How to.....?

Question

How can I get my horse gentler before I try to sell her?? Also, I'm trying to train her on barrels....but she doesn't want to go around the barrel... She just turns the other way...I've tried pulling tight on the reins while going around the barrel, but she just throws her head back and goes the other way, I've also tried turning her around in circles, but that doesn't seem to work either....

Any advice will be greatly appreciated?!?!

Thanks! =)

Answer 1

GET A TRAINER. You can always pay for a month of training from a perfessional and I am sure she will be MUCH better. By gentler what do you mean?

Does she not want to be cought, is she mean, bucks, rears, unfriendly, bites, or all of the above?

We need a little more detail to help you. If she isn't "gentle" and you want to sell her for something...I would suggest send her to a trainer for a month+ or get a trainer to help you.

Good Luck

Answer 2

You don't say how old she is or how seasoned.  Sometimes it takes time with a young horse.  If it is an older horse, it may have been trained to work that way and it may take a lot of time to get her to break old habits.

You will need a lot of patience and to spend a lot of time with her.  When she throws her head back and spins, turn her right back around, talk to her, pet her and try and calm her down.  This could take a while.  It is hard to untrain bad habits.  Some never get over them.

Answer 3

Well turning the barrel isn't gentling, thats just training, so wanted to clarify that before I answer.

With a brat like that... I take a dressage whip.. I ask the horse to turn, it refuses, I pop it on the shoulder and its not a light pop either.  

THe horse ignores that cue and pushes through it... I pop it on the side of the neck.. when they get to the point that they refuse your cues and pighead through them... you have to bump it up a notch and no YOU WILL NOT MAKE THEM HEADSHY.

Don't pull on the inside rein, use more outside pressure to move her, the more you pull the more resistance you get.  

Now the disclaimer... check the horse for soreness if she is doing this to the same side continually

Answer 4

There is only one thing that makes a horse truly as kidsafe and bombproof as they can be...time.  You don't "train" these things, they are acquired through day to day good handling and repeated use.  

She's 20.  It's HARD to reschool OTTBs to begin with when they're younger...she's set in her ways.  

You can probably get her to do a barrel pattern in time and I'll let the can chasers tell you how since they're gonna know more than I do...but she won't be competitive at her age.  

Regardless, unless you're talking about selling her a couple of years from now after daily use and lots of miles, you cannot honestly advertise her as a kid's horse or "bombproof."

You may have people say there is no such thing as a "bombproof" horse and I can agree with that, but I accept it as a term to describe a seasoned, sensible, horse...more or less a baby sitter.

Answer 5

I don't know how long you are giving yourself to do all of this before you sell her but you are probably going to have to decide between the two...gentle or runner...not that a horse can't be both, but trying to gentle one down so that you can actually call it gentle when you sell it is going to be hard when you are trying to teach it something completely out of her league..if she isn't gentle, isn't broke, how can you expect to teach her to barrel race?  You can't...pick one and work on that facet of her training...personally, I would do the gentle down thing first...anyone can hop one up, not everyone can gentle one down.  If you have a horse that you can honestly and sincerely call "gentle" you will have a larger market than if you have a half trained barrel horse, because you aren't going to get your horse to the point of calling her a trained barrel horse for years, so I would advise you to just stick with, "sound, honest, gentle for anyone" kind of horse...if someone wants a barrel horse, they can make one out of her, but if she isn't gentle, no one is going to want her.

If you want to gentle her down, you are going to have to spend time with her, groom her, pick up her feet, put your hands all over her, talk to her constantly, teach her to be safe to walk behind, etc.  Teach her to lead correctly and to respect your space, to pivot and reverse cleanly on the halter and to set up square and stay there until you ask her to do something else....when you ride her, ride her quietly, correctly and get out on some trails and on the road, stay out of the arena...get on and off often, don't expect a lot of her other than to be gentle.....and don't get in a hurry, it's counterproductive and you won't accomplish what you are trying to.

Answer 6

you may want to have her checked by a vet or chiropracter to make sure her hips and back are okay if she doesnt want to turn... it just takes time and patience but she should do it as you ask.. just use your leg and cue her.. dont let her get her way.. try walking it first, then trotting, then cantering

Answer 7

...She can't be an ex TB racer if she has QH in her...If you want her more gentle/calm than stop trying to get her to barrel race. Horses need to be all revved up to be good at barrels

Most "senior Ladies" her age are more looking at retirement than starting a new career - she may be arthritic!

Have you checked her teeth?

Are you sure she is able to physically do this??

Are you sure YOU are giving all the right aids? Leaning - solid posisition - is this all you are doing with her - if it is she just might be resenting this harsh treatment compared to trails and foaling.

Answer 8

Your horse is not fully broke & you are trying to get it barrel trained?

Does she neck rein?  Does she know her leads?  Does she know leg cues?  There are soooo many other things you need to work on before you even bother showing her what a barrel looks like.

You should not have to be trying to haul her head around to get her to turn a barrel.  Forget the barrels for now & work on ground work & getting her broke.

OOppss!  I missed the part about her being 20 yrs. old.  Forget the barrels, she is a little long in the tooth to bother with it.

*EDIT*

You need to calm down & stop yelling....All we are saying is that with the horse market like it is, there are a ton of young "broke" horses available & being worried about trying to train a 20 yr. old horse to run barrels is not going to benefit you by getting more money for her since it takes YEARS to make a barrel horse & it will not benefit her to learn.  Nobody said she was broken down, but there are just too many other options out there & buying a 20 yr. old patially broke horse is not going to be a first choice for anyone.

She can run to the barn & beat the other horses, but she is doing this on her own.  Under the strain of training & competition, age WILL be against her.  That is just a fact of life.

Answer 9

I can't imagine many people would want to finish training and then compete with a 20 year old barrel racer.  Why don't you focus on getting her bombproofed and kid safe?  At 20, she'd definitely be more appealing as a children's horse or trail horse than a barrel racer.  It doesn't sound as though she's particularly interested in doing barrels anyway.  Get someone to help you work on her temperment, have lots of people ride her, get her used to kids, etc.  

http://www.kbrhorse.net/tra/bomb01.html