Leading your horse

All handling of your horse should be done as safely as possible – for you and the horse. When you are leading the horse inside the stables or to and from a paddock, you should put a bridle, anti-rear bit or a headcollar with a lead rein. You must NEVER wrap the lead rein around your hand or throw it over your shoulder, as this can lead to serious accidents if the horse gets spooked and takes off.

If you are leading the horse to the paddock, you should enter the paddock and then turn the horse around before you release it. This is to avoid getting kicked if the horse expresses joy by bucking as it is released. If more than one horse are being released in the same paddock, you should all enter with your horses, and turn them to face the fence with a space of at least three metres between each horse. Everyone then releases their horse at the same time.

When you are leading your horse in or out through a door, and inside the stables, it is important to make sure that there is nothing for the rug, saddle or tack to get caught on since this could easily cause the horse to panic and, in the worst case, pull away the object it is caught on, such as a door.

When you are leading the horse to and from the arena, the reins should not be hanging around the neck, with the exception of auxiliary reins. If you are leading horses out from the arena in a group, you should leave approximately one horse-length to the horse in front of you.