TRAINING TIP:

Remember that every single time 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 against his butt and tell him to face you. As soon as he does, tell him he's a good boy and go ahead and halter him.

Even a trained or partially trained horse can "revert" to previous behavior. I have a horse in training (we'll call him Scoot) 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 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. 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.