Leg Leading

6" of snow today and cold on the fingers.  While I worked the 3 older horses 2" of snow accumulated on the backs of the younger ones. Because they were damp I didn't saddle them.  Instead I worked on leg leading.  This is similar to halter breaking. I put a rope around a fetlock and then held on to both ends, that way I could let it go if they panicked. I kept a halter and lunge line on them in case they bolted but did not use the halter to lead.  Initially I put a little feel on the rope and as soon as the horse noticed (looked, shifted weight, moved a foot) I released pressure. After a few repetitions and the horse giving to the pressure easily, I increased the difficulty by moving the foot forward with the rope and not allowing him to put it back. The horse feels pressure when he tries to take the leg away and must feel a release of pressure when he relaxes. What I am looking for is that the horse figures out to move any one of the other legs forward in an attempt to release pressure. Today I worked Red and Snip to this point with all four legs.  The front legs can be worked forward, sideways and back.  The back legs should only be worked forward and sideways otherwise your farrier will not be happy when he draws the hind leg back and the horse backs up.  Snip was pretty good and I worked a little on picking his feet up as well, releasing as soon as he gave to the pressure.  Red was a little concerned that I was going to tie his back feet together but got over it fairly quickly.  Cocoa was the one I expected to be difficult.  He was pretty good with his front feet but didn't like the rope touching his hind legs below the hocks.  I just stayed as close to his shoulder as I could while rubbing his hind leg with the coil of rope until he stopped pivoting and stood still, then I put the rope around the leg and followed him for a few more pivots without any pressure on the leg rope, working on having him accept it moving on him.  A couple of times he got scared and left.  I didn't try and hold him, just drew him back and put the rope back on the leg.  He surprised me that he didn't kick at it but I worked at it a while before I put any pressure on the rope. I didn't try and lead him with it, just used the rope to lift the foot then held it long enough to remove the rope and be the one that saved him.
"So you may be asking yourself at this point, why would you need to lead a horse by the leg?"
At the very least I use the initial giving to pressure to teach them to pick up their feet, especially the hind ones.  It keeps you at a safe distance if a horse might be kicky and allows you to keep your back straight and strong while you practice lots.
The next step of teaching them to move other feet when they feel the pressure teaches a horse to reason and untangle himself.  I carry this one step further, once they follow the pressure any direction the next step would be to lunge them, apply pressure to the leg rope and bring them to a stop.
These particular horses will need to be hobble broke and also tethered by a front foot in the mountains.  This is a good way to prepare them to not rope burn themselves.
I believe Leg Leading has saved my horses 3 times that I know about.  One time the horse had his foot over the barb of a loose wire and stayed there without making a mark on himself.  Another time a horse pawed at a bayco wire fence and got it stuck between his hoof and shoe.  The person who found him had to walk away from him and get wire cutters to cut the fence.  The horse waited patiently.  The third horse I was leading through a creek while riding another horse and it stopped. When I got off to check why I found her foot stuck between the bank and a 1/2" cedar root. It felt like it took me 20 minutes to cut through it. I was all wet but she stood and waited beautifully.
So I would ask you at this point, "Why wouldn't you teach your horse to leg lead?"