Stubborn horse problems!?

Question

hey...i have a 8-9 year old paint gelding and everytime i ride him, i kick and kick and give him alot of slack in the reins. but he always backs up. he wont go forward, but just backwards. i dont think he wants to leave the barn...i am thinking of using my spurs that i use on my new colt i am starting (the colt doesnt really need them, it just keeps him awake) but i dont know if i should...any suggestions??? please i need help! he isnt getting any excersize!

Answer 1

If nothing else helps you could take and have someone else  ride another horse with him.  Depending on how long it has been since he has been rode he may be barn sour.

Answer 2

If you have a round pen or enclosed area that you can take your horse, I would advise you to do so and start all over with is training.  Teach him on a lunge line, and/or driving lines to go forward with verbal commands and reinforce those commands with a lunge whip...get his respect..now, that gets you to first base, but if he is barn sour or herd bound, you have to get to second base.  If I suggest something totally different than what someone else has suggested, it doesn't mean that I disagree, it just means that I have had years of success with the method that I am sharing with you.  You don't need someone else to lead you away from the barn, unless you plan on hiring someone from now on...and that wouldn't be much fun.  Use the verbal and rein commands that you used in the round pen and look up to where you are going, stop kicking this horse, ride with a crop or use the ends of a good, heavy pair of reins and walk away from the barn.  At the first sign of balking, stop right there, (I hope that you are using split reins) and tie up one rein around his neck just to keep it out of the way of his feet and take the other rein and tie it back to his stirrup, (quick release knot) and let him go round and round and think about it...when he stops going round and round and is giving his head (I don't mean tie his head back to where it is uncomfortable, just back far enough so that if he takes a step, he will go in a circle and not straight ahead)....untie him and get on and ride on...he will do it again down the road...stop, repeat the process, don't get inn a hurry, let him fight himself, not you and not your kicking.  One day, you will be surprised, he won't even try it one time...it will finally soak in that when he decides to balk or whirl around and head back to the barn, he gets the same treatment, he will stop it...I am sharing this with you because it is humane, safe to do and works...

Answer 3

make sure your looking up when your asking him to go..pick a foucs like a jump or a barrel and ride to it. Don't kick harder!! you'll dull him to your aids! squeeze with your lower leg and give him a   3-5 seconds to respond and then smack him with the crop. Another suggestion: contrary to english belief that cookies spoil a horses it does the opposite with lazy ones..it gives them incentive to do something!!!! To get him going forward place cookie on a barrel or something relatively low or even a jump standard really close by and ride to it. When you get there give him the cookie and just stand there for 3-5 mins. Then ride to somewhere else that is relatively close and has a cookie. Keep doping this for the whole riding session. Take it slow and ALWAYS LET HIM REST.  He'll start to think "Well since we always ride to a cookie and then rest...i might want to hurry up and get there!! ". This exercise might seem crazy but after a day or two he'll be RUNNING to the next  rest spot  (whatever that might be). I've seen this work many times!!! To build this exercise start doing it at faster gaits and THEN  longer distances. hope this helps!

Answer 4

I think I answered this for you once.  Use spurs if you need them.  But as far as leaving the barn... LEAD the horse away and tie it up for 3 or 4 hours away from the other horses.  Do not untie it until he gives you at least one half an hour standing perfectly calm with NO FUSS WHAT SO EVER!

Once you get him where he will ride away take him down the trail and tie him up there.  Leave him tied while you have a picnic, go swimming, or what ever.  An hour of this at a time should do it.  It will take a few rides to teach him that it is OK to be somewhere else and that his fit throwing will not help get him home any sooner.

You can try John Lyon's techniques of gradually riding farther and farther away but that will take all summer if you can even get anywhere with this horse like that.  Better here to get it over and done with.

Leanne do you mean putting him in a running walk or running and then walking him?  A running walk is something only gaited horses can do.

Tasha...If he bucks the first time you pop him with spurs and you spur him again, 90% of horses will absolutely come unglued and drop you on your behind.

Answer 5

Instead of always kicking, try to break his feet free by moving him from side to side.  You need to use your hands to do this.  Try moving him to the right first, and if he takes a step, then release.  Then try it to the left.  When he starts to break free you need to release.  He will eventually start to walk forward, and when he does, give him a lot of slack.  If he starts to go backward, then turn it into a turn on the haunches, so then he has to move his feet.

Maybe you should try working with him on the ground.  You should work on him moving around you so he starts getting under himself.  Switch directions often so he has to move his front legs.  Release when he starts to break free, so he learns that that is what you want.

To get him used to being away from the barn, take him on trails that are far away.  You could take him far away and keep him tied up until he stands perfectly still. But if he still will not go when you try these methods, then I would try the spurs. I hope this helps!

edit:  Don't be afraid to use spurs.  When a horse starts to buck, he will put his head down.  If you can tell that he is going to do this, then pull his head up.  If he has started to buck, then do a one rein stop.  Just be confident.  He will know if you are feeling scared, and he will take advantage of that.  So sit in that saddle, be confident, and let him know that you are not going to accept that kind of behavior.  If he sees that you are serious, then he will listen to you.  But at the same time, you have to be patient.  If you are not patient, then he will just get worse.  You have to want him to listen to you, and you have to feel your horse.

Answer 6

yeah, use a crop

or have someone hold onto the bridal and you kick and and make the clicky noise then have the other person like run or walk while pulling

((: best of luck

Answer 7

You kick and kick your horse's sides...now you want to add spurs.  The kicking doesn't work, so why do you think spurs will?

You are already spurring your new colt.  I don't know where to begin with this.  why are you using spurs on the colt?

I suspect you need the help of a trainer that can have hands on contact with you and your horses.

That would be my advice to you.

Answer 8

When you ride him try running walking him , Then getting on

him or maybe even when your on him turn his head to one side and then do the same to the other. That helps get him loosed  end up. I would try spurs.

Answer 9

heya do you ride witha  crop on him? if you do try using this and clicking him on with your voice to get him moving.  Do you have a friend who could lead him as you sit on him just so that he could get used to walking forwards?.  Another thing you could try that I used to use with my mare when she did this for a few weeks was turning her in a tight circle each time she backed up and she soon got the message and decided to walk forwards.  

Also try lunging him so he gets used to your voice commands which will (hopefully) allow you to tell him to walk on and he should do so.

P.S. If he does buck with the spurs kick him harder and he wont do it again but dont be scared of him bucking as he will be more likely to do so -easier said than done I know but if your satrting a colt your probably a good rider so can sit to it easily im sure

hope this helps and if you have any more questions feel free to email me x*x

Answer 10

you could try a crop.

i use to ride a standardbred that did nothing unless i had a crop...

Answer 11

I was once training a horse that had that same problem. It was a fat little 4 year old appaloosa that needed an attitude adjustment. I never knew other horses had that same problem though! lol I have a very small spur that I used with him, although I probably could have used a bigger one. There's a lot of ways you could go about making him go forward. Some of the ways he won't like, or will, because it all depends on the individual horse, for example when I carried a crop with me the appaloosa would rear up and back up and just freak out.... lol the appaloosa wouldn't respond to my leg, he just got pissed. What I did was gather up my reins, and pull his head to one side, all the way to your leg, and circle him, then if he doesn't go forward do it a different direction, so he can't move backwards, and eventually, if he doesn't follow that, take your excess rein and gently tap him with it on the shoulder, letting him know you mean business. Usually those tricks work, and in addition to wearing spurs, you should be in good shape! Best of luck!