It’s important to practice things with your horses, like leading a horse, before you really need it. In this case I was originally just leading this horse with tarps and getting him used to them. As you can see in the thumbnail, he did pretty good but horses (like humans) have trouble multitasking and sometimes if you ask a horse to tolerate something and also walk around, it’s when you lose them. By losing a horse I mean that they are no longer connected to you and they try to leave which you then lose control of them. This in turn can lead to an unsafe situation.
This exercise really didn’t have anything to do with the other horses even though they are the ones creating the most action here. The actual exercise was about leading the horse I had and have him stay well aware of me despite everything going on around him, especially the tarp that was in front of him and in my hand.
The most important part of this exercise is to stay aware of the horse that you are leading and correcting them consistently when they get out of place and rewarding them when they stay in place. In the end this horse did very well with this and stayed with me most of the time. In these cases you may find a horse will lag back or cut you off, both need to be corrected with just the right amount of pressure and timing. Takes practice! For the both of you!
Lots of fun and getting this right can only improve your chances of success when out in the world on trails or other arenas and something sideways happens. You always want to be able to control your horse and bring them back to you. This exercise will help with that.
See more about Safety here: http://www.stablehorsetraining.com/safety-around-horses/