Hello, I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas for a gate sour TB gelding. He is such a sweet boy. I hack him out alone and in groups regularly. He is an angel on the ground. But the problems start once we enter the arena. All he wants to do is go back out the gate. He is constantly trying to look at the gate, and he starts speeding up at the sight of it when we come around the corner and down the longside. He will also bow out and try to evade my outside aids when we go past it. He is green and off the track, so I’m guessing he has no experience in indoors. Any help would be appreciated. What has anyone done to help with this? I do have a trainer, but trainer has not been around much lately. Thanks!
My thoughts would be not to let him think of the gate as a reward, nice place, etc.
When you take a break go up the far end of the arena. Not to park next to other horses.
Finish work in the middle of the arena. Run up stirrups, pause, etc. Walk to gate, past gate, back and do a circle. Outside the gate move on away from the other horses. He’s only green, this too will pass. Pony Club kids deal with this a lot!
I think a horse doesn’t really think that way at all, actually. I think the key is just to teach the horse the aids and make sure he listens to the aids, be consistent and patient, firm, determined. Get help from a trainer to instruct you how to do this if you aren’t sure what to do.
Horses nearly always get gate sour when, over a period of time, the rider doesn’t ‘ride the horse’ and instead lets the arena ride the horse, without using his outside rein and aids and determining where the horse is supposed to go. Even race horses steer.
Longeing and hand walking in the arena - WITHOUT stopping by the gate or walking him over to stand with other horses, please, can help.
Is the gate open or shut? I realize many indoor arenas have a big opening to the barn, instead of an actual gate. If you can close the gate somehow, whether by putting a board across it or sliding the doors shut or something, that will eliminate his visual temptation, and will certainly eliminate the danger of him dodging out against your wishes, which can be very dangerous for you and others. Also is there an alternative entrance/exit to the ring? If so, ask if you can use that sometimes. Good to keep the horse guessing about where the “escape route” is. When I’m working in an area where the horse is particularly sour to one side (usually toward his stall or corral),I try never to exit on that side, using the far gate instead.
I agree with Foxtrot and learned the exact same way. No chatting at gates ect. Unless I am on the horse walking out the gate I usually dismount in the middle of the arena. My old horse was bad with gates so I just never let him stop at the gate and he got the idea pretty quickly that the gate was not a fun place :yes:
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;3694997]
My thoughts would be not to let him think of the gate as a reward, nice place, etc.
When you take a break go up the far end of the arena. Not to park next to other horses.
Finish work in the middle of the arena. Run up stirrups, pause, etc. Walk to gate, past gate, back and do a circle. Outside the gate move on away from the other horses. He’s only green, this too will pass. Pony Club kids deal with this a lot![/QUOTE]
My horse use to be horrible with them. Actually at our first dressage test he tried to go out the opening and stepped on the small fence and broke it. :no: And at a jumper show he tried to run out the open one. His problem was his nerves and he also was never really use to a gate. The arena we use to have was open with no fencing so when he got in an actual arena he would have spaz attacks about the gate. This past year we bought a farm with a real arena 
and a gate and he got over it quick. I never stopped by the gate and I didn’t dismount at the gate. I did always mount at the gate as soon as we walked in and still do because this way he thinks of the gate as work and not its time to stop. I always change places when I dismount. Don’t always go to the middle of the ring or he will possbily start doing the same thing with the middle of the ring. Horses anticipate, just like now when I go down centerline he thinks he is going to stops at X because he has done it so many times so I have to push harder when I don’t want to stop. Once you get him by it nicely everytime you ride switch it up and leave the gate open sometimes and closed sometimes.
Oh also, I know what you mean by evading that outside leg and pushing to go out the gate almost sideways. :lol: My boy tried this to and when he did I gave him a good thump with my outside leg each time. Each time the thump got harder till I was actually kicking him pretty good with that outside leg, but after a few times he got the point and quit.
Thanks everyone for your ideas. I will start incorporating them. My guy is stubborn! With him it’s more of a RUN RUN RUN to the gate. That part is worse than the trying to bow out at the gate. He’ll trot normally about 1/4 of the way around the arena, and then he starts looking at the gate and rushing the rest of the way around the arena to get back to the gate. I’ve been trying to do lots of serpentines, circles, etc. And lately I’ve been asking him to halt when he rushes. Then we trot off again, but it’s right back to rushing toward the gate. Ugh, I hope this passes with practice. And to answer a question, unfortunately there is only one gate so I can’t leave through any other area. I did use the idea of making him back out of the gate today though. Thanks everyone!
If he knows how to back up then when he starts rushing make him stop and back 3-4 steps and then trot off again. Keep doing it, it will work. It may take 15 or 20 times but he will get the idea. It just depends on how hard headed he is. 
Great tip, thanks!
We are pretty gate conscious w/the young horses and so they never develop this issue. We don’t ride a young horse OUT the gate, PITA yes but I will get off in the middle or the end, and then lead them out and remount. Never stop and chat at the gate.
I would not do anything other than correct whatever aid he is blowing off in his obsession w/getting to the gate. If it were my half halt, I’d do a full halt and stand, then walk off, then trot off. Rinse and repeat as necessary. If it were my outside aids, I’d put my whip behind my leg and use it when he ignores that leg, I would not hesitate to put spurs on.
Mostly tho’… if you refuse to allow him to change the rhythm, you will break the cycle. That is the first thing that happens, for the most part. Half halt and keep riding him forward. Some of them I have fixed by riding them MORE forward towards the gate, depends on how the horse thinks.
Alot of the gate sourness starts with a small change in rythm that the rider doesn’t feel. It gradually over time becomes gate sourness, it doesn’t actually happen suddenly. The rider just doesn’t catch that first change in rhythm.
Maintaining the rhythm and never stopping at the gate to chat - never even slowing down or slacking off near the gate, it works.
Thank you again everyone, great advice. I actually just purchased this horse two weeks ago, so I’m guessing his previous owners allowed a lot of socializing at the gate because he is a full blown gate addict! I’m hoping with repetition and no more fun at the gate it will go away. Interesting idea EqTrainer that sometimes you ride the horses more forward. Although my guy just tends to blow through my half halts upon sight of the amazing and wonderful gate, so I guess I’ll keep up with the coming to a full halt and/or backing up a few steps and then going forward again. It is very helpful to think of it as a rythm problem as opposed to a gate problem. Perhaps that will keep my focus off the gate as well.
The best thing is to think not of the gate at all, but of the rhythm.
And PLEASE…DO NOT STOP, to stop is the worst advice possible. Keep moving. Stop at the other end of the ring only, and only if you just absolutely have to, for one second, and then boot him forward. It would be a heck of a lot better if you just come down to a very, very energetic, forward walk instead of stopping, and it would be a lot better if you didn’t even do THAT. Forget the warmup at a walk and just keep moving. Don’t stop when the problem is the horse getting nappy and wanting to go out the gate.
If you have a problem, the whole ride should be structured around resolving that problem - every second of it. The problem is forward and rhythm, and going thru a very, very clear aid (not reacting to it, ignoring it, you use your gate-side leg and rein to push him away from the gate and he just keeps barging thru it).
also consider that a moving AWAY from the gate and getting more contact with the outside rein would make it impossible for the horse to drift to the gate. Define your circles and turns meticulously, accurately, and correct ANY drifting with a leg yield away from the drifting, bending and demanding a reaction from your ‘don’t go thru that leg’ leg. Demand a reaction to each aid and do that the entire lesson. Come out loaded for bear, and make it happen.
[QUOTE=dwblover;3694968]
Hello, I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas for a gate sour TB gelding. He is such a sweet boy. I hack him out alone and in groups regularly. He is an angel on the ground. But the problems start once we enter the arena. All he wants to do is go back out the gate. He is constantly trying to look at the gate, and he starts speeding up at the sight of it when we come around the corner and down the longside. He will also bow out and try to evade my outside aids when we go past it. He is green and off the track, so I’m guessing he has no experience in indoors. Any help would be appreciated. What has anyone done to help with this? I do have a trainer, but trainer has not been around much lately. Thanks![/QUOTE]
half halt stride and collect him up and sit in and push him past the door dont let him try to turn round or turn his head, or speed up use your seat and secure legs as legs on and sit in and push him past back your leg with the whip if nesscary
its called napping when a horse doesnt want to do xyz and hes testing you so be firm and also say to him get on
I should have been more clear - I would only stop if when the horse begins to change rhythm he does it when he comes around the other side and sees the gate AND he is blowing thru your aids and will not accept a half halt. Then oh yes, I would halt him as in, RIGHT NOW. Horses can and do run away with people on a minor scale.
Don’t halt at the gate, but when you come around and feel the rhythm change then halt immediatley. SLC2 you know I respect you but I say do this because it has worked with a few horses that I have ridden that were very gate sour.
I tend to break things into smaller pieces to help the horse understand. It isn’t necessarily about the gate at the most fundamental of levels, but about the horse’s avoidance of the aids. The gate becomes a real symbol to the horse for “getting out of this.” So, remove the gate from the program for awhile. Roundpens are great for that. You will find this horse will choose another place to balk or spin in the roundpen if the issues aren’t really gate related.
Make all associations with the arena pleasant. Never, ever ride out a gate. Hack at the far end of the arena with some friends if he likes the company of others.
Barn sour and gate sour are often forma of separation anxiety. As the horse bonds with you and trusts you more, he will be less anxious about the arena.
While this is a little counter-intuitive, I found that when my guy went through this phase, we worked all the time by the gate. Working at the far end of the ring just made the problem louder, so I said, “Fine. You want to be by the gate? We’ll do that. But you have to WORK by the gate.” After a while, the gate wasn’t such a fun place and he stopped objecting to work at the far end of the ring.
I also agree with slc (shocker) that it all starts with a subtle change in rhythm. I found if I was very alert to changes in the rhythm well before the gate, I could make a minor correction and not have it escalate into a larger fight. Keeping his attention on me and what I was asking was critically important.
One quick and easy solution to ‘closing’ the gate opening that one place I rode used was just a jump pole- there were jump cups on either side of the opening, and you put the pole up to ‘close’ the gate and dropped it again to get out. Worked pretty well because if a horse was REALLY going to take out the gate, it just fell away (rather than ending up with a horse smashing through something) and also the pole was light enough that even leading a horse you could put it up- just one end at a time.
Also, we ALWAYS mounted/stopped on the center line, rather than by the gate, and if a horse was being kind of gate-sour then it’d be the FAR end of the arena from the gate, plus over the course of a lesson we might stop and dismount, walk around, remount, and continue work. (So he didn’t get the idea that getting off meant going back to the barn.)
