Help please! How do you train your horses to go on trails?

Question

I want to get my barrel horse into some good trails because she is spooky and I think she would perform better at races if she could just chill. However ive never had such a psycho spooky horse and i dont know if I should have my friend ride another horse and go with me to make my horse more confident being with a trail horse or just go out on my own. How do you guys get your horses trained for trails?

Answer 1

start off by de-spooking your horse. Get it used to things..anything you can think of.  Loud noises, strange objects, anything.  Do this before you try the trails.  I would say have someone go with you on your first couple of rides.  Someone who has a horse that is laid back and used to trail riding..that way if your horse gets nervous, it can feed of the calmness of the other horse and realize that things are going to be ok.  And wear a helmet!!

Answer 2

I'm tired and can't think real clear right now.  I starred your question and will come back tomorrow.

To partially answer this...

Yes, take a friend with you.  Especially if you have a spooky horse.  Not only will this help with your friend having a calm horse.  You will have someone else along...should something go wrong and you end up on foot.

**EDIT...Start out slow and short rides.  Have a friend with a calm and experienced trail horse with you.  Two spooky inexperience trail horses is not a good ides.  They 'feed' off of each others 'emotions and behaviors'.  So if one gets all wound up...the other will follow the same.

By doing shorter rides at first, the horse learns that new things and areas are not something to be afraid of.  But don't let the horse tell you when the ride is over.  The horse will learn quickly about being barn sour.  For example...if he throws a fit and you return home...he learns that if he throws a fit...he gets to go home.

Put miles on your horse.  Trail ride as often as you can.  Also...if this is a gaming horse.  Don't race and gallop on the trail.  Go slow in walks and trots.  Let him learn that trailrides are for relaxing...not racing somewhere.

If your horse is spooky...please take someone with you until you feel he is calming down for trailrides and not spooking.  If your horse does spook...don't go riding alone until this is taken care of.  I realize that this is not always a possibility.  

Make sure if you go alone...do not go far and have a cell phone ON you.  Not in the saddlebags...in case you get dumped or your horse gets away from you.  Make sure someone knows where you are riding and what time you left and when you expect to be back.

Miles is the best way to desensitize them.  Just doing it again and again...for longer periods of time.

Answer 3

Yes by all means take a friend or two with you on some good steady experienced trail horses.  This will help with your horse coping with the "scary rocks and things."  The more hours that you can spend on the trail the better.meeting other riders, seeing deer, birds flying out of nowhere etc etc.  Nothing can prepare a horse for what you find on the trail...arenas are one thing...the real world is another.  As the horse seems to settle with the trail thing...make the trails longer and more challenging...winding around trees, rocks water crossings, climbing, descending, over logs and on and on and on...eventually we hope that the horse gets it.

Answer 4

You need to take someone with you, just in case your horse puts a foot,......also, do not try to scare (spookk) your horse on purpose, this will get the horse not to trust you...

it will begin to recognize you spooking it, like, oh now, here she comes again, and can even get to where you have the horse afraid of you....spooking the horse, is the worse thing you can do, you will loose the horses trust all together....and then you will never get the horse trail ready.

start off close to home, short trails, make sure the first time you take the horse out, slowly, no sudden turns or pulling back fast to stop the horse, unless of course you are about to go off the end of a cliff, ha ha

talk to your horse, gentle voice tone, all the time while on the trail, stroking the neck will also relax the horse a lot

you need to keep a close watch on the ears, if starts to prick them or lay back, then really slow down, and look around you everyone to see what the horse sees, it could be a small animal in the brush, or something on the trail ahead of you.

do not dismount the horse if spooked, you need to win the trust and keep it calm, by getting off and just forcing the horse on, is the worse thing you can do.

with my Stallion, Arabian, Bullett, took him out for the first 3-4 times, on a 45 minute ride, made sure it was slow and not all brushy to spook him, he had a few jump starts on the first couple times out, then started to settle down for  me.

I kept this up for a couple of months, out 2-3 times a week, and now, when we hit any trail, he is calm, ready to ride..

but be careful, any horse can spook due to something catching their eyes they have never seen before.

also in the corral area of your barn, place a lot of different objects around that the horse is not use to, halter the horse, dont ride it yet, and walk it basically daily till gets over the spooky of these objects, this help your spooky horse to begin to settle down.

trust me it works.

good luck

lots of love, and tender words and petting will conquer its fears.....be careful, and dont rush this horse too fast, sure dont want you to get hurt.

Answer 5

if she's spooky and you're worried, definitely take her out with a friend on a steady horse.  If you know how, and your horse is used to it, you can pony her as well, that seems to help get them used to trails too.  Another thing to do, if the trails aren't far from your barn, is take her out for a hand walk.  This worked great for me and my OTTB.  

good luck, I think you're right on that trails will help your girl settle down a bit!

Answer 6

Deffintly  go with your friend. Have them use a great trail horse that is calm so your horse feeds off of it. You can get a whole group of friends with good trail horses.  It will be a herd like group for your horse.

I would start off by just walking around the farm.

Then, just ride the around farm with friends.

Answer 7

Well, how long have you had your horse? If you just got it wait for it to settle down before you start riding.But if you had it more than a week put a bridle on him and walk hime down you street or neighborhood. do not ride him! then start practiceing walking in straight lines. then start riding him down trails.