Barn Sour Horse?????

Question

One of my horses is very barn sour, he will not leave "his" area...Here are some methods I have been thinking of does it sound like it may work...

If he refuses to walk walk up and down the street if that fails make him run around in circles and if THAT fails have my hubby hold out a carrot and every step he takes he gets a bite..

Which one sounds the best He is very food motivated...He has no problems or health problems just a stubborn horse!

Answer 1

Nope - won't work except for the here and now - your hubby prepared to walk along holding carrots every time you ride?

You are somewhat correct in your first part of your description - but there's a key.  You must teach your horse that being in his comfort zone means work and going outside it is where the relaxation is - because they only understand work or relax.  You must also reward each small success with relaxation.  If you watch horses in the wild, they employ these techniques with each other - one horse wishes another to do something, they use their body to make the other move, when the other is where it is desired to be, the "chaser" turns around and releases the pressure allowing relaxation thereby communicating "there, that's where I want you to be".

You must do this - set in your mind the boundaries of his comfort zone - is it simply in the barnyard?  Set to work walking and trotting in circles and figure 8 and such as he's trained to do so far for maybe 10 minutes, keep your energy up and hands engaged to keep him focused on you and actually working.  Then focus on a point outside his comfort zone, say 10 yards.  Slow your energy, focus on that point and ask him to go to it.  If he does, when you get there, stop, relax and praise - no pressure on bit or legs at all.  When he balks, turn around, go back to the barn and work - trot more than walk, work - don't get after him or spank him, just work and focus on making what he's doing work then go away to another spot - may only 5 yards outside the comfort zone - the first order of business is to enlarge his comfort zone just a little - if he doesn't do this, he can work.  When he does do this, request he go a little further - when he balks is when he must work.  When he balks, don't fight with him nor work him right there, go back inside his area of comfort and work. Fighting with him or jerking on him won't solve your problem.  He either will not leave his comfort zone because he is afraid of something "out there", he equates "out there" to work and the barn to relaxation because you've allowed this.  Depending on when he meets the goal you've set for him, end the session on a good note - if you set a goal of 20 yards outside his comfort zone and he only will go 10, end the session when he's gone 10 calmly by dismounting, loosening the saddle, relaxing and praising - you are ending where YOU want to be, not the barn.  Next time, start again and you will find he will go farther and in less time if you are consistent in showing him and he's getting the point - if you encounter no success, you likely are not doing it right, not releasing quick enough after success or allowing him to still view the barn as the place to relax.  The horse remembers the last thing he did before he got to relax and be done as what's expected to achieve his goal of relaxing.  Don't expect this to be a one-time fix.  It takes a few sessions and for a long time to come with take consistent reinforcement and constant review - for a while to come you'll likely need to work at the barn before you go on a ride.  When you're out riding, if he's afraid of anything, the ride now becomes work - you must ensure that he's comfortable.

I think for you hiring a trainer to come help you with one session might be valuable.  It might cost $100 to get a trainer out for the day, but what you'll learn and their helping you recognize success will be worth it.  It's hard for us to recognize small successes - we want our horses to do waht we want them to do - but in order to get them to do that, we must understand they are prey, we are predators and "out there" is where the scary things are.  We cannot entice them successfully often with food, but sometimes it can be used to show them it really is a good thing to look forward to going out there.  My own trainer recently worked with my spooky mare - when she's outside the arena, she's sure she's going to get attacked or eaten.  She looks for things to spook her - so we work in the arena and barn yard, then we walk quietly to a place just outside her comfort zone - we stop to share some apples or graze a minute and loosen the saddle as the reward for working well then leaving and trusting us.  She begins to equate the places out there we've gone with the possibility of apples or grass or other relaxing stuff .

Good luck

Answer 2

OK first of all never give a horse a treat to stop a bad behavior. you said one of your horses so I take it you have more then one horse and since this one is sour to one area you are not rotating your horses if you have the facilities to do this once a week move each horse to to a different paddock/pen never allowing the same horse to be next to the same horse for at least a month preventing sour is easier then a cure with the one you have now set up a pen away from where it is at now and leave it there it may get upset but a horse is a lazy creature it will settle down and leave it there and start a horse rotation after a week  

Answer 3

Although i think food can be a great motivation for some problems, such as a horse that won't load into a trailer etc, I don't think it is the best way to go about your horse refusing to lead.

The best thing I can suggest that will use minimul force and take the least amount of time is using a butt rope. If you can find an old Lasso make a large loop and hang it over your horses hip so that the bottom of the loop reaches down around the curve of his butt and hte honda is over the top of his hip. As you are walking keep it loose until you start to feel him refuse to follow, then as you keep walking pull the slack to tighted the loop which will put a small amount of force on his hind end. Usually this will cause the horse to step forward and eventually he should start to lead where ever you take him!

Barn sour horses are a very hard thing to deal with, but as long as you stay calm and keep working with him, he should come out of it within about 1 - 2 weeks time - then once you reach the destination that you are wanting too give him a carrot or some other sort of reward to show him that it is a good thing to follow you.

Answer 4

If he doesn't want to leave 'his' area...then fully tack him up and work him right there.  If the ground is good for it there...lunge him.  If not...get on and work him in circles, serpentines, figure 8's, side passing, haunch turns, forehand turns, backing up...all groundwork you can think of.  And keep it up.  You don't have to 'exhaust' him...but make him work.  If he's not rideable...do all this from the ground.

Then attempt to ride away...or lead away.  If he follows...life is good and you are not making him work.  I wouldn't turn and look at him as you are heading off...just walk away like you 'expect' him to follow you.  If he stalls and stops again...then you turn and face him and put him back to work until he gives you forward motion again.  If you get a few steps of forward motion...STOP the lesson for that day and go back while it is YOUR idea...NOT his.  Always end on a good note for you and the horse.  It may be less than you want...but as long as it is improving...it's a good thing.

I personally do not agree with treating to get a horse to leave a place.  That said...I would probably have a 'snack' or a 'treat' for the horse in another area away from 'his' zone.  If he follows willingly...he gets it when we reach that destination.  And I would move the 'destination' of the treat on a daily basis...or he might think he only has to go 'so far' to get a treat.

Also...do not immediately untack and feed him to 'end' the work day.  I would make him wear the tack for quite awhile and lead him all over with me.  Or if he couldn't come...he stays in the saddle and is tied for awhile.  Then I would lightly work him some more.  Then make him stand in his tack again.  When I was done...I would remove the tack and still not feed immediately.  I would fiddle around and get to feeding at my time...not his.

I also do not untack at the barn with a sour horse.  I choose different areas...even if it means I have to carry the saddle.  As long as the tack is on...it's worktime.  And this prevents a horse from knowing where the work might stop...so they might as well listen to you...instead of going to where THEY think work will stop.

Just some things that I do....

Answer 5

You need to show him that the barn is not always a place of rest.  I would work him doing circles right at the barn.  You need to start right at the problem area, do not untack him right away tie him up to rest when he is here, but leave him tacked and start again.  When you walk away from the barn do not anticipate him stopping should he stop put him to work in circles.  When you stop circling continue to walk away as along as he walk fine reward him while walking with just petting.  Another option is when he wants to stop or go back have him back up to the distance you desire even if it towards the barn you need foot movement to teach a horse so whether it be circles sidepassing or backing make sure you can move his feet.

Another thing you can do as well is pick a spot away from the barn to work towards even if it is 20 ft away from his comfort zone, when you are there make it a relaxation spot allow him to eat the grass and pet him let him know this is what you wanted. When you can get him to this spot easily then move the spot a little further away.

It is important not to take him too far away from the barn at first it is best to deal with the issue from the start and work your way away from it. The furter away you get from the barn the more emotionally imbalanced he will become. You need to build the foundation before getting to the top. He will learn that his attitude will not take him whre he is uncomfortable but leaving the barn will not hurt him either. His comfort zone will increase and with time it will get easier and easier, he will look to you as safety and anywhere you take him as long as you are there he will find comfort .

I would not use carrots to accomplish this problem for the treats will create more trouble and if you do use the treats I suggest the you use a bucket and not hand feed for it can lead to biting and he may expect this everytime you leave and when he sees you do not have it really have a temper issue.  Leave the treats for when a lesson is done and this way he will still look forward to activities with you but focus on you not the treats.

Its just like raising children they need to respect you for your leadership not for the treats and gifts.

Good Luck

Answer 6

h**l!  Humans are barn sour also!  Just look the the nearist interstate during rush hour!  We want to get home, eat, relax e.t.c.  Do this, ride the horse away from the barn, give him his grain in a tub, then take the saddle off, and walk back to the barn.  Believe me, it confuses the horse!  I bought one of those barn sour horses, within one week, everything was ok.  But I also rode him away from the barn at first, turned him around, and made him stand and stare at the barn from about 1/2 mile away.  It got ugly, but in the end, it worked!  Cool?

Answer 7

The BEST way to make a horse get over being barnsour is to KEEP working him/her over the SAME area it wants to come back to. With Rental Horses when they got barnsour and needed to be reschooled, we took them down and back on the SAME trail several times a day for about a week. This works the same way when you take them around the property again and again and again and when they give up on that, then start taking them down the trail a ways.  IF you come back to your barn, do NOT unsaddle him, tie him up, fully saddled go off and do what you need to do then step right back up on him and ride some more.  

Answer 8

I wouldnt use treats to get him to move one step at a time, that wont solve your problem and he will prolly get worse.

The ideas above me are good ones. Remember to be firm and dont let him get away with it. Put on some spurs and grab yourself a whip. Barn sour horses get that way slowly and it should of been nipped in the bud.  

Answer 9

i have the same problem with my horse.  he loves food although he wont usually eat his hay if im around case he wants to be around me......

the 2 ways that i can usually get him to move is if i get off of him and lead him or if i back him up to where i wanted to go (normally what would take 30 seconds, took 10 min one time cause he wouldnt go forward and i backed him all the way and totally uphill the whole time)

let me know if you get any answers cause i need help also

Answer 10

tear down your barn lol he wont have any thing to be sour on lol