I have a horse who’s terrified of leaving the gate when im riding her, she absolutely refuses to go forward and instead rushes backwards, bucks, rears and gets extremely stressed out. Sometimes I manage to get her past the gate if shes in a good mood, but will often do the same thing while out on a trail or on the road. Not sure what I can do about it!
Most likely, she will go just find if you hand lead. This is not a permanent solution, just a training step to show her to accept your direction. If you make the time to hand lead her out for a short walk , say every day before feeding, it’s how she earns her breakfast and dinner-- you could even feed her out there for this training period. You may also need an intermediate step of someone handleading her while you ride her. A month of this will show her to take her courage and direction from you. It is really worth the time investment to do this–lots of folks get tempted to just have her follow a solid trail horse, but if you do that, she is taking her courage and direction from another horse, not from you. You can fix this with enough minutes, miles and patience.
When she does this, are you alone or with another horse & rider?
Google “barn sour horse” there’s lots of info out there.
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shes no problem if i hand lead her, and i often have to if im out on the road but i just spend most of the time on the ground hahah! if shes with another horse following behind shes absolutely fine its just when shes alone or if leading when with another horse! thank you!!
I spent a solid year getting off my mare on a regular basis and leading her. I think I spent more time on foot than in the saddle. She had a friend but the friend would not go in front at all so I got off and walked. A lot. When we went out with a brave friend they would take over when she was afraid of something and she was fine but she really liked to lead so as soon as the danger was past she would put herself back in front.
Now I can take her out solo and I think I got off once this year. I did do a lot of work at home because she also wasn’t obedient off my leg in the arena and in safe places on the trail I would duke it out to reinforce the aids.
thank you, shes a very funny personality because she doesnt shy and shes great in traffic so im uncertain if shes scared or just being lazy or stubborn! would you recommend going on the same path repeatedly until shell happily walk down it? my girl has particular spots where she wants to play up and decides she doesnt want to ride anymore!!
I think she is just being herd bound. I would go down whatever path you think is safe and aim for a bit further each day and plan on getting off and walking her further or walking her back so she does not rush. When I got back to the barn I’d work her in the ring for 20 - 30 minutes so she doesn’t think that the barn means no work.
Have you tried having someone else lead her through while you are on?
This helped when my mare was learning to solo trail ride. My SO would walk in front of us until she got comfortable and then we would take the lead and head out. If we got stuck he would catch up eventually and walk in front. I would also trot after people on bicycles.
thank you for all your feedback, at this point, the only way i can get my horse out is to be led either by me on the ground, or by another horse that doesnt play up on the road. I may try getting someone to lead me however, that may be more successful! thank you all!!
It seems to be part of every horse’s green repertoire - they try it on to see if they can and once they decide they cannot win, they just give in. You can try circling util she’s tired of it, backing her down the path, but in the end, she will have to just trust you to get on with it. I don’t believe in giving a horse a beating, but a smart smack behind the leg might change her mind.
Give her time and don’t get bucked off if she’s inclined.
Your mare has some big holes in her training - any horse that “decides” it is not going to listen to the rider and acts up like that is missing a solid foundation.
Of course, which is why everyone is suggesting how to fix it.
OP, although my SO brought a lead rope most of the time during her early solo riding stages she just needed someone to go in front. A sacrifice to the monster on the trail so to speak. Then she’d get fussy about going so slow and pass them, then we’d get stuck, pass, stuck, pass. Spent some time rearing in place, and running backwards. Stay calm, stay consistent and insistent. Work on forward at home in a safe area where you can fix the holes.
I also want to repeat finding someone on a bicycle if you don’t have a friend willing to walk. Several strangers found themselves being followed by my horse on multiple occasions.
You missed the root of the problem and it’s likely it will resurface at some point in time. The problem has nothing to do with going first, it’s that the horse does not listen to you.
You cut off the part of my post where I said it was an obedience problem and should be worked on at home in a safe place to fix the holes. So no, I didn’t miss anything.
Your mare is being a bitch. She’s not afraid, she’s just a bully, and as enjoytheride said, she’s disobedient. You’ve tried about everything, so now you have to slap that stubborn donkey ass-iness out of her. And here’s how you’re going to do it:
You’re going to do this by line driving her, first in the ring where she can’t get away from you, and you’re going to teach her that your voice command and the driving whip means “Go Forward, NOW”. If you’ve never “driven” a horse, get a pro to show you how it is done. You’ll be working a LOT on stop, go, halt, stand, go, etc etc in the ring until she’s solid as a rock on your commands, the “kissy” sound (known as a “cluck” for “forward”) and the light touch of the whip to reinforce your commands. As she does things correctly, the driving whip lash will be gently stroked ONCE on the flank immediately after every command. NEVER before. She needs to know that whip will get progressively nastier to back up your commands if she doesn’t snap to immediately.
Once she is solid at halt (spoken as: “Annnnd hoooooh”), stand (“Stand”), and go (A tongue cluck immediately followed by the stern “no nonsense” words “Walk On, please” ) in the ring, it will be time to take your lessons outside the ring. Just outside the perimeter. Not on the trail yet. You will be “outside” yet still next to the initial training area. Work her every dang day and get her solid as a rock on those three commands. ALWAYS reward the training session afterwards with a good head scratching, or a treat.
Once she is solid outside the ring, it is time to start long lining her on the trail. Just a short walk, about 1/10 of a mile. Then halt her, go to her head, pat her, and lead her back home. Each day go about 100 steps farther. NEVER let her balk. Immediately cluck and use the whip - not harshly, but firmly. She’ll already have the picture in her mind of what you want her to do, and with the driving whip reinforcing your commands she has to obey. If you want, have a second person with you to hold a lunge line attached to a halter over her bridle, just in case.
If you do these lessons correctly, she’ll soon figure out that she has to do what you want…or else. Since the driving experience will be new to her, she will find it far more difficult to be nappy, and find it more pleasant to do what you want. Remember to always reward afterwards. Your reward will be a horse that listens, and possibly a better waistline from all the exercise.
Good luck.
Thank you very much thats so helpful! i’ll give it a shot!
