Get Your Horse to Do Something They Don't Want to Do

Have you ever had trouble getting your horse to load into the trailer? Or do you have trouble getting your little booger into the wash stall to be sprayed down? What about under saddle? Does your horse try to cling to only one side of the arena? Or does he stall out and not want to move forward?

These problems are all too common for many people! No matter how cute and innocent your equine partner is, there’s usually something that you often struggle with in terms of getting your horse to do something.

There are many approaches to get your horse to do something they really don’t want to do. You can bargain, plead, cry, fight, and even threaten. But none of those tactics will truly work long term without creating some aftermath that you’ll have to deal with later.

What is the Best Way?

Bargaining will lead to your horse always having ‘one up on you.’ Pleading will get you nowhere. Crying will only stress you out. Picking a fight will never result in a victory, and threatening will lead to fear.

So what is the secret?

Well, it’s certainly no secret, because all good horsemen know it to be true…

The best way to get your horse to do something they really don’t want to do, is to create a situation where they actually want, and choose, to do it!

How Do You Make them ActuallyWant to Do Something?

Set the Horse up to Succeed

It’s all about creating an ideal situation that gives the horse a choice between the wrong thing and the right thing. In the end, the horse will make a choice, and each choice comes with a different outcome for the horse.

You obviously want the horse to make the “right” choice. So how do you ensure that the horse will make the right choice? …You need to make the “right” choice the easiest, sweetest, most awesome thing on planet Earth!

So now you’re probably wondering how the heck you can turn trailer loading into the most awesome thing on earth, in the horse’s mind. Well, if you yourself had to choose between loading into a trailer and running a 5k marathon, what would you choose?

Think about it:

Option A: Willingly walk up into a quiet, peaceful trailer. Be left alone and not bothered. Nothing is asked of me. Eat hay from a perfectly placed hay net.

Option B: Work. Pressure. Use my brain. More work. More Pressure.

Set up the Ideal Situation

Let’s take trailer loading as an example. To start off, just simply ask the horse to willingly load. If they refuse, then you need to get creative.

When they refuse, don’t try to make them do it forcefully. It’s not fun for anyone, and most likely, you will not succeed! So when they back away from the trailer, go ahead and let them! But then you need to be quick with your option B. If you let them back away and do nothing, they will learn that backing away is the easiest, sweetest deal on earth.

So as soon as they back away, you think, “Oh, you don’t want to go on the trailer? …OK, you don’t have to, but instead……”

The “instead” is key. This is where you introduce the alternative, and you need to make that alternative undesirable to the horse. (Undesirable, NOT all out dreadful or unfathomable)

What you decide to do will depend on the horse, but think “work” and “pressure.” Some horses may only need a little bit of jogging in small circles or some kind of mental work. There is no need to beat the horse into submission, folks. This is about getting their brain in gear and creating something that is more work than simply loading onto the trailer!

Get their feet moving. Disengage the hind end around in tight circles, yield the shoulders, back them up, make them jump over a pole….

Then Try Again

After a brief period of option B, take them back to the trailer and try again. It may take a few times going back and forth. But soon enough, the horse will think, “Hmmm, if I back away from this trailer, I’m going to have to work! …I think I’ll just go on the trailer!”

Other Examples

Teaching a horse to let you spray its face with a hose: When the horse throws his head up from being sprayed, keep spraying! (This is option B) So you want to keep the “pressure” because the horse is not doing the right thing. Wait. As soon as the horse lowers his head, even a millimeter, you take away the “pressure.” Just spray up and over to the side, but not directly on his head anymore. Then go back to spraying his head. Once again, he’ll throw his head up, so again you’ll keep spraying on his head. Wait until he drops his head the slightest, and immediately lift the spraying. Keep at it, and soon his head will just stay down to begin with.
When you horse stops in his tracks under saddle and won’t go forward: Just say, “You don’t want to go forward? Ok, you don’t have to go forward, but instead you’ll go backward.” And make him back up, like five feet. Try to go forward again. If he resists again, make him back up ten feet. Horses don’t really like to back up, so soon enough he will gladly go forward.
Your horse tries to “cling” to one side of the arena and avoids going over to the other side of the arena: My guess is that there is something on the one side that the horse really likes. Perhaps the barn? Does your horse always drift in the direction of the barn, or the open gate that leads to the barn? In this case, you need to put your horse to work in that area of the arena and let him rest on the other side. Think, “If you want to always be over here, fine, but this is where we do hard work. And the other side is where we rest.” You should also always dismount on the “resting” side of the arena when you are finished with your ride. Your horse will soon learn that the far side of the arena isn’t so bad. Even though it’s far away from the barn and all his buddies, it’s where he gets to rest.

Everybody Wins When the Horse is Free to Choose

To sum everything up, it’s all about creating and manipulating a situation where the horse actually wants to do whatever it is you are trying to get him to do. Present the horse with two choices and make sure that the one you want him to pick is far more desirable!

Make sure to be fair and consistent. And always praise your horse when he makes the right choice! Tell him what a rock star he is for willingly doing something that he initially didn’t want to do. Let him see that your plan A was in fact better for him, and he will be more likely to go straight to plan A next time!