I need advice regarding lead training.
What I'm doing: 1. Lead the horse until she balks 2. Pull the lead rope taut 3. Call out to her and the same voice I use when petting her 4. If that doesn't work after 15 seconds, present treat, which always eventually works
What happens: As soon as she gets the treat, she stops walking
What I'm trying to teach her: Pressure on the halter and lead rope is a signal to step forward. Stepping forward is good and results in treats and pets.
What I'm afraid I'm teaching her: Balking is a lifehack that results in treats OR treats is a signal to stop walking
She leads okay inside the riding arena and on the way to pasture. She only balks when I bring her in from pasture alone, and when I lead her to the riding arena (which she associates with boring physiotherapy riding and getting swats with a crop when she doesn't move).
Inside the arena I do target training, by aaking her to boop a target on a stick, which she really enjoys. She's a bit too focused on me and my hands, rather than the target, but I think we'll eventually get that sorted out.
Horse tax:
Valid concerns!
I think you need to flip the thinking around here a little. I would be working on cueing the halt. Rather than focusing on getting the horse to starting walking when balking, work with the habit and make when you stop on your terms rather than hers. Plus it gives you the excuse to use stopping to accept rewards as is instead of trying to fight the habit which is more work and frustration for both of you.
Walk her where she is comfortable 1. Vocal cue 'whoa' while stopping your own movement (getting her used to the voice and body language; if she keeps moving just let her catch herself on the lead as you stay still) 2. Once she stops, mark the behavior (some kind of bridge like a click to link the behavior and reward) and give reward. Keep the reward simple. A quick pat or low value food reward, don't do too much fussing. You want to make sure the reward is low value enough that it doesn't cause hyperarousal.
It's important to be conscious of more than just the task of "action-reward". It takes awareness of your body language and the horse's.
Consequentially she should learn from this exercise that the sooner she gets moving the sooner she can perform the simple task of stopping when told and get her reward.
When you move to work in the more difficult spots practice going from walk to halt on your signal. If she balks, keep your body forward as if you were still walking, don't look back at her or face her. You can make the lead taught but lighter contact and quick release is better once she starts to soften her body forward. Don't do anything in response other than release once she does move. Once she halts when you ask, you can reward.
Cueing the halt is extremely helpful when you start sequence training. I use it on my horses all the time. Venus knows that when I cue her to halt at the end of a jump course she gets rewarded.
Sequencing is when you string multiple behaviors together, working backwards, adding the sequential behaviors one at a time into the behavior that results in rewarding. It's a great tool for performance horses, or really any task oriented horse.
The more the horse understands the expectations of performing a finishing task the more you can start to stretch it out over time and gradually ask for longer sequences or holds.
As for her being more focused on you than the target, I'd work with her through a fence or door. Make the answer of touching the target easier and touching you harder by holding the end of the target on her side and only rewarding when the end of the target is touched.
