TRAINING TIP:

Remember that whenever you handle your horse, you're training him. If you go into his stall or pen to catch him and he turns his butt to you, don't just walk past it to his head and halter him. If you do that, you're teaching him that turning his butt to you (a sure sign of either disrespect or fear) is the right thing to do. Instead, take a few moments and fix the problem. Swing the end of your rope lightly against his butt and tell him to face you. If he gets startled and moves further away from you or into a corner, just keep swinging that lead rope against his butt. Stand back far enough that you can't get kicked, but don't stop tapping him with that rope until he at least turns his head toward you. As soon as he does, tell him he's a good boy stand still for a minute to let him think.

If he still has his butt to you, start swinging that rope against him again. Continue this until he takes at least one step away from you with his hind end. Again, stop, praise him, and let him think. Then continue. Your goal is to get him to stand (at the very least) sideways to you. Best of all, of course, is that he'll turn completely around and face you. Either way, when one of those two things happens, praise him then move up and halter him.

Even a trained or partially trained horse can "revert" to previous behavior. I have a horse in training who certainly knows by now that he's supposed to face me respectfully when I approach him. But yesterday, when I walked into the stall, he turned his butt to me. I swung the end of the lead at him so that it smacked him gently in the butt. Then I told him to face me and held out my hand. He obediently turned toward me then continued his turn until he was facing away from me again.

I had to repeat the "smack and call" three times before he finally stood still, facing me like he was supposed to, and let me put his halter on. Could I have just walked past his butt to his head and haltered him? Sure. It would have saved time but I would have been teaching him that turning his butt to me was okay. And it CERTAINLY isn't.

Remember not to accept any disobedience or shows of disrespect from a horse that you're training. If you see a problem develop, even though you think it's minor, fix it then and there. If not, that "minor" problem will likely be a "major" problem the next time you handle him.