to do this). Some people do use lead pressure to set their horses, wich works, but I've been told to always hand-set in halter. Our horses are trained to set off of lead pressure for showmanship, though.

To stretch her neck- once you are back standing up and in front of her ( for halter you want to make sure you have a step or 2 distance between yourself and her nose so the judges can see her head) you'll want to take your treat or feed or whatever out of your pocket and show it to her, but hold it out infront of her. You want her neck to go "up" and then "out". You can talk to her and make noises and stuff to get her ears up, but be pretty quiet about it in the ring.

Sorry if I overwhelmed you

I hope all that made sense. Are there any trainers around you or people that already show that could help you out? Once you see the whole process done, it's a whole lot easier than it sounds. Also, try going to a rated show ( if thats what you'll be showing) and watching some of the halter classes. That will really help.

This a picture of my halter gelding. This is an AMHR show, so they can be parked out a little more than in AMHA, but he is stretched out too much. In other words, his back feet need to be more under him.

Can you see how his neck goes up and then out?

 

[Heart of Gold Minis]

Oops, sorry. I don't think the picture worked. Lets try again...



This is another picture of gelding I showed. He is not a halter horse, but we put him in a halter class for fun. He's set up perfectly square.

 

[Heart of Gold Minis]

If it helps any, this is my other gelding. He is AMHR and this is how he needs to be set. This is basically considered "square".



Sorry for the overload of pics, lol. If your like me, someone could explain something all day and I wouldn't get it, but if you show me a picture or 2, I'll get it right away.

 

[ohmt]

Stars Minis have excellent articles on their website teaching you how to train a horse for halter. I used their methods and it worked beautifully for my first time showing this year-the horses only had 2 weeks of training, but they did extremely well.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Stars Minis have excellent articles on their website teaching you how to train a horse for halter. I used their methods and it worked beautifully for my first time showing this year-the horses only had 2 weeks of training, but they did extremely well.

YES- THIS!!^^^^^

WHOA!

 

[Jetiki]

Heart of Gold minis, we were at the Fletcher, NC show also I recognize the decor on the arena wall.

I really don't worry about feet positioning until I get them standing for more than a few seconds. Then I worry about where their feet are. I want stop and stand down before I start messing with feet. I have been in the ring many many times as the only horse in the class ( you don't have time to hand set) and if you ever want to do showmanship or such classes you can't hand set. I also have one horse a Sr stallion that will not let you set his feet, touching his feet is like putting ants in his tail he will have no part of it (his feet are totally handle able at home with no issues) its just in the ring. So I gave up and taught him to set with the halter and he sets himself now when I tell him to set.

Karen

 

[Heart of Gold Minis]

Jetiki-

Yes, those are from the fletcher show... It was a pretty nice show this year! Gotta love those decorations, LOL. Where were yall? There's a good chance we were near each other and never knew it

You're right about the standing. I was trying to say that she should follow yalls advice, and once the mare would stand, this was how she should set up for halter. Our horses do lead set, and most of them will just set up whenever they stop. The bay gelding I pictured also hated his feet touched, and would pick them up if you went near them. He was lead set, with just a little "rocking" from me to get him perfect. I have also been the only one in a halter class, multiple times, LOL! But I hand set in halter no matter what. Even if the judge is standing right there, I will hand set real quick. Our halter horses our trained this way, so they can be set in a matter of seconds. I've never had a judge tell me to not do that, but I have heard judges tell people that they need to fix their horse. Judges have always waited and/or come back to my horse if I was setting them, and never seemed to mind. But like I said, this is just what I do. Everyone has their own way of doing things.

 

[Mini Gray Heart Mini Horse]

Thanks guys heres a pics of the mare i plan on showing in halter and leter on driving too shes a 9 year old. Sorry for all the pics the horse that you think is cowhocked has really bad teeth because she was kicked when she was younger and the old own said she cant be showen because of her teeth.

 

[Heart of Gold Minis]

Ok, sorry about that. Someone else will have to confirm this, but I think if the other mare has AMHR papers, and you can't tell her bite is bad from the outside, you could show her on a local level at R shows. I don't think they have ever checked my mare's teeth in R halter.. but I might not be remembering right... it's been a long day LOL

 

[Mini Gray Heart Mini Horse]

I will post a up close pics of the other mare head with the bad teeth here's two now

 

[Mini Gray Heart Mini Horse]

 

[Heart of Gold Minis]

I personally think that she looks fine if you don't see her teeth... do you have any pics of her bite?

 

[Mini Gray Heart Mini Horse]

no i dont as shes dont like me looking and shes AMHA/AMHR reg. and shes 10 years old but i can try and get pics of her bit if i can

 

[cassie]

What a brilliant article! I have just gotten into minis and plan on showing one of my girls and hopefully my foal (when she/he finally decides to enter this world hehe)

and I have been wondering how best to train them, that article is excellent and has given me many great ideas!