My six year old paint mare had a small problem when she was younger with occasionally pulling back on the lead rope until it breaks or the halter breaks. It stopped for a full two years, then recently she has started again. She started doing it more often, and the situation became even worse when yesterday she pulled a whole stall front out of the wall at the local stables and nearly killed herself after dragging it down the whole length of the hall and became lodged between two walls.
Is there anything I can do to correct this problem?

tie her to some sort of ring in a way that it will give and when she lies back she will see thst it gives, work her until she is not afriad of it any more.i cant word it right hell. sorry bud.

howdy paso maybe try 1 of those be nice halters that puts pressure points on his head to make it an unwanted action on his part .it will show him that when he pulls back on the halter it will smart a little and after he lets up it will show him thats what he really wants .you can find them at a tack store everywhere .

hmmmm sorry paso i saw it was a mare not a him but at any rate it may just work .good luck and take care

I just looked at those be nice halters, and it probably will not work. But thanks any way!

Does she settle down when you get to her? Have you changed anything? Tack, halter? Something in the stall with her (plastic shopping bag) could even be outside the stall? Think like the horse! Look around and see if something new has been added to her area that she can see. Walk her around and see what spooks her. What looks like a tractor to us could look like a predator to her. Something is sure bothering her and it's up to us (as horse owners)to figure out what bothers them.
One other thing (this may sound crazy). Maybe she's got a toothache Think outside the box here. Remember, horses can see along ways off.

[ June 20, 2005, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Rrgunslinger ]

She does not settle down when you approach her, and it probably would be a bad idea to get close to her when she is pulling. I have a feeling you guys don't quite understand the way she is pulling, and I can't really explain it. First she does this half rearing bit, violently shakes her head, then pulls so hard that her back legs come up between her front and shakes her head even more violently, rears again, and pull until something breaks.
When she does it, there is nothing around to spook her. It is just so random. She usually does it when you have your back turned to her or when you are someplace else.
She isn't stalled, she is kept out in the pasture with our other eight horses. The only reason she was at the stables was to have our friend put shoes on her feet and when he walked away to resize the shoe is when she flipped out and yanked the stall front from the wall. She is used to being shod and being tied to stalls. There wasn't another horse in the stall during this time. She has been to this stables many times before.
We have looked and tried to find things that could be casing the problem, but there seems to be absolutely nothing. She is used to everything she is tied around.
There is always a new halter on her, or a new lead rope but that should not make a difference. (she breaks most of her halters and lead ropes).
Thanks.

[ June 20, 2005, 04:46 PM: Message edited by: Paso4Me ]

There are several ways to correct this problem. First. Tie her up with a strong halter and lead that is not going to give. dO NOT TIE HER TO SOMETHING THAT WILL GIVE! this will only reward her for pulling back because in her mind she has won. Then there a a couple of ways to correct the pulling.
1 take a long rope (lariets work nice) then thread it through the halter and around her butt under the tail and bring it back again through the halter. The tie it. When she puls shell be pulling on herself and her natural reaction will be to come forward.You might want to a have a tall soli9d wall in front of her though cause she might jump ahead the firat few times. This worked on my friends mare, and now she doesn't pull at all.
2. Tie her up as usual, but take a very large, soft rope (big cotton ones) and thread it through the halter and over her head by the crown piece of the halter. Then bring it back through the halter and tie it just a tad shorter then your other rope. when she pulls she'll feel the pressure on her head and should stop pulling. If she's pulling out of pain, she'll realize that the cotton rope isn't hurting her and should stop.
3. this should be used as a last resort only! Take a strong Cattle rope halter and put it over her. You may want to lead her around with it a little so shes used to the pull. Then tie her up with it. It will hurt her, no doubt about that, but with a sore nose and head she won't want to pull, so hard. When she realizes that no pull = no hurt then she should be good. It works on cows and most cattle figure it out within a few days.
Hope that helps

Thanks you guys! You have really helped me a lot!