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"I have a notebook of the tips from your site and I love them... Bonnie Anderson has been wonderful. All the tips I tried of hers worked the first time. I am now in the riding stage and my horse is awesome. Thank you all very much and keep the training tips coming!!!!!!"
Karen Gossard
Fayetteville, NC

Does your horse respect you? Or does he drag you around on the end of his lead rope, or kick toward you on the longe line? Does he ignore your aids while hes being ridden? Does he crowd you going in and out of his stall?

If any of these situations sound familiar to you, then you need to work on getting his respect.

To get your horse's respect, start with the most basic daily routine. Feeding time. If you can, try doing this in a pen, and not a stall, which can be too small of a space to work in. Even if you board your horse, you can still find an empty pen to put your horse in and use a flake of hay to entice him. Doing this just before feeding time would work best.

Arm yourself with a lung whip, and carry the hay/feed into the middle of the pen. Place it at your feet and in no way do you let your horse approach you or the feed from the start. Snap the whip at him, and keep him back, tapping him if needed. Whipping the horse will defeat the purpose of this exercise. You are only keeping him away from the feed and not punishing him in anyway.

If you ever watch a herd of horses eat, the most dominate horse eats first, and chases the others away until it decides to let them eat. This is how horses show their dominance. Now it's your turn to show your dominance. Keep the horse from its feed until YOU say it can eat.

At first your horse will circle you, and try his best to get close enough to snatch a bite, but don't let him. Get aggressive, yell if you have to, chase him off and show him you mean business. When your horse finally stops trying to approach, and this may take a while, hes agreeing that you are the dominate partner. Now you can walk away and let him eat.

Don't worry that your horse won't like you because of your actions. In fact, he will come to respect you as the one in charge. With respect, comes trust, and then love. Do this for a few days time, until your horse backs away from you and the feed, and waits with just a warning. If he should start trying to bully you again in the future, do the feed routine again.   

Next you need to work on getting your horse obedient to the halter and lead. Start by having him walk beside you, then stopping him repeatedly, using a chain under his chin if needed. Use your voice command with a tug on the lead to teach him that whoa means stop, not just to slow down, or to stop two feet further. Whoa means stop right now. Once you get your horse to stop, make him stand a minute or two, praise him and start off again.

After your horse respects you on the lead, its time to move on to longing. Teach him to walk, trot, and canter in both directions with your voice commands. All this work pays off for the next time you climb into the saddle. You should see a marked difference in how your horse listens to you. Any training becomes easier when your horse already respects you as the dominate partner. I've used this method many times with my horses, and it really works.