Please help. My horse won’t walk.

[Jess96771]

I need some help on what to do with the 14 year old barrel horse I just purchased.


She wont walk — you get on and immediately it’s either full speed, or pulling back as hard as you can (while she’s rearing and throwing her head). You try to bend her in circles to calm down and she bolts. The harder I am in her mouth, to keep her from running, the more she wants to go. But the softer I am in her mouth, the more she goes.


When I pull back on her to STOP HER FROM RUNNING the more she wants to go

But the looser I am, the more she will go.

BUT IF I PULL BACK AGAIN, she will try to go even more

It’s a never ending cycle. No matter how often i do it.


It’s getting to where she wont even stop. If I pull back just to get her to stop like stop moving at all she will rear just because I ask her to stop moving.


The old owner said she’s “all go”, meaning she wants to run all the time. All she’s ever been taught is to run as fast as possible.. no one ever worked slow with her. So she thinks it’s punishment when I try to get her to walk.


Does anyone have any training suggestions or techniques I could try? Please respond. Thank you.

 

[admin]

Hi Jess96771 and welcome,

I think you might need to consider sending her to a good professional trainer to really sort her out.

Also, get yourself involved in the training!

I have seen one of the best trainers in the world work on this sort of horse and he would just tie the horse up in a round yard for hours so it would learn to be patient. He also incorporated slow work by following a roping dummy around the arena while practising his roping. And presto, a great working horse that obeyed his every move without any fuss.

cheers...admin

 

[GGWillow]

Hi Jess96771,
I hope you have figured out how to work with your horse slowly, if you haven't gotten on top of it yet i find that ground work solves all of my problems when i work with a tricky horse. i.e. I always need my horse to be able to bend really easily, so i do a heap of lateral flexion on the ground first, before i get on.
Also sometimes to get over really bad habits you just have to go back to the start (the super basics), and when you get to where you prevoiusly had a problem, it will have magically disappeared! (theoretically)
I hope this helps
GG

 

[Caroline Bo]

I once heard that roughage rich in oils has a calming effect on the horse. Thus, a feed with a high oil content is suitable for "hot" and nervous horses. This feeding option gives the horse energy, but "doesn't drive it crazy."
Although two years later, I assume you have found an approach, so I will be glad to hear your success!