As I’ve mentioned before, my husband brought home 2 colts. They need halter breaking, which is where Tyler comes in. They’re just yearlings and have never been touched and sure enough haven’t had anything put on them before.
For those who have no clue what halter breakin’ is….it’s basically getting the horse used to having a rope thing-a-ma-jigger on their head so you can lead them around.
Now this is my son’s first time to halter break a horse. He’s broke horses before but they were already halter broke. This, to me, is a little scary because you never know if they’re gonna rare up and paw at you or flip over backwards.
First, you have to seperate the one you plan on halter breaking from the other horses. If you notice in this picture, the gate to the left opens to a stall. They try to booger one of the colts in there so that the other horse getting broke has no distractions.
Secondly, he catches the colt. Sometimes easy, sometimes hard. Do ya think this was a catch?? Hmmm, I think I’ll let you figure that one out on your own!
Third, you want the horse to calm down, sit still, and face you. You’re trying to earn his trust so you slowly keep trying to walk up to the colt and rub his nose & pet his head. The time spent here varies. The colts are quite scared of you or what you might do. After all, they know nothing.
He’s still freaked out…………….
Now the colt’s finally figuring out that Tyler ain’t gonna hurt him and lets him rub on his nose for a second.
Fourth, once you get them to a point where you can pet on them and move them side to side with your rope, it’s time for the halter. Now I missed Tyler puttin’ the halter on ’cause I had to run up to the house. When I got back, my man had taken the halter off and reapplied the halter again, just to get him used to it.
That’s it! They just run around for awhile so they can adjust to the new piece of cowboy gear on their head. After a bit, the guys will take the halter off and restart the whole process again tomorrow and will keep doing it until it’s “normal” to the colts.
Oh how neat! I am so glad you went back to your theme. I love reading about this.
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Wow, I’d be pretty scared. I remember horse-riding as a kid (I was like 8 or 9) and I found horses pretty big for the little girl I was.
Who took the pictures? They are awesome, especially the “freaked out” horse!
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Interesting. I learn so much when I come to your blog.
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That is so interesting. Beautiful pictures. Do the horses have names?
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Thank you Leigh!
I took them Zhu:) and yes it’s a bit scary!
Can they come and do my yearling? I have a two year old too!! :) The picture of Tyler roping the sorrel one is awesome!! Great pictures!!
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My filly came halter broke so I didn’t know how this was done. Thanks for posting it. Though after having the winter off, she was full of vinegar today for her first workout in months. Kicking and sliding stops…scared the bejeezus out of me, lol.
I want to come visit your ranch and see this in action! Looks like you guys all have a fun life!
Just a comment that is rather unusual but it does happen. My daughter and husband had a 1-year-old in much the same circumstances as the above. He roped it and tried to calm it down but it kept fighting him and then rared up (apparently just right) and when she came down she broke her neck – yep, killed her right then. They were devastated but…. Just a word of advice – be careful when you put a rope around their neck. I have been told, since then, that using a soft nylon rope with a really big round ring is the best ans it will give where the “cowboy” rope won’t.
Funny you posted this…we still rope our older horses due to the fact we run abour 40 head of horses, we run the saddle horses in the pens and rope what we will ride. You can tell which ones have been cowboyed on as they come right out when they feel the rope. Our colts of course still get scared. My barrel horse was also one we roped, this is the best way to get one horse out of a herd when they are running around not wanting to be caught!
Roping them is NOT the only way to do it.
Everybody around the world halter breaks their colts a different way of course…everybody has a different method.
Very cool post. I could never do it considering my irrational fear of horses. Ever since I was bucked off at the age of 7 and stepped on by a horse I haven’t been on one since! I guess I should listen to the old cliche of “get back on the horse and ride”!