Hi Markie. Welcome to the Uni. I believe you maybe new here as you have no accreditations yet. You are on a wonderful journey. Your true situation isn't totally clear from your initial post & I sincerely hope this develops into a conversation. Take heart - most of us do not have ideal facilities & are trying to make it work. You clearly care greatly for your filly & her welfare. Nevertheless, safety first. I do not understand yet why long lining isn't possible. You appear to take her around the farm but yet she is more attentive to the person leading her than to you on her back & when no one is at her head she stands or reverses. OK. That's a start. Put 2 planks/poles/logs on the ground to create a 10 foot or so passage wide enough that the filly has ample room to walk easily through. Lead her through it on a halter over the bridle & try not to guide her - let her work it out for herself. Once she is completely relaxed with that task, ask her to reverse a couple of paces within the passage. With your lead line or rope on the halter not the bit you remove the possibility of pain if or when she questions this procedure. Gradually build up the idea of forward & backward movement within the passage. She is still very young so keep the sessions short & always stop when she cooperates willingly. If she is resident to reversing, look her in the eye, bend your knees a little so as to slightly crouch in front of her. Immediately release that pressure after 2 backward steps & praise greatly with rubbing her neck. Over several sessions & that means as many as it takes for her to become relaxed with fluid movements within the passage in both directions, extend the passage to include a gradual corner. This is to establish the idea (so a full 90 degrees is too much just yet). Repeat the forward & backwards with as little guidance to her as possible. Keep calm, reassuring the filly & praising any & all cooperation. Adding verbal clicks as movement instructions & gradually stepping further away from her as she does this exercise, whilst making the corner a bit more challenging incrementally.

What you are achieving here with this ground work is mental stimulation for the filly whilst building a huge bond for her with you & installing an association with clicking, movement of her feet but with less human support from a lead. If you have a human helper you can then proceed, away from the passage, to ride the filly with the helper not actually attached but supporting from a short distance. Gradually they move further away. If your filly is unwilling to walk forwards at any stage your helper moves to Monty's driving position (see join up lessons) & gives gentle forward movement support. When you have confident forward steps ridden, with minimal ground support revisit the original passage & after a few passes through it recreate the incremental corner. Now add gentle guidance through the reins & progress towards riding into & round a corner of a field. By using this progression approach you are allowing your young filly to train herself by growing her confidence to try things without fear of blame on her if she makes mistakes. I hope you find this helpful & please keep posting your progress. Have great fun with your filly. Cheers, Jo.

Thanks for your help. I’ve been following Monty quite a few years I joined originally a while ago and then just rejoined now. The long lining is an issue because I am not confident in using the long lines. And Monty’s book says not to do it if your not well practiced at it on a young horse. I don’t have much experience with it so don’t want to try it on her and risk messing her up. I just bought the dually halter so I may give it a go now. Although the halter won’t fit her for much longer since she’s a draft she’s already 1700 pounds and 16 hands. Everything is a bit harder. I like the idea of creating a passage way. I also don’t really have any help. I am the only one interested in horses and with a new baby at home there is less time to train.  Trying to do what I can. I didn’t plan on having a baby horse and a baby at the same time lol. 

I should add. When I was on her trying to use the reins alone the other horses where out in the paddock as well so she wanted to just go where they went and started getting a little high strung attempting little bucks and jumps. So I think maybe next time I’ll work in the smaller paddock without the other horses in it. 

Hi Markie. I have an Irish cob, who sired my youngsters before being gelded. These heavy types take a long time to mature. Your filly really needs more time to mature before carrying weight for long. My advice, especially with the additional responsibility of a baby at home, would be to concentrate on the ground work & building a true bond with her. You'll find the benefits far outweigh the frustration of holding back your desire to forge ahead. My vet admitted recently that she hadn't believed my Humphrey was entire (testicles beneath the skin) until Kirk was born - he was too good natured & gentle to be entire. Having had a dodgy start in life he came to me at 2 & responded to calm, quiet, understanding handling to become an exceptional character. Good luck. Keep us posted. Cheers, Jo.

Hello Markie and welcome.
Jo really gives sound advice to you and your young two yr. old colt.  You run the risk of your    colt taking matters into his own control [being the leader and bracing into a panic reaction] because he doesn`t understand the difference of being cued from the ground to being cued by the bit from his back.  MAJOR LEAGUE PROBLEM!!!!, and it`s all about what the horse FEELS in the cue.  Your horse has been trained with your ground work to feel and give to the pressure through the training halter and lead line..  This all has happened from you being on the ground next to him cueing him the way you wish for him to respond.. THAT`S WHAT HE KNOWS AND IS COMFORTABLE WITH.  When you climbed on his back and place a bit in his mouth and ask him to respond to YOU in the saddle while being led by another person on the ground BIG TIME CONFUSION ON HIS PART.   He did what you trained him to do - he followed the lead of the ground person because you put him into a situation of choosing between the two cues.  He chose the one that he was more comfortable with.  That was probably because of the newness of you being on his back.  Until you help your colt to feel what you want him to do, I would not expect a different reaction from  him.
  We humans tend to make a judgment that because a horse looks mature that he is OK physically for us to climb on and ride.  Most horses do NOT physically mature until they are 5-7 yrs of age.  THAT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT THEIR MENTAL APPROACH TO LIFE.  I would strongly urge you to follow Jo`s advice and work through your colt`s ground issues.  This will help him to be more confident with you and himself with respect to what you are asking him to do.
With regard to long lining. Now that you have a dually halter, I would get a longer lead line [12-15ft.]and practice leading your colt until you can lead him from behind in a RELAXED MANNER, and he responds to the cues that you give him with ease.  When you have reached this point in his training, and you are both comfortable with the longer line, the time would right for you to attach the second line to the off side.  This is exactly the procedure I use when educating my horses to the beginings of long lining.
I hope this helps and keeps you safe.

Bud

Sorry for the mix up I thought you horse was a colt..

Bud

Thanks for the advice. I guess I should have clarified. I know drafts mature later. And I have never asked very much from her to keep her joints safe. I am a light person and also am only asking for her to walk forward turn left right stop and back up. She won’t be asked to work at faster than a walk and for very little time until she gets older. I will try the long lines again starting with just one and see where we get to. It is true I am confusing her asking her to listen to two people. Will take it into consideration.