[PechosGoldenChance]

This is a barn sour issue for sure. Here's the short version, although it's not really long to discuss anyways lol. I take her down the road that was always go on, and she is really good the whole was down the road (away from the barn). As soon as we turn around she's 'on it'. She is basically cantering in place! Now, I don't constantly pull on both reins or anything like that. What I do is one rein her, or make her do circles, but I have to make her do circles all the way back! As soon as we get to the end of the road, she's fine and thats probably because she can see the barn, arena and everything. Have I handled this the right way? What else should I do? Thanks. So there are no arguments I will make this clear to myself and other, you may be harsh if you want, be as biased and objective as you want.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

Alright, RiosDad, I'm counting on you here! haha

 

[RiosDad]

As I have already said over and over. I start alot of youngsters and I ride trail all the time. They all want to rush home at first. I just ride longer until they are wore down and they don't have the energy to prance going home. I remember starting a baby last year and after a 8 or 10 mile loop he was dragging going home. If I have a horse that has too much energy I just work him longer, work him harder. I trot alot and most of my rides are a 10 mile loop or so covered at a good trot because of the age.
If you horse is fine going down the road but the minute you turn around a head for home he dances then rider longer, use a loop instead of a turn around and I prefer to ride alone for a youngster. I find the youngster listens to me more if I am alone and I control everything.
I don't circle. If Rio were to start dancing I would pull him up harshly, say NO and try again, walking, don't trot for now on the way home and if the horse is prancing.. Only after the horse shows no preference going out or back can you trot home.
Most things settle themselves if you work the horse enough. I ride every 2nd day at least, ride about 2 hours and cover about 10 miles sometimes 15 and if makes for a good horse.
While I can ride fine bitless, a pair of side pulls, a string or a hoola hoop I will not, My bit of choice right now is a curb with a Billy Allan mouth piece but I feel the tom thumb is just as good. Anything with a curb strap.

 

[RiosDad]

she is really good the whole was down the road (away from the barn). As soon as we turn around she's 'on it'. She is basically cantering in place!

This is the part I don't like. I don't like dead end rides. I hate riding down the road, do a U turn and head back home. I prefer blocks, a circle route so the horse never really knows you are turning around. If you insist on riding down the road try and incorporate a turn around at the end. Take a short trip around something so you are not just going out and returning in the same path.
On youngsters I ride daily and yes you have to go out and return on some of the same trail but I make as much of the ride as possible a big circle.
I went out Tuesday , headed down the road only to find the gate to the snowmobile trailer closed and chained with a lock shut. I turned around heading for home and Rio wanted to dance. Being older and experienced I just pulled him up sharply , spoke a few cross words to him and he settled down. I went about 100 yards and cut into the bush.

Good luck and try picking a circle for your rides

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

Ok, thanks! Yea, I do hate turning around right at a dead end and heading back home. I will do what you suggested next time. I have yet to take her out, I haven't taken her out of the arena all winter. I would love to go all the time but I don't like going alone incase of a serious issue that involves an emergency. A lot of people assume I don't like going alone because of weirdo's I might come across but I have my concealed carry permit and I carry my gun absolutely everywhere lol. We don't have much land to ride long on so the 10-15 miles is out of the question for now till we can trailer them out.

 

[RiosDad]

. We don't have much land to ride long on so the 10-15 miles is out of the question for now till we can trailer them out.

I'm a road runner, I run roads all the time, the shoulders are soft 10 months of the year and the mileage is endless. You can pick large blocks and just jog around them. I prefer being alone. And yes my guys with less then a week under them already are started on the roads just to get to the bush. As they come along more and more time is spend strickly running roads.
Being in Canada you can never carry a weapon, never.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

Yea I know you can't carry a weapon there, kinda a shame in my own opinion. But on to bigger fish...I'm not so sure the roads around here are all that safe to ride on. Not so many people are going fast (every now and again maybe) but there are so many hills and such and curves, I would be afraid of somone not seeing me til the last minute as they were coming aroud a curve...ahhhh not good lol. I just asked my fiance' if it was actually ok to ride horses along the roads and he said yea, but he wouldn't advise it. If worse comes to worse, I'll just take her off the dirt road and into the brush and **** and see where that takes me.

 

[RiosDad]

Yea I know you can't carry a weapon there, kinda a shame in my own opinion. .

I'm not a fan of anyone carrying a weapon. that said I shot competitively for many years and also shot combat courses. I still own a number of very good guns but they are kept locked up in a vault.
I feel with a good horse between your knees you don't need any more protection. No one will grab you and you can outrun any danger.

As for the roads, you have to decide if they are safe. Our shoulders are about 3 to 4 feet wide and then a grass ditch. about 50% of the time you can duck down in the ditch if you have to. The cars travel at 50 mph on these roads, some move over, some don't. Today I had to deal with water spray but he never flinched once.
When the bush trails become too muddy like now the shoulders of the roads are perfect footing and we can travel at a easy lope of nice working trot. As for legal?? IT is perfectly legal here. We have a large number of amish in the area and they run their buggies on the roads all the time. Most drivers are curtious.
One of the best ways to condition a horse and this works best with a group but pick a restaurant about 12 miles away, one you can tie horses near and then ride for breakfast. We did that every Saturday and again on Sunday to a different one. It gave us a 25 mile run both Saturday and Sunday.. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we went for ice cream, 6 miles each way or 12 miles round drip. The horses were running about 75 miles a week conditioning and while they trimmed up we grew fat
Destinations add interest, gives a purpose to a ride instead of just wandering. We would fly the 12 mile trip in knowing the horses could stand and rest while we eat and then we would fly home again. The horses sure got in shape and we ran 50's without a problem.
I would hate to give up my road running.
Come June, July and August I run in town, I trailer to the edge, unload, saddle up and run a 15 mile loop through the green belts, the parks , the university and the boulevards. No bugs in town and again the cops never bothered us. A few streams along the run offered water for drinking and washing the boys down.

 

[Honeysuga]

Also to add to what Norval said to do. Work her Butt off around the barn and arena. Tons of transitions, circles, lead changes, extended trotting, cantering. Whatever you can do to tire her out really good.

Then take off on your preferred route at a decidedly nice slow walk, let her relax away from the barn. On the way back do as Norval says and do not tolerate the behavior, but keep it at a slow pace, minimal work.

As soon as she calms down at the point you described wheere she can see the barn, make her butt move move move again and all the way back to the barn, and when you get there rider her hard until she wants to stop and the keep riding her, then maybe take her back out on the road at a nice walk, turn around and repeat until she drags butt on the way back.

Do this every ride for a while and she will think twice about wanting to go home Make home the place to work hard and the road the place to relax.

Another thing to try since a loop is not an option. When you get to your turn around point dismount and have a picnic or let her graze for a bit or something to get rid of the whole"Uturn" concept, make it a destination to do something relaxing and disengage her mind from wanting to go home.

Also, don't unsaddle and untack her in the barn or arena. If possible untack as far away from them as you can say out in the field(or anywhere really, just make sure to mix it up and in a different place every ride) and then walk her back.

You can just drive your truck out to pick up your saddle and stuff. You don't want her to associate the arena or barn with untacking and relaxing. Do this for a few rides and she will not assume just because she is going to the barn or arena she gets to be untacked, that it can happen anywhere.

Sorry for the novel, just thought I would add a few different ways to do it, give you some more options.

 

[smrobs]

One other thing that sometimes works is when she starts to get jiggy, stop her, back her up 8 or 10 strides then ask for the walk again. The second that she starts to jig or speed up, stop her and back her another 8 or 10 strides. I ride a lot like RD, most of the training type riding that I do is at either a long trot or a lope. My Dad always told me "When you have a horse that you are having a problem with, get on them then pick out a place on the horizon and lope them to it. When you reach that place, pick out another on the horizon and lope them to it. Then pick out another place and lope them to that one. When they kinda start having trouble keeping the lope, ease them down to a long trot and let them get their air for a minute then put them in a lope again. When you can't get them to lope anymore without just shagging their butt, you have a good start on getting their mind right."

 

[kevinshorses]

When I have ahorse that wants to dance and jig when going home I like to use leg yields and half passes and counter bending to get them concentrating on something else. In order to do a leg yield a prancing horse must lenghten the stride and stop prancing. Most horses that I have tried this with figure out petty quick that it is much less work to just walk calmly than it is to dance around.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

This is exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks a lot for the comments and advice. I'm definately going to try each and every one of these out when we head on the road. Also, on the way back to the barn, I did make her work pretty hard, but apparently not hard enough. I'm also going to work her hard in the ring before we head out and then work her again when we get back.

Riosdad: I totally respect your opinion on the weapons deal. Although, I must say, there has been a cougar spotted around my area also, that kinda makes me nervous too lol. I do feel completely safe when riding my horse also, yet I just feel even more comfortable knowing if something were to go wrong, I still have back up protection. Me being a young lady who is 5'3 about 120lbs...I think I need a back up such as my trusty pistol.

 

[RiosDad]

a young lady who is 5'3 about 120lbs....

that's enough to scare the crap out of me:lol::lol: forget the pistol.

I always used a 9mm for the capacity. I shot combat and the 45 just didn't carry enough rounds to complete the coarse.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

haha I'm not that scary...at least I don't think I am.

I like 9mm's, 45's are kinda too rough, but they would definately get the job done, God forbid if it were ever needed. My gun is an Ultra Lite Titanium 35spl, but I have some nice hydro-shocks loaded in it and it kicks harder than my fiance's Kahr 40, and it kicks harder than the 357, but I don't shoot it that much with those in it. Maybe 1 time just to see how hard it would, but I have plently of target rounds, with those in it, it still kicks harder than the 40 so I can only shoot about 2 rounds before my palm is as red as a tomato. haha

 

[RiosDad]

haha I'm not that scary...at least I don't think I am.

I like 9mm's, 45's are kinda too rough, but they would definately get the job done, God forbid if it were ever needed. My gun is an Ultra Lite Titanium 35spl, but I have some nice hydro-shocks loaded in it and it kicks harder than my fiance's Kahr 40, and it kicks harder than the 357, but I don't shoot it that much with those in it. Maybe 1 time just to see how hard it would, but I have plently of target rounds, with those in it, it still kicks harder than the 40 so I can only shoot about 2 rounds before my palm is as red as a tomato. haha

If a gun is kicking hard enough to make you feel it after 2 rounds it is not the right gun for you. You need something smaller or download it to target loads. My daughter would shoot my 44 magnum but I downloaded it for target shooting and she never felt the recoil. I don't shot my 357, it is for looks only,pretty gun but not usefull. I don't shoot revolvers, I only shot automatics. Can't shoot combat competitively with a revolver and I like to win. I have porduction bullet loading equipment and it takes me 10 minutes to laod 100 rounds at a cost of 3 cents per round so it is cheap and I can shoot alot. I have shot 500 rounds in a 3 day coarse getting my lisence

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

Yea, I've heard that before, about it kicking and being to much for me to handle. My dads a cop and he picked out the gun for me, along with my fiance' who knows a lot about them. Here's what they say to the gun kicking to hard. If you want to target practice use a 9mm or 22. if you want to protect yourself, and possibly save your life someday, the 35 is your gun. Agreed it may be too much while target practicing, yet it's perfect for protection. I like revolvers because they are much more reliable than semi-autos. I'm not as experienced with semi-autos yet and if I were to really need to use my gun and it was a semi-auto, let's say it got stuck, a round got pinched in the slide or something, I'd be screwed (for lack of a better word). When I get more familiar with semi-autos, I'll be carrying one.

 

[kevinshorses]

Do you mean a .38? I have never heard of a .35.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

lol sorry kevin, yes I meant a 38

 

[smrobs]

I have a semi-automatic .40 and I love it. I carry it with me when I go riding on the trail. Fortunately, I haven't had to use it yet but the one time I didn't take it with me, I wished I would have had it. Last summer I came across a Rattler that was about 5 feet long. I didn't have anything to kill it with so I had to leave it. IMHO, the only good rattler is a dead rattler so that's why I carry my gun. We don't really have any predator animals around here that I need to worry about and I am confident that I could either get away or defend myself against a human predator. All my horses have been shot off of and they are cool with it, that is also a big thing to consider.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

Yea, ours havn't been shot off of, but will work on it for sure. I'll have to ask you though, how did you train for that? Kinda seems like it would be tricky. I have to say though that whether or not she was used to being shot off of, if it came down to it, I'd shoot off of her anyways, and hang on for dear life. Let's just hope it never boils down to that though.