# help



## Rainaisabelle (Jan 2, 2015)

He could be in some pain even though you have recently looked at his teeth they could be in trouble again but have you also looked at
- Saddle fit?
- Chiro?
- Vet?


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

shooter37 said:


> Hi i got my 9 year qh shooter about two months ago. He is a very sweet horse ground matters are great. he had a lot of iusses one his teeth were a mess and now are much better. He had blisters in his mouth. He is now getting better with lunging he was getting better . He was not turning or doing anything with out a fight. I have to use spurs. Which was working. Well today he put up a fight backing up not turning . He has been doing the backing up scene i got him. He doesn't want to go forward he cant be away from the other horses. He didn't have the right person to show him. The spurs didn't work that great. This was only outside. he did ok in the indoor. Please help i want to ride him more he just wants to go back to the barn . Thanks Rose shooter s owner


Shooter, do check for pain . . . but if he's just buddy sour or barn sour, you can work on training him to be happy with _*you*_ as his buddy away from the barn, but it will take work.

When he is backing, he isn't paying attention to you. He is paying attention to what HE wants. You say you can ride him well in the arena, so I assume you aren't tightening your arms and pulling back on him when you want him to go.
Some horses are very sensitive to hands on the reins and will find any excuse not to go forward.

Assuming you ride with soft hands and can get him going, then the problem is that *he is deciding* to go in reverse and is choosing NOT to listen to you. 

You can hold back on one rein (what kind of bit do you have on him? This is easiest done with a snaffle) and just keep his nose to one side until he tries to straighten out and moves forward. As soon as he moves forward, release the rein and ask him to move straight. He may try to back up again . . . so immediately, bring his nose to one side (your shoulders need to be up and back a bit because you need to hold weight on the rein in case he protests) and keep cuing him for "Forward." *Always keep cuing for Forward.* Don't let HIM get _*you *_frazzled and lose your focus. Don't worry about why he's doing what he's doing. Don't doubt yourself that you can handle this and get him to move forward. You *keep your focus* on what you want and if you are consistent, your horse will eventually get "on the same page" with you. Have a plan that you will always use when this barn sour behavior happens, and don't give up asking for what YOU want until you get it . . . Then, give him a release and head him forward. Put him to work on a bend if he says, "No, I'm going BACKWARD." If you always go immediately to the holding back on one rein, as soon as you get any inkling that he is heading backward, you will be able to get him to straighten out by stepping forward, and you WILL win, but it may take a while. He's testing you and will keep testing until you ALWAYS get forward when you ask. Don't give up. Don't lose patience. *Just plan on spending your first few trail rides in the barn yard working on getting him to walk forward whenever you ask. You WILL win, *eventually. *You may have to win 100x in the barn yard before he will give up *and realize that saying "NO," is not going to get him what he wants. 

So frustrating, I know. I rode last night, and the horse I rode decided that he just COULD NOT step in the chest high grass along the edge of the track we were on. It took at least 15 minutes of me asking him to go forward and not back, also bending him as I mentioned, before he finally dropped his nose to the grass and stepped in it and through it. He kind of hopped like a bunny through the grass to the road on the other side, and it was kinda funny I think the long grass tickled his belly. After we got to the road, I wanted to take him to the left down a different road, and we spent another 10-15 minutes of me asking him to step on the different kind of gravel. Boy, are my legs outta shape!


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

hollysjubilee said:


> It took at least 15 minutes before he finally dropped his nose to the grass and stepped in it and through it. After we got to the road, I wanted to take him to the left down a different road, and we spent another 10-15 minutes of me asking him to step on the different kind of gravel.


Ha! But it's great to win and still have your horse be your friend, no matter how long it takes! Reminds me of my first ride into town.

Our little city has wheelchair access curbs at intersections. For some reason they decided to highlight this access with yellow paint. My big guy was pretty sure he couldn't walk on concrete painted yellow. So I had to go through exactly the kind of routine you describe, but complicated by the fact that I was ponying my other horse. After about the tenth circle I started to envision myself lying on the road completely wrapped in lead rope while two horses returned home.

Eventually we made it across the yellow concrete. As Parelli says, "take the time it takes so it takes less time." Because we've never had a problem with yellow concrete again. One obstacle at a time.


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

He needs to be checked for pain, and I would really suggest getting a trainer in to help you. I am not fond of a horse that backs up. Forward I can deal with, but not backwards.

Has anyone else tried to ride him?


Joel, I remember my old schoolmaster hated the 50 signs painted on the road with a passion. I worked and worked and worked at it over weeks and he got to the point where he didn't care. I went out with my dad, he on his mare. I told him we had no issue with the 50 sign on the road. I rode over it, horse looks down, realises what he's stood on and tried to get all four legs off at the same time before shooting off up the road with me again. We practised it some more.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

Joel Reiter said:


> Ha! But it's great to win and still have your horse be your friend, no matter how long it takes! Reminds me of my first ride into town.
> 
> Our little city has wheelchair access curbs at intersections. For some reason they decided to highlight this access with yellow paint. My big guy was pretty sure he couldn't walk on concrete painted yellow. So I had to go through exactly the kind of routine you describe, but complicated by the fact that I was ponying my other horse. After about the tenth circle I started to envision myself lying on the road completely wrapped in lead rope while two horses returned home.
> 
> Eventually we made it across the yellow concrete. As Parelli says, "take the time it takes so it takes less time." Because we've never had a problem with yellow concrete again. One obstacle at a time.


hahahah! With a pony horse, I'm sure I would have been all tangled! That's a funny/not-so-funny vision.
Yes, Shiloh is still my friend . . . He is the most timid horse I've ever had, and not just timid, but he gets that grumpy stubbornness that makes an extra obstacle in his brain. He just needs more miles, and so do I.

The yellow paint reminds me of a little Morab mare I was asked to work with in VT. She was THE goofiest and most frustrating horse I've ever worked with in my life. I have always said that I love ALL horses, no matter what, but she is one horse that I can say I "almost" hated. A bale of hay in the gulley along the side of the dirt road was an insurmountable obstacle that took 45 minutes to walk past. Honestly!!!! I mean, it's FOOD, but in her mind, it was a monster.
One day, I was crossing an intersection. The dirt road crossed a paved 2-lane with a yellow line down the middle. It took us 30 - 40 minutes to cross that yellow line and get to the other part of the dirt road. 
Not sure whatever happened to that mare when she left her boarding situation, but I can say that riding her was not a pleasure.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Joel Reiter said:


> Ha! But it's great to win and still have your horse be your friend, no matter how long it takes! Reminds me of my first ride into town.
> 
> Our little city has wheelchair access curbs at intersections. For some reason they decided to highlight this access with yellow paint. My big guy was pretty sure he couldn't walk on concrete painted yellow. So I had to go through exactly the kind of routine you describe, but complicated by the fact that I was ponying my other horse. After about the tenth circle I started to envision myself lying on the road completely wrapped in lead rope while two horses returned home.
> 
> Eventually we made it across the yellow concrete. As Parelli says, "take the time it takes so it takes less time." Because we've never had a problem with yellow concrete again. One obstacle at a time.


 Talk about being in a tangle, I got a good one!

A long time ago, when we were first starting to do pack trips, we had our own saddle horses, but rented pack horses from an outfitter
First time, we took one pack horse, but decided we needed two for the next trip, to have more of the comforts of home (like a tent stove! )

From a distance, we noted riders leading pack strings, with those pack horses tailed together. Unfortunately, we failed to see that the pack train was not tailed to the saddle horse!
I could not lead apack horse, as I had that hyper ex race mare, who also had a sparce tail (great to get a rope under, and then get bucked off!
Thus, decided hubby could lead both pack horses tailed up
When several large vocal dogs came barking up to us, 'we', or esp hubby, saw the point that it would be nice to not have one's saddle horse in that resulting bucking mess, and to be able to just sit back and watch the pack horses sort themselves out


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