Training a headstrong horse is a real challenge of both your training skills as well as your patience. A headstrong horse will do some do some of the following:

*Bucking and rearing instead of allowing you to ride him.
*Moving away when you attempt to saddle him.
*Running away when you try to mount him.
*Ignores your commands when riding him.

If you said yes to more than one of the above items, congratulations! You have a headstrong horse. Now fortunately, you can "untrain" these bad habits but it takes some time and you must be consistent in your training and never, ever punish your horse by whipping or hitting for being headstrong. It will cause him to trust you less and it may increase the acting out, and basically being headstrong is a form of temper tantrum. Don't reward it with any type of attention, instead use the distraction method much like you would for a small child having a tantrum.

Rearing and bucking are easily combatted. The trick is to get his feet back on the ground as quickly as possible and you do this by moving him forward. A horse that is moving is using all four feet and won't be able to rear, buck or kick. Work him in this manner until he is distracted enough to settle down and forgets what set him off in the first place. Do this on every occasion he displays himself in a headstrong manner.

If your horse bolts, let him. Keep him running until he's tired of it. When he learns bolting only makes him tired, he'll lessen that behavior as well. You can get more control by using a stronger bit during his retraining.

Use these techniques to reassert your position as top horse over your horse and praise him when he responds positively, horses love praise - even the headstrong ones!