Troubled Horse

[Miss Underfeated]

Hello i am new to the area, i hope someone can help me with my 18yr old stockhorse, he has just retired from eventing, i have not long had him & and desperatly need help with his problem, when i ride him out and trail rides you couldn't ask for a better horse, but when we turn to come home he starts to act up and tries to get me off.
I also have trouble holding him back to a walk because all he wants to do is gallop home,he jig jogs, pigroots & walks sideways all in an attemp to get me to run him home, i have children who ride and we are all learning, i don't want to gallop but i don't want to get rid of him, i have the best relationship with him, and he is brilliant around the kids and is also a big sook, except for this one habbit he has, maybe his previous owner ran him home from ponyclub, i don't know, someone please help?

[4zbox]

My kids bought me a horse that was really treated badly before I got her and would rearup and go right over backwards when ever she got mad. The most import thing is a lot of ground work. I've been working with my horse now for over a year, (but only about twice a week is all I can do for now) you need to work on the one rien stop for sure. Everytime she wants to run pull on one rien and turn her head all the way to one side and go in a circle until she stops. Then try again and the next time turn in the other direction, but you have to get him to flex his head in both directions on the ground first so he knows what you want him to do. Time and patience is what it takes, I hope this helps you.

[southend united FC 4 eva!]

My kids bought me a horse that was really treated badly before I got her and would rearup and go right over backwards when ever she got mad. The most import thing is a lot of ground work. I've been working with my horse now for over a year, (but only about twice a week is all I can do for now) you need to work on the one rien stop for sure. Everytime she wants to run pull on one rien and turn her head all the way to one side and go in a circle until she stops. Then try again and the next time turn in the other direction, but you have to get him to flex his head in both directions on the ground first so he knows what you want him to do. Time and patience is what it takes, I hope this helps you.

Hi im new, an essex girl of course!. Um i was wondering if you could help me with my horse. He is a 1 year old midlands pony, gelding kept at a private yard. He keeps on biting people and my older horse, any tips on how to stop him??? x

[haflingers rule]

As far as that troubled horse. I think we all have had at least one that has done the dash-for-home thing. Is there any way that you could take another way home, even several other ways home to get him a little off track. It is a very hard habit to break them of. Patience is really the answer. You must not let him be in control (easier said than done, I know) Maybe try shorter rides and then you won't have as long of a time try to get control of him while you are trying get back to the barn. Try distracting him, circle him when he starts his prancing and stuff. It will make him mad but it will make him work also and maybe he will figure out for himself that its not worth all of the extra work. Good Luck, Keep trying, pretty much whatever works, use it. Short of mistreatment, :eek: that will just set back any advances you have made,
Haflingers rule

[summersrush]

biting is a sign of little or no respect and should not be tolerated your horse is still young and in horses of that age it is related to as mouthing he has not learned much respect from his mother by the sounds of things as for biting other horses he will soon learn the hard way that someone as insignifigant as him has no place biting older horses! in some ways he is tasting and at the same time testing his boundries very much the same way a child would.... this should be delt with in much the same way as a horse would but DO NOT smack him in the face this will only make him head shy when he bites u without looking at him tap him in the leg just firmly in the same way a horse would i am not saying kick him in the shins but just hard enough that he notices after a few times of this he will go to bite then look at his shin ..there for now asoiciating this act with a tap in the shin which is unplesant so should not want to do it any more ...also do NOT feed him by hand this only reinforces the niping ....observe him doing it is it out of spite ...if it is you will know by the expression on his face ..ears back teeth bared i doubt it is tho ...hope this helps chick X :p

[summersrush]

Hi im new, an essex girl of course!. Um i was wondering if you could help me with my horse. He is a 1 year old midlands pony, gelding kept at a private yard. He keeps on biting people and my older horse, any tips on how to stop him??? x
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biting is a sign of little or no respect and should not be tolerated your horse is still young and in horses of that age it is related to as mouthing he has not learned much respect from his mother by the sounds of things as for biting other horses he will soon learn the hard way that someone as insignifigant as him has no place biting older horses! in some ways he is tasting and at the same time testing his boundries very much the same way a child would.... this should be delt with in much the same way as a horse would but DO NOT smack him in the face this will only make him head shy when he bites u without looking at him tap him in the leg just firmly in the same way a horse would i am not saying kick him in the shins but just hard enough that he notices after a few times of this he will go to bite then look at his shin ..there for now asoiciating this act with a tap in the shin which is unplesant so should not want to do it any more ...also do NOT feed him by hand this only reinforces the niping ....observe him doing it is it out of spite ...if it is you will know by the expression on his face ..ears back teeth bared i doubt it is tho ...hope this helps chick X

[Saddle Bag]

Try taking your horse just a short distance away and walk him home. And when he gets there put him to work with lots of circles, serpentines, figure 8 for about 10 min. Then walk him away again to a point past the first time. Now at this point he doesn't know the point of this exercise. Return home hopefully at a walk, and repeat the exercises. Again ride out going even further. If he behaves coming home no yard work. Again go out, again further and walk him home. He should have caught on by now. You may have to repeat this the next time but hopefully that's it.

[Elana55]

Your horse is barn sour. this means he has learned that going home means he gets to stop working.

I used to cure this by realizing that going on a ride might take me hours.. a half hour out and 3 hours to get home!

the first rule of thumb is to NEVER ride out and then turn around and go home. Always make a loop so you do not go back by turning around in the trail and just head back home. Ride "around the block" so to speak.

The next thing is the minute your horse starts to jig, you circle him. Every time. All the time. Don't circle just one way.. circle both ways (clockwise and counter clockwise). Circling one way will make your horse one sided.

Don't make the circle big and easy either.. make the circle small enough that the horse has to walk nicely. At first this may be a pretty tight circle. Don't yank him around, just simply turn him in a quiet circle and keep him in the circle until he is walking quiet then start back for home. He may take one step towards home and start to jig again.. circle him again (the other direction). You will find this tiresome and boring and, eventually the horse will as well. Eventually he will walk home quiety. but if he ever jigs, go back to circling.

You can easily spend hors gfetting back from a very short ride.

When you get him home, don't just put him away and let him be free and do not immediately feed him. Put him in his stall and leave him tacked up and leave him that way for 1/2 hour. Then go out and take him down, rub him down and feed him.

this can be fixed, but it will take time.

[cuttingfool]

Barn sour is an easy thing to cure, but as everyone has pointed out it takes time. I think any of the methods mentioned will work if you stick to it. I got one of my horses over it in one loooong afternoon:

Took him out for a couple of hours and he got silly on the way home, about a half mile from the barn. I ws riding with my wife (whos arab was being a perfect gentleman) so I fought my horse to a walk all the way home. My wife went to groom her horse, and I rode mine all the way back to where he had gotten silly, turned him around and headed home. After a few paces he broke into a trot and I didn't try to stop him. Eventually he was blazing home at a gallop - I still didn't try to stop him. When we got home, I turned him around again and made him gallop back to where he had started galloping, then trotted him to where he started trotting, then walked him to the original spot where he had gotten silly. This time when I turned him around he didn't try to break into a trot until we were about a quarter mile from the barn. So we did it again. And again. And again and again. Finally he was more than happy to walk placidly all the way home without being told to do so. Then I tied him up for a couple off hours to think about it. The whole process took about 3-4 hours but he never tried to run home again and I never got in a fight with him at all. I still tie him up for at least a few minutes after trail rides so he doesn't get that "can't wait to get home and eat" mindset.

Oddly, when I first trailered him to a trailhead after that lesson, we rode a big loop and when we got a half mile or so from the trailer he wanted to run. I let him, then ran him back to where he started acting "trailer sour" (?) and he was more than pleased to calmly walk back to the trailer, first time.

The important thing is to first *avoid a fight, then *get the HORSE to make the "right" decision rather than imposing your will on him.

There must be a thousand ways to accomplish that (everyone here seems to have their own good ideas about a lot of things and I wouldn't hesitate to take any of their advice) and any of them will do the trick.

[aretha]

Please help me .I have a 4yr old quarter horse gelding and i am at the end of my ropes.He used to be a performance horse in the roeo.I ride him in the arena and he does fine but when i take him out he starts bucking and acting realy bad ive tried taking him in circles but nothing is working.:mad:Your horse is barn sour. this means he has learned that going home means he gets to stop working.

I used to cure this by realizing that going on a ride might take me hours.. a half hour out and 3 hours to get home!

the first rule of thumb is to NEVER ride out and then turn around and go home. Always make a loop so you do not go back by turning around in the trail and just head back home. Ride "around the block" so to speak.

The next thing is the minute your horse starts to jig, you circle him. Every time. All the time. Don't circle just one way.. circle both ways (clockwise and counter clockwise). Circling one way will make your horse one sided.

Don't make the circle big and easy either.. make the circle small enough that the horse has to walk nicely. At first this may be a pretty tight circle. Don't yank him around, just simply turn him in a quiet circle and keep him in the circle until he is walking quiet then start back for home. He may take one step towards home and start to jig again.. circle him again (the other direction). You will find this tiresome and boring and, eventually the horse will as well. Eventually he will walk home quiety. but if he ever jigs, go back to circling.

You can easily spend hors gfetting back from a very short ride.

When you get him home, don't just put him away and let him be free and do not immediately feed him. Put him in his stall and leave him tacked up and leave him that way for 1/2 hour. Then go out and take him down, rub him down and feed him.

this can be fixed, but it will take time.