With a young unhandled pony, the first thing you need to do is to begin getting the pony used to being handled. It helps to have a small well built pen and a lot of patience. Make sure your movements are steady and deliberate and speak calmly and quietly to the pony. Remember when this is all new it can be very scary for a young pony. If the pony really has never been handled before and is very nervous, it can help to have a training stick (a studier version of a lunging whip) so you can begin contact with the rope end of the stick. When you begin contact, start with the wither area and move steadily out from here. Then slowly move your hand further up the pole until you are touching the pony. Make sure your contact is firm but gentle and be very aware of how the pony is responding – only do as much as the pony is able to cope with. You are better to take longer and not frighten the pony, than try and rush.

Once you are able to touch the pony, begin contact around the wither area and move out from there. If the pony begins to get unhappy with what you are doing, move back to a point they were happy with before moving out again. Carefully begin to handle their legs.  If they kick and this becomes dangerous to do, it can help to start handling their legs with a long pole that has a straw filled glove attached to the end. Once you can handle their legs, move onto picking up their feet. Start by holding the foot up only slightly off the ground for a very short time. It is important that you are the one who chooses when the foot is picked up and when it is put down.

While you are training your young pony, remember that they need to learn the same thing from both sides, so if you have handled them on one side and they are doing well, don’t be surprised if you move to their other side and feel like you are starting all over again.

There are many different methods for teaching young ponies to lead. The one I will mention here is pressure and release. To teach leading by pressure and release (once you have your pony used to a halter), pull gently and firmly on the lead rope. Keep the pressure consistent and allow the pony time to figure out that the way to release the pressure is to move towards it. It may take some time for the pony to work this out, so be patient and keep the pressure consistent. If they really won’t move and you are tired, maintain the consistent pressure and move around to one side until they do move. When they move, release the pressure immediately – this is very important! They must be able to associate the release of the pressure with doing the thing you were wanting them to do in order for this to be effective.

When teaching a youngster to tie up it is important to have a strong post and an area where the pony won’t be able to hurt themselves. Begin by wrapping a strong lead rope around the post a couple of times leaving around half a meter of rope between the pony and the post (long enough so they have room to move but won’t be able to get a foot over the rope). Hold the other end of the rope rather than tying it, and stay with the pony while they adjust to the concept of being tied up. Make sure you are in a safe place. Reassure the pony and once they are standing quietly, encourage them and let them go.

When training your young pony, be patient with them and make sure you reward them with a rub and nice tone of voice when they get it right. Avoid hand feeding treats to a youngster – this teaches them to associate hands with food and can cause problems later on when you find you have a pony that nips, bites and bosses you around looking for that food. If you really want to reward them with food, place it in a feed bucket.

Make sure each training session ends well. Even if it seems like you have made little or no progress that day, find something you know the pony can do successfully (even if it is just to stand there while you handle them, or simply stand calmly with you in the pen with them) and finish with that.