Barn Sour..

[macinac]

My horse is terribly barn sour. I can barely take him on trails, let alone ride him right outside in the area next to our barn. He just flips out. He gets anxious and nervous, and sometimes rears, bolts, and bucks, which he never does when we're in an enclosed area with fences around us. He gets a bit nervous on our bridle path also, its just a long path around our land surrounded on each side by fences. He just won't stand still.

In the summer, we were trail riding, and he was doing good going away from the barn. But once the two other riders with me turned their horses around to go back the way we came, he started getting anxious and fussing. I tried to keep him calm, by just walking him, but the minute we got to a field that we had to cross to get to a path to go home, he bolted. I tried to get him to walk with the other horses once I got him stopped, but he kept fussing and working himself up. He didn't calm down until he was next to the barn.

What should I do?
We have to compete away from home, cross country, and I cannot take an anxious horse on an unfamiliar cross country course, especially when he freaks and doesn't listen.

Any help would be MUCH appreciated!

[CMR]

You have to put yourself in his shoes. When you take him for trail rides, he doesn't know where he is going, and if he is ever going to return. All he knows is that you are asking him to leave the security and comfort of his barn and friends. I would start with walking/riding him ten feet away from the barn, and then turning back, then go a little further, then go back. Eventually, he will get the picture that no matter how far away he goes, he will come back. If he starts to get stressed and acting up at any time, you have rushed him and gone too far too fast. It also would be beneficial to do groundwork with him so he sees you as his leader and no matter what you ask him to do he trusts you. This should help with him wanting to follow the other horses because he sees you as his leader/partner.

[shirley]

The previous post is brilliant advice to follow. Even stop riding in your enclosed area so often and do some groundwork in there for a while as well.

[KateWooten]

another thing to change his mindset is to ride him like cvreagzayn says, near the barn, and then away just a little bit, and let him rest away from the barn. Most likely he'll get antsy and dive back to the barn on the slightest excuse, so you go with him, and when you're back at the barn, send him trotting round in serpentines, constant changes of direction, backing up ten paces, move his butt over, move that forehand round in full circles, trotting round again ... phew ... then trot the ten yards from the barn again and rest. he's thinking of the barn as safety, and calm - you make it so he always works near the barn, and rests away from it.

[Montezrider]

All very good advice ! These will all help you and your horse I think . Another thing you might add to these is an old cowboy trick . You wear a comfortable pair of walking shoes for this . Get you a bag of goodies , cookies, treats , whatever your horse finds yummy . Then you take him for a walk , by hand ( you might want to wear gloves , if he gets antsy you don't want rope burn .) Take him just to his comfort zone and then stand . Praise him , give him a treat . Expand your distance as you can . When you get to the scarey places , he gets treats and praises for standing ( hopefully calmly ) This takes some time , but not as long as you might think once he understands that good things happen when he's around you , even in scarey places . I actually had to do this with my horse , so I know it works . We just went exploring all the trails on foot this way . He got lots of neck scratches and some good treats too . Pretty soon he couldn't wait to go for our walks . He became comfortable and very interested in his surroundings instead of anxious and nervous . After a while you can add tack , and ride some , then walk some . Still praising and treating , but try to space it out , and give more praise than treats . This is just one more tool that can help you if you are willing to put in the time .

[macinac]

Amazing! I never expected such great replies so quickly. Once winter is over, I will definitely use all these suggestions! I was even going to ask my trainer about lunging him in a large open area right next to the barn, and maybe this summer work there a lot. I know that riding with older, more experienced trail horses would help him, which we are going to do this summer. Taking a walk with him would be excellent! Not only getting good exercise, but bonding with him as we go.

Would it also help to bring two or three other horses out with him once in a while? At first, I think it would be good to bring him out walking on the trails with two or three other horses, and taking walks with all of them all together.

I agree, lots of praise would help a lot. I think it was partly my fault, he's such a big horse, and I'm not very big :/ So I think he may have picked up tension that I was releasing without my noticing, which, in turn, would make him act up.

Any more comments and suggestions would be amazing!