After seeing how much I struggle with Legacy and her stubben ways of choosing when to go into the stable or not, the farmer on the yard had had enough and helped me out with her. He went to get his pressure halter to try out on her. She was being temperamental with going into the stable or not, if the stable door was open and you were leading Cloudy in front of her there was a 98% chance she would walk straight into the stable with no problems. But if you had to stop her in the hallway to open the stable door you might've well of not even bothered to try get her in the stable and just tack her up in the hallway. She would plant her and if you tried to pull on her a little bit she would throw her head or back up, I'd even tried bribing her with carrots, her feed, treats etc. It even got to the point I would have someone standing behind her. Sometimes these would work other times she'll just play up.
I couldn't ride her on my own because it meant bringing all her tack outside into the middle of the farm/car park and stand there with her tacking her up and of course she wouldn't even stand still.
So when he brought this halter out to try on her I thought why not, I don't think she'll get any worse. The halter he had was the Richard Maxwell training halter. He told me to walk her around on a long line with the lead rope and to not look her at. She can only be looked at when she has been good and the looking at her is a reward to her.
He worked with her for about 10 minutes walking her in and out of the stable so she could get used to the halter and the meaning of the pressure, if she's naughty she'll apply pressure to herself and if she does what's asked or corrects herself there will be no pressure or the pressure will go. After a couple of times of trying to stop going into the stable she soon realised that it was much easier to just walk straight in.
After this I tried with her for a few times then he took her out for a 5-10 minute walk on the road. Now she's never been the best on the road in the sense she gets separation anxiety when leaving the yard or so we thought. She just walked straight out, the horses across the road from the road were running over to come see her and she didn't even bat an eyelid at them. She went out and came back with only one little manner problem on the way out.
I now have to walk Legacy out with this head collar near enough everyday or every other, if she hasn't been on a walk she's come into the stable for feed so she's had to accomplish something with it on. I also have to walk her around the arena, over poles, in between objects etc just to keep her interested and listening to me.
In the end we figured out that she had no respect for me and didn't care what I wanted her to do and if she wanted to do something she would, we have now come to the point to where if I'm leading her and I stop she won't pass me and she listens to me now. Using this halter on her has literally turned her into a different horse and the horse she should be and one we can start working with to achieve more.
Richard Maxwell Training Halter - £30 + P+P (£34 for UK)
Or I found one on eBay which is the one I bought, they are the same material, just the ebay one is a bit more silkier to begin with so the rope can slip around the face.
Natural Horsemanship Pressure Halter - £9.99 + P+P (£13.29)
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