How to Break a Horse

Breaking a horse means teaching your horse to follow your commands or cues. It requires patience and hard work. Follow these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Catching a horse is the first step. Carry your halter and lead beside your leg and slowly approach the horse. Talk to the horse in a low voice while rubbing him on the neck. Slowly put the lead around his neck so he can't get away.

2. Slide the halter onto his face and buckle the straps. Take the lead with your left hand. Hold just below the snap with the right hand. If your horse is calm and easy-going, he may follow you when you walk. If not, get him to move his feet by turning to the left or right in a small circle. This forces him to move when you pull his head around. Your goal is to get him to move his feet when you ask.

3. Work with the horse every day for several weeks. Catch him, lead him around and pet and brush him all over his body. Get him used to being handled.

4. Teach the horse how to move away from pressure. Start by using a finger to poke him on the shoulder. Keep poking until he moves a step away and stop immediatley. Repeat this on his side, rear, neck and face on both sides of his body. He will learn to move away from pressure because the pressure stops when he moves.

5. Introduce a saddle pad to your horse by letting him smell it and then laying it on his back. You can do this for a few days before trying a saddle.

6. Saddle your horse in an enclosed area. A round pen is the best place to do this. Place the saddle on the horse's back and quickly tighten the girth. Leave it loose so it doesn't pinch the horse on his first experience. He may buck, but will probably just be curious about what the saddle is doing up there. You should saddle the horse quite a few times before trying to ride him.

7. Put a bridle on your horse. Slide it onto his face, just like you do the halter. If you are using a bit, you can encourage him to open his mouth and accept it by putting your finger in the very corner of his mouth. There are not teeth here so you can't get bitten, but this will make him open his mouth.

8. Mount your horse slowly. Put your left foot in the stirrup and put your weight in it. If the horse moves away, start over. Slowly work your way up and onto the horse's back. Sit still and don't touch him with your heels. Talk to him in a low voice and pat his neck. Reasure him that everything is okay.

9. Repeat mounting and dismounting until your horse is comfortable with you on his back. Get him to walk by gently squeezing with both of your calves. Once he starts walking around, get him to turn left by squeezing with your right calf and pulling the left rein. Do the opposite to turn right. Stop your horse by leaning back in the saddle and gently pulling back on the reins.

10. Ride your horse as often as possible. This is the only way for him to learn things correctly. Horses need repetition to learn.

Tips & Warnings

• Instead of using a bit when you are starting out, try a hackamore or bosal on your horse. This is a bridle without a bit.
• Don't use spurs when training your horse, especially on the first few rides.

Resources

• Get the equipment you need to train your horse at horse.com.

[ethal]

on 4/25/2009 the person who wrote the ten steps is heading for a recipe for disaster i have two arabs and consider these steps dangerous to someone with little or no experience one of my arabs i ride regularly and the other is a three year old which needs to be broken this year but i think i wont be following the ten tips and would have to be crazy to do so. there is so much information they have left out

[racingquest]

on 4/5/2009 this article needs to be removed its like telling someone how to check is there petrol in your car by opening the filler cap and lighting a match to have a look.before you even think about breaking a horse or getting on its back you must make its mouth .this is not spoke about here it takes eight weeks to break a horse properly anyone tells you different either hasnt a clue or knows nothing about horses ive been training horses for forty years

[ainahorseluvr]

on 10/22/2008 im going to go break a few horses the natural horsemanship way and kinda like this person is saying tell you how it goes!

[Ponygirl21]

on 8/27/2008 I agree completely with FourHorses. There is alot more to it than that. A horse needs to be accepting and able to pay attention before you can "ride" him.

[FourHorses]

on 5/29/2008 This article needs to be deleted or completely overhauled. You are going to get someone hurt by posting these 'steps' to breaking a horse.

There is a LOT more involved than the 10 steps posted. Horses are potentially very dangerous animals, and anyone who is going to learn how to break a horse from this web page DOES NOT have the experience necessary to be working with an unbroke horse.

It takes a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge and the vast majority of people are better off getting an older horse who already knows it all. If they DO get a young horse, they need to send it to a reputable trainer.

Someone will get hurt.

A Fugly Horse of the Day (blog & training forum) reader & member.