Suggestions on leading?

My first question is where are you leading him too and what is he being led away from?   Does he have pasture buddies?
 
Most likely he was never taught properly how to give to pressure on his poll or were the halter goes over his head behind his ears.  Perhaps when you first got him you were more contience about your position at his shoulder when leading or just in front of him.  Some horses will lead fine as long as you let them follow you, others will only lead good if at your shoulder.
 
When he plants his feet I wouldn't make him back up as it is probably in the direction he wants to go anyway or back to the pasture.  Instead step to the side quite a ways and give a good hard pull.  The idea is to pull him off balance on the front end thus causing him to step across.  When he does step up and rub him then move to the other side and do it again.  When we are first teaching weanlings to lead this is how we do it or if I use my horse to teach them to lead.  The pull which causes them ot step across is then released AS he is stepping across or has forward motion.  After a while they learn to give to that pressure.
 
You also said that if you have a rope halter on....Thats all I use whether it is training, riding, or trailering.  I havn't used a nylon halter in probably 10 yrs.  Oh I have them stored away someplace for an emergency but I just don't use them.  Nylon halters are usually 1 inch wide.  If you think about the rope halter its usually 1/4 inch in diameter this is to KEEP the horse from leaning on it. 
 
Another method you can try is put him in the rope halter and get next to a good straight wall or fence that is safe.  Put him next to the fence and you at his shoulder.  As you go to move forward really exadurate it, lean forward a bit and click, then use the stick to tap his hindquarters.  DONT turn around to do it though stay facing forward and stay at his shoulder.  This is how we teach advanced leading or when we get them to trot in hand or lope in hand.  When you want to stop say the cue you are going to use, straighten up and rotate this stick so that it is infront of his knees.  Should he not stop you can tap his legs in tandom with bumping the halter to back him up.  I always want my horses to think STOP AND GET BACK as this will save your toes many times over not to mention it creats a pretty hindquarter stop!
 
I hope this has helped.  Have fun and stay safe.

Thanks for your reply.  You have some really great ideas that I will try.  He does have pasture buddies... but he's only got a couple.  He's really low in the pecking order of the herd.  But yes, I am always trying to lead him away from the herd... not sure how I would go about leading him TO the herd if he's already there.  []  I try to make the destination different each time.  Sometime we just go to a quiet corner of pasture and work on things (like leading), or sometimes I'll just groom him out there.  Other times we go and do work in the round pen. 
He on pasture 24/7 and does not get any grain if that makes any difference.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for your reply.  You have some really great ideas that I will try.  He does have pasture buddies... but he's only got a couple.  He's really low in the pecking order of the herd.  But yes, I am always trying to lead him away from the herd... not sure how I would go about leading him TO the herd if he's already there.  []  I try to make the destination different each time.  Sometime we just go to a quiet corner of pasture and work on things (like leading), or sometimes I'll just groom him out there.  Other times we go and do work in the round pen. 
He on pasture 24/7 and does not get any grain if that makes any difference.
I'll let you know how it goes.

I am now encountering this issue as well.  My Danny used to lead perfect.  I have been using a grazing muzzle on him this summer. He is associating the other pasture with the grazing muzzle.  Also, my hitching posts.  He stops dead in his tracks if he thinks the muzzle or the hitching post is out destination.  I will also use these ideas on my stubborn son. My mare is perfect, she leads very easily and responsively.  He has a different mentality than she does.  Thank you for the post and great advice.

When teaching a horse to lead, I will go for more of a push than a pull.  Hold the line in your right hand, hold a dressage or lunge whip in your left hand, hold it like you would a ski pole. (I've actually never skied, but that is what it looks like anyway)  Look straight ahead of you, use a voice command, take a step, if the horse doesn't move, reach back with the whip and tap him from behind, encourage the push forward.  If he moves to the side, then move with him, just consistently and rhythmically keep tapping until he takes a step forward, the stop.  Your timing is very important here.
 
You didn't break him, he is more just stuck in fight mode.  Don't be surprised when you do "unstick" those feet that they jump immediately into flight and bounce back to fight again.  This is a very normal cycle.  You will notice that it is less intense each time until you balance out.  This is especially common in young horses or horses that haven't really had good foundation training.
 
I personally only use rope halters for training and switch to a regular halter as the horse is ready.

Hmm..
Well I'm not really a real expert on training horses and such, but i kind of got an idea, it's what people do when they are training foals to lead. They put the end of the rope around the foal's back end and brought the very end to your hand (you need a pretty long rope for this.) Then, you make a cluck noice, or any kind of noice you want to teach your horse to walk forward, and pull on the horse's head (well the lead rope that is conected to the horse's halter) and pull on the other part of the rope that will pull the horse's back end, eventually the horse should understand. Just do this a couple times..and make sure that you make the cluck noice. I just seen a picture of this in a horse magazine and it suddenly came to my mind when i read your problem. Ha ha, hope this helps..at least a bit.

[quote=chelsea03]

They put the end of the rope around the foal's back end and brought the very end to your hand (you need a pretty long rope for this.) Then, you make a cluck noice, or any kind of noice you want to teach your horse to walk forward, and pull on the horse's head (well the lead rope that is conected to the horse's halter) and pull on the other part of the rope that will pull the horse's back end, eventually the horse should understand. Just do this a couple times..and make sure that you make the cluck noice.


I thought about doing this but it kind of makes me nervous.  It seems like a good way to get an explosion... a foal exploding is one thing but a 1,000 pound horse is a whole new ball game. (I envision  bucking and kicking). He's not much of a bucker or kicker and I don't think he would explode, but I also wonder how injured I could get if my hunch is wrong.  [&:]  And how long I could potentially lay in the pasture before anyone noticed. [:-]

well,to get  your horse to lead.well,to get him walking here is something that worked with two horses i trained(2out of two):      When he plants his feet in the ground,stay with him,by tuging on the lead rope,without leting out any preasure.keep tuging and "kiss(or)cluck"to him and keep "kissing",and say sternly ,"walk on!"and repeat this till he will walk foward.Make him do the work,rather than having you drag him. by this,he will see that by going your way,its the only way to release the preasure,and will willingly go with you.

[quote=crazy]

well,to get  your horse to lead.well,to get him walking here is something that worked with two horses i trained(2out of two):      When he plants his feet in the ground,stay with him,by tuging on the lead rope,without leting out any preasure.keep tuging and "kiss(or)cluck"to him and keep "kissing",and say sternly ,"walk on!"and repeat this till he will walk foward.Make him do the work,rather than having you drag him. by this,he will see that by going your way,its the only way to release the preasure,and will willingly go with you.

 
Yeah, I tried that for a while the first time he pulled this little stunt and I all I got was blisters on my hands and a search party wondering what was taking me so long. 
[]