Stubborn horse!?

Question

All right, I ride my friend's horse for her as a favor 2-3 times a week. He's a big, tank-like QH who's even more stubborn than I am. Now, whenever I take him on the trails, he's start off okay, but then at some random time, he'll stop in his tracks, spin around, and charge towards home- he's pretty barn sour. I'm tall, but I'm pretty thin, so it's hard for me to stop him from doing this, because he's so huge, and I'm so light. How can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

First of all, don't change his bit. That has nothing to do with it and it won't fix a darn thing. Also, your weight has nothing to do with your control in the saddle.

You're right that he's definately barn sour and for the most part you can fix it. It may take awhile, but the first time you stand up to him, he's going to think twice about it from then on out.

When he stops, squeeze him forward. If he doesn't respond, kick him forward. When he moves forward he may then spin or at any time he may spin, so you've got to be prepared to pull the opposite rein and point his nose in the direction where you want to go. Now you may end up "fighting" for control on this. He's going to keep trying to bring his nose around and you've got to retain your position of keeping his nose pointed in the direction YOU want to go in. You may battle for control for 5 minutes or for half an hour, but either way you can't give in. Make sure you've got plenty of time on your hands to take on this project, since once you begin it, you can never let him get away with it again.

Throughout the fight for control he may even begin backing up once he figures out you won't allow him to turn his head back home. You'll have to kick him forward until he stops or walks foward, either way the point is to stop him from backing.

At some point he's going to just stand there and think about his options for a moment. Leave his face alone, leave his sides alone, let him think about it just for a moment. Talk to him. Then give him a squeeze and ask him to continue forward again. You may go through this trail control battle for awhile so don't get discouraged.

If at any time he's able to get control and bolts, immediately turn him into a small circle to slow him down, making the circle gradually smaller until he has to stop. Stop him facing the direction of where YOU want to go. Use your voice to reprimand him when he's fighting you and use your voice to reward him when he either takes a step in the direction YOU want to go or when he just stops fighting you.

Good luck and be persistant. If at any time it becomes too dangerous for your experience, it may be time to call it quits on this favor you're doing for a friend. It's not worth injury to you and/or the horse.

Answer 2

There are a couple things you could try:

1. Change his bit to something with a little more bite.  It doesn't have to be a severe change, but enough to get his attention.

2.  Ride with a curb chain at the appropriate length if you aren't riding with one now.

If you can ride with someone else, it might help if their horse keeps going...maybe your will too.

Answer 3

Oh dear wev'e all been there,!!Shame you don't give more detail in your question,You say it's random so it's not that he's worried about a certain place,Have you had his back,mouth and feet seen to?He could be in pain and just wants to get home,Do you ride alone?Is he just missing his friends and wants to get home to them?

It doesn't really matter what size or shape you are horse control isn't about strength -no matter how strong we are we will never get the better of 3 tons of horse!!

Try the one rein stop,this is a delicate operation so get help but it's basically pulling slightly down on one rein toward your hip area but you must leave the other rein loose,The idea is that he'l get fed up with you turning him round all the time and start to respect you,

But please do the checks first,Just incase he's in pain

I know you say he starts off ok but if something is rubbing him it will get worse as you ride him and it becomes too painfull to carry on -Abit like us when we get a stone in the shoe we can cope for a little while but then have to stop and take it out

Good Luck

Answer 4

Been there.  He's just barn sour and has gotten away with it, so it's now a habit.

To deal with this, you're best riding with a full cheek snaffle (try him out with this at home first. Practice circling him - make sure he'll give to the bit in both directions).  Use a bit that's  fairly thin, not a big fat one.  This bit is best for pulling a horse around, hard, into a circle, which is the only way to stop a horse who wants to spin and bolt home.  You can't ride him on a loose rein until you've fixed this habit.  If you're riding on a loose rein, he will spin and bolt before you have the chance to gather up your reins and correct him.

So head out on the trail. WIth your reins short enough that you can correct him immediately, but not with a lot of contact - I'd say about 4oz of contact, if you can imaging what that feels like.  You don't want to be hanging on his mouth - but just be there, ready.  You've got to watch his ears and feel his body - the second he thinks about spinning, you've got to pull him around fast and hard the opposite way and keep spinning, using your opposite leg to help if needed,(ONE rein only - do not put any pressure on the opposite rein or he may rear) until he wants to stop, then go one more circle, then YOU stop. If you're not quick enough to catch and circle him in the opposite direction to the one in which he likes to spin (they almost alway have one direction they always prefer to spin in),  then just go ahead and spin him (cirlcel him) in the direction in which he turned.  Stop and let him stand a few seconds, then proceed down the trail away from home. He WILL try you again.  Probably many times.  If you have to do this 100 times, then do it 100 times.  The next day he'll be much better, and the third day may think about it. It will vary a lot from horse to horse, depending on how quickly he's willing to give up.  It is definitely a "test of wills". Go back to light following contact when he's walking along well, but just be ready to react quickly.

One other bit of advice -  keep your hands low, to discourage rearing.  And be really firm.  This seems and feels kind of mean, but his habit is really piggish and can be dangerous, so you've got to be very firm about it.  Don't get angry while you're doing this, just stay matter of fact in your mind.  You can even think of it as a game, and you're not going to let him win.  If you're competitive like I and most horse people are, this will be kind of fun.

Answer 5

You may want to consider what bit he's in now, and possibly get something a little stronger. He also sounds like he needs some additional ground work and training at the barn (is there an arena where you can really work on halts and keep his attention focused on you?).

The ideal place to train is not on a trail with a ton of distractions. Especially if he's barn sour. And in this case it sounds like he's winning the battles anyhow, so the trail rides are just reinforcing his behavior as he charges back to the barn without stopping.

If there is an arena available to train in near the barn, I'd ride him there for a month or so and really get some work done with putting his focus on you as being in charge. Do some lunging or round penning if possible, and then really work on getting him to listen to your signals. i.e. you ask him to halt - and if he does not stop immediately, back 10 steps once he's halted. And then repeat. He WILL begin to listen to you, but it's not going to be on the trail that you get that out of him first. Once he's listening like he should in the arena, then try *short* trail rides. And reward him for doing well and not turning tail and running back to the barn. Gradually extend the length of the trail rides, but go back to arena work if he gives you trouble.

Good luck. :)

Answer 6

It sounds like he is barn sour. So if you can't keep him from going home, let him, but when you get there make him WORK and not rest. Usually they associate going home with being finished with work, so if you work at home then take him back out to where he decided to go home and let him rest, then back home for more work and back out for rest. He'll get the idea pretty soon. Good luck!

Answer 7

To me it just sounds like he's lazy. I have rode horses like this and if i cant get them to do what I want I will spin them in circles a few times both ways or have even had to get off and walk them for a while. One thing that really seems to help a barn sour horse is loading them in the trailer and taking them somewhere to be rode.

Answer 8

It sounds like this horse does not respect you at all! I would try starting by doing ground work with him and using a stud chain so he knows who is boss!  Make sure he listens to where you want him to go and then maybe even walk the trail with you leading him with the stud chain, so he can see YOU mean businsness! Then maybe work him in a ring where he can see the barn. It sounds like a lot a work, but I bet it'll be worth it!

=]

Answer 9

Well, if he's been getting away with it, why would he stop now.

If I was in your position, I would NOT let him go anywhere, unless I was the one to direct him there. Go back on YOUR terms, not his.

Basically, when he does this, I would pull back my reins and force him to face the direction I want to go, and kick him forward. You have to be firm with him. After a few of these, he wont stop anymore, because he'll know he wont get away with it.

My horse used to be similar, he would refuse to move when headed away from the barn. I used a crop and steered him in the direction I wanted to go. Once he took a step forward, I would loosen my reins a little.

Once your horse is walking where he should be, give him a looser rein, and reward him a little. Make walking where YOU want to go pleasurable for him, and if he tries to turn the other way, make it not so fun for him (Ie pulling the reins etc).

He will be more eager to go forward. Hope this helps a little.

Answer 10

This is one of those times I ask why in the world don't you have a curb bit that can put a stop to that nonsense in his mouth.  For him I would use a correction bit or a snaffle gag.  In fact I may even steal an idea from someone else and put two bridles and two sets of reins on him.  One bridle would have a hackmore and the other would have a bit (a correction bit with nice long shanks)  I would not use the bit unless he tried that stunt.  That would be the stop gap until I had him retrained.

The retraining would be accomplished by letting him go home when he wanted (at my pace with the correction bit to enforce it)and working his tail off when I got there.

Answer 11

First things first, get his back, teeth and saddle checked to ensure that he's in no pain. Also, does he worry when alone and try to get back to the herd? As you say he leaves the yard ok then the chances are he is, as you say, stubborn!! Once you've sorted those things, get tough with him! Try not to let him spin, but if does, make him turn the other way (say, if he spins left, turn him right, NEVER make him do a full circle the way he set off). Then make him walk forward, even a step is a victory, then turn him round when you're ready (the opposite way to the way he spins) and head for home at your pace. If he tanks off, make him circle (again, opposite way to the way he spins) until you have regained control. Also, make hacks interesting for him, vary them by going different ways, having a canter in one place one day but not another, turn for home at a different point every day. All these things will stop him predicting what you are going to do. I doubt a change in bit will help but you may want to carry a schooling whip to reinforce your leg when he spins. Sit deep in your saddle and even if he spins and drags you back to the yard, don't keep trying to stop him. The golden rule here is NEVER give up, even if he's dragged you half a mile before you get him to turn, you still got him to do what you wanted in the end. Good luck!

Don't forget to praise him when he does what you ask, if you stay mad at him he won't know that what he did was right!!