Valentine":cdzg3ej4 said:
I recently adopted a Sulfur Mustang mare from the BLM. I know how to train horses on ground work and in the saddle. I'm just kind of confused on how to get her haltered for the first time. I've tried to sit near and in her pen and she won't come up to me. I've, also, tried to use another horse to gentle her. Does ANYONE have any suggestions on what to do other than hiring someone? She is about 2 years old and around 14 or 15 hands.
I know my suggestion is not the advice you want and you're not going to like it, however, it might keep you in one piece.
Send her to someone.
We halter break foals every year and everyone is right on the thread so far, roping a colt thats been raised on the ranch and been to the pens, around people etc., to put a halter on it when one knows what they are doing is about the most anti-climactic thing around the vast majority of time.
Swap said colt out for a Mustang 2 year old (my gut tells me she's 3 or 4) that stays on the opposite end of the corral, has no prior ground work and a person with a novice skill set and the dynamics change drastically.
I think you're heart is in the right place and I hope you end this journey with a real nice using mare but it doesn't sound to me like this process is for you on your own.
In my experience, people who legitimately "know how to train horses on ground work and in the saddle" have a pretty good grasp on how to halter a horse for the first time without turning to the internet for advice.
All could go very well without incident, the problem is it might not. The horses' limited experience with people and confinement and contact coupled with your limited experience with this sort of thing might produce a wreck, that if you're honest with yourself, you might not be equipped to handle.
Good luck and be safe.