Gentle Halter Training
By Tina Derby with Joe Alberti A consistent winner of numerous regional and class A halter champi- onships and national Top Tens in hal- ter, Joe Alberti is one of the brightest young trainers in the industry today. The head trainer at Chestnut Hill Arabians in Gilbert, Penn., (located in the eastern part of the state, near Bethlehem), Joe has been training halter horses since the early 1990’s. In his early years Joe learned a lot from watching great trainers such as Michael Byatt, Ted Carson, Jeff Schall, and John Rannenburg. When watching Joe’s horses show it is obvious that they are among the most thoroughly trained horses in any class. They are bright and polished, and, at the same time, not scared or at all confused. They know what they must do and they do it beautifully. And they win. “One of the things I want to stress in this article,” states Joe, “is that you don’t have to be rough on your halter horses in order to get them to show well. What you do have to do, however, is to train them completely in all of the basics, such as standing still , placing their feet, and paying attention to you. If they do those things well, the brightness and excitement is normally quite easy to get. Another thing that is a critical component of training the halter horse is to reward it when it does the right thing. I use lots of pet- ting and carrots during my training sessions because the horse must un- derstand when it does things right; It con’t. on page 12
must enjoy being trained. Of course, that’s not to say that you never, ever give the horse a pull on the lead line or tap it with the whip. Of course you do, just like when you are riding you will pull on the bit or use a spur sometimes. But, overall, the experience of being a halter horse must be a pleasant one or the horse will simply become sour and then you’ll never get that bright look that you need for a show ring win.”
Here are the steps Joe uses when working his halter horses:
1. TEACHING WHOA: Teach the horse to stop and stand. Begin by walking with the horse and saying “whoa.” When you say that the horse should stop immediately. If it does not, just give it a pull on the lead line and say whoa again. Continue this until the horse stops and stands. When it does so, pet the horse to let it know it did the right thing. Continue this process daily until the horse stops immediately upon hearing whoa and does not move until told to do so.
2. WALKING AROUND THE HORSE: Once the horse stops and stands without hesitation, practice walking around it at the end of the lead line. Start by walking next to the horse and then saying whoa. Once the horse stops, back yourself away from its head and out to the end of the lead (so that you are 4 to 6 feet from the horse). The horse should not move when you do this. If it does (and it probably will the first few times) just give a pull on the lead rope and tell it to “whoa.” Once it stops again, continue your movement out to the end of the line and stand there. Again, if the horse moves at all during this, just give it a pull on the lead and say “whoa.” Once the horse stops and stands completely still while you walk out to the end of the line, you can start moving around it a semi-circle, from one shoulder around to the other shoulder. The horse should not move even one foot during this time. If it does, just give it a pull, tell it to “whoa” and continue walking in your semi-circle.
3. PLACING THE HIND LEGS: Once the horse stops and stands like a statue while you do your semi-circles, you can teach it to place its feet. Do this by having the horse stop then walk out to in front of its head. You should place yourself around 4 feet in front of the horse (do not be right at the tip of the horse’s nose). You should also be facing the horse. Start by pulling steadily on the lead until the horse starts to walk. Walking backwards yourself, watch the horse’s hind legs. When the horse lifts its right-hind leg off the ground say “whoa,” so that it will stop with its left hind leg about 12 inches behind the right hind one. If the horse does not stop quickly enough for this to happen, just give a pull, say “whoa” and try again. Once the horse consistently stops with its hind legs in the correct position (with the left hind further back than the right hind) you can continue to the next step.
4. PLACING THE FRONT LEGS: After the horse is thoroughly schooled in how to place its hind legs, you can teach it to place its front legs. To do this, start by having the horse stop with its hind legs in the proper position. Next, pull to your left on the lead rope (assuming you are facing the horse, which you should be), so that the horse’s head is pulled to its right. Be sure at this time that you are pulling very much to the side, since you don’t want the horse to think that you are pulling straight forward, which is the cue for it to walk towards you. At first the horse will probably hesitate to move any of its feet, since it thinks it’s not supposed to move. However, if you continue pulling to your left enough, it will probably move at least one front foot to the side. If the horse moves a back foot at this time, which is very possible, simply give a pull on the lead, say “whoa” and then reposition the hind feet and start again. After a few sessions of practicing this most horses will understand that when they feel a sideways pull on the lead they should move their front feet forward, but keep their hind feet still. Once the horse is comfortable moving its front feet, be sure to position them so that they are even with each other, for this is the proper show stance.
5. STRETCHING THE NECK: Once the horse thoroughly understands how to position its feet and stand completely still until told to move, it is time to teach it to use its neck. To get the horse to use its neck (i.e., to stretch it out), stand the horse up in the proper show stance the, while holding a carrot in your whip hand, stretch your whip hand in front of you, towards the horse’s nose, being sure that the horse smells the carrot. When the horse stretches its neck out to get the carrot, let it take a bite then pat it and let it know that it did the right thing. If the horse moves its feet in order to reach the carrot, simply give it a pull on the lead and say “whoa.” Then, start from the beginning by placing its feet then asking it to stretch its neck. Continue this process until the horse reaches for your whip hand every time you raise or extend it. After the horse becomes used to reaching for your whip hand with the carrot, you can stop holding the carrot, and just have the horse reach for the whip hand. When it does this, be sure to reward it with a pat on the neck and maybe the occasional piece of carrot.
6. USING THE NECK: Once the horse learns to stretch its neck out it needs to learn to lift its neck from the base, so that it assumes a high, arched position. This is taught by having the handler raise his lead hand (the one holding the lead rope) and then having the horse back a few steps. After repeating this process several times, the horse will learn that as soon as that lead hand goes up it needs to raise its neck in order to prepare to back. After the horse gets used to raising its neck on command the handler can stop asking it to back each time. However, if the horse starts to get at all lazy with its neck, the handler can ask it to back which should make the horse attentive and tight once again.
7. TIGHTENING AND SHOWING: The “icing on the cake” for the halter horse is that showy, snorty, excited personality and the tightening of the body muscles. This is where most people think you have to start hitting the horse with a whip in order to “scare” it into this behavior. Fortunately, that is absolutely not necessary. What we do at Chestnut Hill to get our horses to give us that “show ring attitude” is actually to play with them. We do this a lot when we free lunge them (one of our most often used methods of conditioning). We normally take a bottle with some rocks in it out to our lungeing paddock and get the horse to trot and canter around. Generally, most of our horses will trot up to the handlers with the rocks, stop, and want to interact with them. Our handlers let them do this then they will run off in another direction, and the horse will usually follow. Then the handlers shake the rocks at the horse and the horse will trot or canter off, then come back again and the process is repeated. By doing this our horses learn that the rocks and the handlers in the ring are interesting and fun, and so become used to keeping their eyes on those of us on the ground. Plus, this helps give us that great “tail over the back” trot, which is what you’ll see with most of our horses when they trot on the line.
So, there you have Joe Alberti’s “Seven Easy Steps” to training the winning halter horse. A few other points to keep in mind are:
1. If you find that your horse is not giving you the type of performance you think it is capable of giving, seek the help of a knowledgeable professional or amateur.
2. Free lungeing is a good way to condition your halter horse. Regular lungeing (on a lunge line) is fine to do for short periods of time, and, of course, at horse shows, but it puts a lot of strain on a horse’s legs, so try to keep it to a minimum. Of course, regular riding, ponying, and driving are also great ways to condition the halter horse.
3. Showing a horse in halter does not mean that the horse cannot be shown successfully, at the same time, under saddle. We have a number of top pleasure horses here at Chestnut Hill who are also top halter horses.
4. When selecting the halter prospect, look for a horse with structural soundness (such as straight legs, a solid croup, and wide chest) before worrying about the horse’s type. Normally, in the show ring the horse with a good solid body and legs will win over a horse that may be more typey but which has structural flaws, such as crooked legs or a narrow chest.
5. Attitude is a very important thing in a halter horse. Most top halter horses have that “show off” attitude and they just love to flag their tails and prance around for the crowd. When buying a horse that will be competitive in halter, look for horses that exhibit this trait.
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Be aware of and abide by the rules of the show ring. These days there are severe consequences for hitting or “shanking” (pulling down hard on the lead rope) in a halter class. Take a look at the USAE rules for Arabian Halter classes so that you will be sure not to get yourself and your horse disqualified. You can view the rule book online at ♦
For more information on Joe Alberti and Chestnut Hill Arabians, see or call them at 610-681-ARAB (2722).