Barn Sour, what is with that, and why do my horses not seem to pick up the habit?
Was standing around chatting and wouldn't you know the subject of barn sour horses came up and I opened my mouth and said 'non of mine have been barn sour'. So later was thinking about WHY non of my horses have gotten the barn sour attitude and decided to use the subject for this blog.
When starting my horses, I like to get them leading, giving, saddling, and going for walks. When taking the horses on their first walks I really work on having a happy upbeat attitude that says isn't this fun! I project a strong feeling of confidence that says everything is normal and nothing is a big deal. When I am talking of walks, image yourself taking a big dog for a walk, yep leading the horse on a walk.
Going to take a second and point out that I start with learning sessions (how to lead, how to give, how to behave, etc). When the horse is ready I change our learning sessions tin include first going for a walk (think of it as a warm up time) and when we get back from our walk we continue our learning session in the arena.
Take a moment and thing about it. When you exercise you need to warm up, and a nice walk makes for a pleasant warm up. After your warm up, you move to the more intensive workout. Then cool down. Use a little psychology here. If you warm-up at the barn, do your work out at the barn and do a walk as a cool down, then come back to the barn and put the horse away, you are creating a reward system that says as soon as we get back to the barn you get to relax with your buddies.
Move it around a little. Maybe do a brief warm up (not everyone likes to walk a fresh horse), take the horse for a walk, come back to the barn and do your arena session. Do a nice cool down and put the horse away. Now you have changed the reward system to when you come back to the barn the work begins.
Are you ready to take you horse for a walk? If you are asking that question it is probably best to do a few more learning sessions. How long before I walk/ride on the trail, really depends on the horse and on how much session work the horse has had.
About Me
- Michelle
- Colorado, United States
- Been working with horses for a few years. As a teenager I was very luck to have a wonderful all around instructor that helped me see the need for an all around balanced horse. I enjoying training horses from the ground up. My emphasis starts in the arena, I find many horses benefit from some basic dressage and confidence building in the arena, then move to the trail, where they seem to enjoy getting out and about. My funnest challenge so far has been putting a 3 yr old proven breeding stallion under saddle.
