How To Halter A Horse

How to halter a horse:
Important facts you must know about horse halters.

It is dangerous to leave halters on horses when they are turned loose, either in a stall or a pasture because they can:

* They hook onto things
* Horses can grab hold of them
* A horse can hook his hind shoe into it when scratching his head. Remember to always take the halter off when you turn your horse out.

Proper Haltering Method

* Approach the horse from the near (left) side
* Hold the unbuckled halter and rope in your left hand
* With your right hand, scratch the horse on the withers
* Move your right hand across the top of the neck to the right side
* Use your left hand to give the end of the lead rope to your right hand and make a loop around the horse's throatlatch and hold the loop with your right hand
* If the horse tries to pull away at this stage, you can pull the horse's head toward you while pressing your right elbow into the horse's neck
* Hand the halter strap with the holes in it under the horse's neck to your right hand which is holding the lead rope loop
* With your left hand, position the noseband of the halter on the horse's face and then bring your hands together to buckle the halter

Develop good habits to avoid accidents.

When you turning a horse loose follow the same procedure in a somewhat reverse order. The loop should be applied around the horse's neckthe halter is removed then the loop is released. Hold the horse momentarily with the loop and then gently push the horse away from you with the elbow of your right arm.

Sizing

Take a measurement around your horse's nose just below the cheek bone and at the throat latch. The average horse is about 23-24" around the nose.

Use a string to get the length of these measurements and lay the string out against a yardstick or tape measure.

When buying a halter the average sizes come in:

* Pony - fits ponies/yearlings and very small horse heads
o Approximately 20" around the nose
* Cob /Arab size horse heads
o Approximately 22" around the nose
* Average size horse head
o Approximately 24" around the nose
* Warmblood - fits the large horse
o Approximately 26" around the nose
* Draft - fits the VERY, VERY large horse
o Approximately 28" around the nose

If you have to decide on a size -- It's better to have a halter that is a little bit too big than one that is too small.

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