I lost my beloved gelding earlier in the year, and I’m now shopping around for a new horse. I never had the luxury of boarding at a facility that had immediate access to trails, I always had to trailer out to local parks and open space. As a result, my gelding never learned to be barn sour and became an excellent trail horse. This time around, I’m going to be boarding at a facility that DOES have access to trails, and I doubt I’ll be doing much trailering out. So one of my main criteria while I’ve been shopping around is that I want a horse that does NOT get barn sour. I’ve looked at about a dozen horses now where the owner assured me that the horse is 100% confident going solo on the trail and doesn’t get barn sour, but when I ride the horse, my opinion is otherwise. Every single horse, as soon as it realizes it’s heading home, the pace speeds up and I feel like I have to do constant half-halts or circles to keep the horse at a nice meandering pace. It’s been so long since I’ve ridden a different horse, I’m starting to wonder…am I just setting my expectations too high? Is there such a thing as a non-barn sour horse? To be honest, I don’t know how my old gelding would have behaved in a similar situation. He might have done the speedy-walk thing too. My favorite horse that I looked at so far is an 8 year old morgan gelding. I do arena riding too, and he was a nice boy in the arena. But when I took him out for a test trail ride, he kept trying to look behind him and bend his shoulder back towards the barn. Then heading home, the motor kicked in and he power walked all the way back. No jigging or dangerous behavior or anything, but definitely wanted to get back to the barn. As soon as the barn popped into view, he gave a little whinny out to his friends. So is mild barn sour behavior such as this ‘normal’? Am I going to find anything that doesn’t behave like this? I just hate to be passing up an otherwise nice horse if the odds of my finding something that behaves better than this are slim to none. I know it’s possible that as the horse learns to trust me as his leader the behavior could also diminish…but I know it may also not. What do you think… would you buy this horse? I appreciate any thoughts/advice.
Most horses are going to be more forward going home than heading out - even if “home” is back to the trailer. Personally, as long as the horse will walk and not jig I don’t worry about it much. If i have to fight one all the way back then that’s another matter.
Moving forward is not barn sour IMHO. Jigging, not responding to half halts, snatching reins, screaming for buddies? That’s barn sour.
Your expectations are not too high. I had one horse turn barn sour later in life (age 9?) and my current horse was a little too forward on the way home for a couple of years. Other than that, I have had a dozen or more horses that I rode regularly away from the barn and they were absolutely not barn sour. At all.
I think it is normal behavior. It can get better with consistent riding, but it’s to be expected that horses are happy to get back to their pasture mates. I wouldn’t go for jigging, distracted misbehavior. Wanting to speed up, but listening to half halts or circling without yanking sounds workable to me. My new guy is awesome trailered out or while camping, but I bet he’d get zippy headed back home. My old mare always wants to go, so she isn’t the barn sour sort, but she’s an unusual horse - she’ll walk right back by the trailer and hit the trail again if I drop the reins.
I think you need to know what your definition of barn sour is.
Mine is a horse that does not want to leave the barn area, actively tries to turn around and go back, whinnies or screams for other horses, bolts or spooks towards the barn in attemps to go back, uses behaviors like bucking or rearing to try to get back.
I’m not sure I’ve ever owned a horse that does not pick up the pace when headed home. As long as they are in control and listening and responding to me, I don’t have a problem, but I also don’t have an issue with correcting bad behavior. I will use circles, figure eights and serpentines to slow a horse to my pace and make it listen to me.
One thing to keep in mind is there is no perfect horse out there. What imperfections can you live with, tolerate or work on correcting?
Try this. Once you return to the barn from hacking out, don’t end the ride. Make the horse work for a while. It’s the same reason you don’t end the ride in the same spot of the arena, or right next to the barn every time. It makes them think if they can get to that spot, the work is over.
Your expectations are a little unrealistic. I’m at two barns with access to trails, and I don’t know any horse that doesn’t get a bit ‘drunken sailor’ on the way out and quicker going home. As long as they don’t balk going out and are respectful of your half halts going home, I’d chalk it up to normal behavior.
Even my mom’s lazy-as-sin 20 year old bombproof gelding got a little pep to him on the way home (you only had to use your leg to get him out of a walk, instead of leg, crop, and spur :lol:)
Thanks, I greatly appreciate all the responses. I think my definition of NOT barn sour is a horse that genuinely seems to enjoy being on the trail and is not preoccupied in any way, shape or form with getting back to the barn/trailer. Any horse that does not fit description I would consider barn sour. Maybe only mildly, but still…barn sour. My old gelding did fit this description, HOWEVER… as I said in my original post, I never had the opportunity to trail ride him directly from his barn. We always trailered out, and I think that made a huge difference. Being on unfamiliar turf, he didn’t have the trails memorized. He didn’t have a barn and buddies to hurry back to. He didn’t know where he was going and I think he learned to just trust that eventually the loop would lead back to the trailer, and until then, he’d just plod along happy as a clam. I have no idea how he would have behaved if I had tried to trail ride him straight from his barn… he might have acted barn sour as well. So that’s kind of what I’m getting at when, as I’m looking at new horses, I wonder if I’m setting my expectations too high. Are ALL horses that trail ride straight from the barn going to act a touch barn sour? Do I need to just accept that this is behavior I’m going to have to deal with?
If you like the horse, buy it. Put it on a magnesium supplement containing mag. aspartate, m. citrate m. lactate, or m. chloride as they are more effective than mag. oxide or mag. sulfate–this should help with any anxiousness.
What you have described is typical horse behavior-- not unreasonable at all. You have to remember that horses are not machines–you have to expect this kind of minor inconvenience.
And that everytime you touch a horse you are, in effect, training it. So if you let it get away with unwanted behavior it can quickly escalate.
Enjoy your horse!
I would trail ride my mare anywhere on the buckle and while she might get a big walk headed for home I knew i could ask her to whoa and stand with no problems. She was an unrideable lunatic when i rode off the property at home.
Horses are herd animals, so they have a natural instinct that tells them there is safety in numbers. In the situations you describe for your test rides, there are more horses at the barn than on the trail. I am sure there are exceptions to this rule (there always are), but I would expect any horse to pick up the pace coming back to the barn. They simply feel safer there.
That can usually be minimized with time and training on your part. Once new horse settles in with you, you work on building leadership with him. And for a long time, every single time you come back to the barn after a trail ride, you work him for at least another 10 or 15 minutes with the barn in sight (I’ve done up to an extra 45 minutes with my at-that-time very barn sour gelding). This will teach him that just because you’re back home doesn’t mean you are done working for the day. That takes at least some of the excitement out of getting back home. I know it helped a bunch with my gelding.
For what it’s worth, your definition of barn sour is my definition of normal horse behavior. I am sure there are exceptional horses that are happier out on the trail than in the barn, but I don’t think that’s the norm.
My advice – when test riding the horse, ask yourself, “If he never gets any better-behaved than this, am I alright with that?” If the answer is “No” then don’t buy it. If the answer is “Yes” and you like the horse, then buy it. Usually you can make him better with effective riding and training, but even if he never gets any better about it, at least you know you’re ok with how he is.
Best of luck!
I agree that most horses will pick up the pace when they think they are heading back to the barn. I don’t consider it to be a problem to get a few calls to a buddy or maybe looking to see where their buddy is. I do consider it a problem when the horse is literally screaming at the top of his lungs for buddies or trying to turn back or getting light on the front end, balking, bucking or any other naughty behavior. Likewise coming back to the barn, any unasked for change of gait other than maybe a faster walk is not allowed. My friend and I ride out from the barn where we board at least 3 times per week. Some days we stay on the farm and ride thru the woods and all around the edge of the farm. Those days we usually take our dogs with us. As we meander thru and around all the trails in the woods, we often come out and pass the barn/pastures at least once if not several times during a ride. If we ride out cross country, when coming back we either go down the side of the farm and thru the woods back to the barn, go across the front of the farm and ride down the far side of the property to get back or sometimes down the driveway. We always change it up so the horses never know which way we are going to go.
Hellooooooo… Why would you think that a horse would be perfect for a complete stranger??? Think about this from the horse’s side of things. Having a complete stranger (who of course will ride differently then the current owner/rider) mount up and ride them away from home??? The horse is not going to be at it’s best.Try to imagine what must be going on in their minds! It takes time to begin to connect with a new horse, you aren’t going to see anything near perfection on trial rides.
It takes time to make a great trail horse, that’s why they can be hard to find for sale. Quit comparing strange horses to the wonderful horse that you lost. Look at the potential of the horses that you are trying. It will be up to you to develop that potential.
chicamuxen
My gelding can be barn sour and bratty when hacking out from home but is a gentleman when hauled out. I really do think it’s all about whether he knows he’s going “home” or not. As others have said, as long as it’s no more than a slower walk out and a quicker walk back, I wouldn’t worry. My guy has gone through phases of light feet, bucking, or trying to bolt, though we’ve mostly got those ironed out now.
Pull him off the trailer at a state park and he’s antsy until he gets on the trails, then he’ll go all day. It almost seems like he’s surprised when we get back to the trailer.
I don’t consider what you described barn sour.
[QUOTE=tinyrider;7793667]
Are ALL horses that trail ride straight from the barn going to act a touch barn sour? [/QUOTE]
I would say yes, 90+% of horses will exhibit this type of behavior.
In my experience, easily correctable. And riding new horses - they are testing you a bit. If you let them poke alone and look back - or hurry and rush home. Well, this is what they will do. If you correct them - most if they are displaying the minor behavior you described - can be “fixed”.
If they start popping a shoulder and looking back when heading out? CORRECT them!! Immediately. Set them straight, put your leg on the bulging side, and ask for a marching walk. If you are consistent - most will stop “looking”.
Heading back, if they quicken more than you like - again, correct them. Make them work - leg yeilds etc. If one really bugs me with the “rush home” thing - we turn around a TROT each time they get too pushy.
I do lots of trail riding out from the barn - and to help keep my horse from developing a “lets rush home so I can get a grooming and hay!” habit - we do a little work in the arena as soon as we return to the stables.
Now she isn’t quite so eager because she knows home = more work, not stuffing her face.
It also depends on how much time/effort you are willing to spend in correcting the behavior.
I got my horse from a rescue and was only allowed to ride him in a round pen due to their very restrictive policies. I was told that he had been trail ridden extensively. Got him home, and found out that he was fine with company, but would wheel and bolt for the barn if I tried to take him out alone, even just to the hay field beyond the arena. It took a ton of work and a lot of time, progressing through many different barn-sour behavior issues, but we eventually worked through it, and now he’s actually better when we’re out alone than in a group. I’ve trailered him solo 10 hours at a time, unloaded him at highway rest stops to pee and graze, and done 50-mile endurance rides without a ride buddy – he’s now perfectly happy with me as his only company. He even had to stand on the trailer once in a gas station for several hours while we waited for a repair guy to come, in the middle of Amish country on a Sunday morning, with horse-and-buggies going by and a team of draft horses harvesting corn across the street.
In other words, if you like the horse otherwise and are willing to put in the work to change the behavior, it would not be a deal-breaker for me.
My now retired gelding would fit your description of not barn sour. He loved to go out on trails and would happily go off alone from the barn. In fact I would trail ride him as a reward for good ring work!
But I will agree with most that when trying a new horse, a bit of looking and speeding up within gait when heading back would seem perfectly normal to me.
My Morgan and I are rooting for the Morgan!
Could be that the horse will be better once it knows you and your expectations.
Could be nervous because you are an unknown, or it could be that the current owners don’t care that the horse gets quick getting home and so this behaviour is the pattern. Likely correctable if not over the top.
My Irish Draught happily leaves home and happily walks back home. The only time I have had a problem with him was when I trailered him 12 hours to Florida. He bonded with his friend in the trailer. After we arrived in Florida, he didn’t want to leave his friend in the barn and screamed during each ride out from the barn for several days.
Keep looking until you find a calm horse who can leave the barn and return uneventfully. I can’t imagine putting up with jigging and fussing on every ride. My brief experience with the screaming reminded me of how much I appreciate good horse behavior.
