When working with horses, its important to have the basics down. Learn how to properly walk and halt a horse.
Why Learn to Walk and Halt This is important because as a beginning rider the first gate you#%92re going to be introduced to is the walk. And also, you want to make sure that your horse has a good, safe, consistent, halt.
Walking a Horse When asking my horse to walk, we want to keep our eyes ahead and our head up, have my reins in each hand and I#%92m going to squeeze with my heel to ask him to go. You want to have light contact on the reins when walking and I want to turn my head as I turn so that the horse knows where to look up.
Halting a Horse Now, to halt I#%92m going to actually create a bridge with my hands and I#%92m going to sit down. The reins do not actually halt the horse, your seat does. The reins cause the door to occur in front of the horse and when you sit you push the energy into the door. Now, when I don#%92t yield my hands to him that means the door is closed and he must take that energy and stop. Troubleshooting Horse Lessons[/h3] If my horse does not halt and stand, I will do lateral flexions and I will take one rein and when he touches my boot I will release. And I will do this both directions back and forth and I will do this until he decides to stop and stand. I should feel comfortable at the halt, dropping my reins on the horse#%92s neck and knowing he will not walk off.
Asking the Horse to Walk Now, if I go to ask my horse to walk and he does not walk, what I will do is ACT. I will ask, cluck and then tap. So, I would ask with my heels. If nothing happened, I would cluck to him and if nothing happened, then I#%92m going to give a slightly firmer tap. If that still did not work, I would have someone go and get me a riding crop, and I would do the same thing again, ask, cluck, tap and if that didn#%92t work, I would take the crop and just gently tap him on the belly, behind my leg.
Praise is Important Another option is, if your horse goes to walk and you haven#%92t asked him to, is you can have him back up a few steps, and halt again. Always remember to praise your horse when he has a good halt so he knows he did the right thing. If you#%92re an experienced rider with a lazy horse who won#%92t halt and you#%92ve done a lot of cantering, one thing you can do is have the horse have an option. You can either have the horse cantor around the arena or you can stand still and relax. I should feel comfortable at the halt dropping my reins on the horse#%92s neck and knowing he will not walk off.
http://video.about.com/horses/How-to-Walk-and-Halt-a-Horse.htm
Hope it can help you!