The leg rope is an important training tool for us when gentling Mustangs. While I’ve met a select few that understood the idea of picking up feet better without it, we use it on most of the wild ones we train and I personally do leg rope work with all of the Ambassador Mustangs, the ones that live with us at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy .
The leg rope teaches them to pick up and hold up their feet, a process I start by first rubbing the leg with objects and then swinging the lash of a stick and string around it.
Then we move on to leading by a foot. Each foot. That instills the idea that there’s pressure but there’s also a release, meaning their leg isn’t just trapped. Horses don’t like feeling trapped or unbalanced, especially wild ones.
From there I can use the leg rope to gradually introduce holding the leg up in the positions (forward and back) needed for trimming. For a while past that I put it on as a back up in case the horse wants to pull a foot away from me.
Why a rope? It’s safer for me and less threatening for them. I avoid accidental releases that would occur when I run out of arm or the horse kicks loose/leans on me. Teaching them the wrong thing and then having to go back and fix it is not fair to the horse and poor use of our time.
What kind of rope? This is a retired 14ft lead rope with the hardware removed and only the spliced loop at the end that I run the tail of the rope through.
I later revisit leading by each foot by putting pressure on it from every possible direction and teach the horse to give to that calmly. You don’t know when, where and how something is going to snag your horse’s leg, be that a water hose, brush or even old wire on a ride. Better to be prepared than hurt.
Finally, leading by a foot is the ideal hobbling preparation. I also do some lunging and stopping them by a foot too to show that pressure to the leg means stop and think. If you rope, you can also rope the legs and do the same thing that way.
We offer various formats of coaching for owners and adopters of Mustangs and gentling of wild horses for clients. Reach out to us if you need/want help or are looking to adopt a gentled Mustang.
Pictured DG Minerva aka Miss Kitty. She is a kind 5yo Devil’s Garden Mustang mare looking for a human of her own. PM us if interested.
Training halter & rope: Rowdy’s Ropes
Coat: Outback Trading Company LTD.
