Barn Sour

[Laya]

Justin has suddenly turned barn sour. He'll always throw a fit if I am not riding him near the barn, he'll drift towards the barn, et cetera. My new trainer just told me to dismount at the end of the pasture and to walk him back to the barn. Any other ideas?

[Allie]

I wouldn't dismount unless you feel unsafe, because then you are teaching him that if he acts up you will get off. If you do have to get off, try to wait until he is standing calmly. I would just keep working at it, it takes time to get over barn sour-ness. When he starts to act up, keep him busy- start trotting, practice your circles, do a serpentine, make him sidepass, just do something to keep him busy and not thinking about going back. If he really acts up, throwing his head, or jigging, or whatever, I would turn him in several tight cirles or make him back up, and then give him the opportunity to behave again, repeating as aoften as neccessary. If you get so he is being really good, I would try to stop htere so you can end it on a positive note. When you go back to the barn, do you untack and feed right away, or what do you do? You might try just working in the arena for 10-15 minutes after you get back from the pasture so that going back to the barn is not quite such a good deal.

Allie