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Discussion on Any ideas about how to make a barn sour horse happy? | |
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Posted on Sunday, Aug 29, 1999 - 5:14 am: I just started leasing a 20 (or so) year-old mare.She belongs to an 11 year old girl who also owns another horse, and she doesn't ride her anymore. Everyone that sees me working in her stall says, sure is nice to see someone paying attention to that sweet mare. It's nice to see her getting out. She's barn sour. What is barn sour? What do I do about it? Everytime I take her out she trots the whole way, faster when we are moving toward the barn. No matter how much I check and release and tell her to walk, she seems unable to relax and walk, alternating between a few quick steps, a gentle jog, and a full-blown trot. She calls back to the barn and sweats profusely. She doesn't take a bit, and I've been riding her with a bosal. How can I teach her to enjoy getting out?? Thanks fo |
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2000 - 9:14 pm: I've been told the cure for barn sourness is to make the horse walk back to the barn. Every time she tries to hurry in turn her around and ride around another 15 minutes. Then try to walk her in.If she seems really uptight take her in a big circle at an extended trot. It may take a long time but eventually she will decide all this work is no fun and walk in for you. Don't give up and take your time. |
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Posted on Monday, Dec 11, 2000 - 8:23 pm: Just a couple of thoughts; I had barn sour critters too for a time, I found when I rode alone most the time, and not long enough to take the spunk out; it was a race to get home. A few tricks I've tried that have tempered the barn sour to a "home positive" attitude (less hurried, less dangerous, less associated anxiety) where to: 1) make going out fun and rewarding in many and varied ways - from a carrot feed at a rest stop before you turn to head for home, occassional "suprises" of getting off and giving a good scratch. 2) Riding with another horse regularly (as possible) that has a better attitude about the barn - peer pressure learning in his language! 3) Alternate being up and down (I use this for my own personal exercise too. Take the horse out by walking, get up to ride back, or reverse that. 4) Occassionally, let the horse pick a trail or activity - other than going home. Like sniffing a bush for a bit before heading down the trail, or smelling another animal nearby, or wanting to go left rather than right today. Anyway, all this confusion in my trail riding has produced critters that don't fight going out; but are always happy to get back. I enjoy the ride, they enjoy it - heh, what a plus! Hope this helps, just some added thinking on the matter! Dawn |
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