# Rushing back



## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

My Paso likes to rush on the way back. I need suggestions on how to get him to slow down. Circling does not help, nor does riding back and forth down the same stretch of trail over and over. When you ask him to turn back, he pivots and takes off gaiting. I respond to this by immediately stopping and backing him up. Repeat. Repeat, Repeat.

He knows the trails and knows when we turn for home and is determined to speed back. If i get off and walk, he is perfectly happy to walk slowly...but if ridden, he wants to rush back.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

I'm having the same problem, so I'm interested in what others have to say. 

My first option (Clinton Anderson Light) Take him on a short loop that will lead past the barn dozens of times, to shatter his hope that "towards the barn" automatically means "end of the ride".

My second option (Clinton Anderson) Let him rush to the barn, then "work his feet" (i.e. make him miserable), then ride back out on a loose rein, relaxing. 

What you are describing sounds like my ride yesterday. I made allowances for nervousness as we'd just moved, but if you rush in a straight line in one direction, and idle but can't keep a straight line after a 180º, I'm going to call BS.

When he got all fidgety, and the "turning back" didn't work, I simply took him on the full loop again, so he did 15 miles yesterday. Still got antsy on the way home, still spent quite some time turning him around as soon as he started rushing. The struggle was real, but I gave him "the best deal I could" (Buck Brannaman), but now it's time to "get the job done" (ditto).


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## Hula (Jun 6, 2018)

My horse had the same problem for a long time before I worked with her. What I did with her was have her walk about a mile from the barn, then I rode her back down the trail a few times. When this only semi-helped, I rode her back (her prancing and amped up) and then worked her HARD back at the barn. Then I rode her back out to the trails for a few minutes, without asking her to do much. Pretty soon, she stopped associating the barn with food and rest, but more with work. She stopped rushing toward the barn in about three months of doing this at least weekly. Best of luck!


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Hula said:


> She stopped rushing toward the barn in about *three months of doing this* at least weekly. Best of luck!


:eek_color: Give me strength...


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I don't mind if a horse goes faster toward home as long as they stay in the gait I want (walk). What has worked for me is to try to get the horse to relax more each ride. I don't try to work them, back them or circle them, because in the past that has only worked horses up for me and I want them to relax. 

I let them stretch out, but if they choose the wrong gait I have them go back to a walk. If I can't get them to walk, I turn them around facing the other way and stand for just a few seconds until the horse is fairly still. Then turn back. If they rush off, that is fine until they break gait, at which point we turn around and stand again. Once they can make the right choice (walk), I let them head for home again. Eventually over the course of a few rides, the horse realizes they will get home at a walk and don't have the option of faster gaits. Over time they learn to relax at the walk more and more until they just walk nicely home. 

What I like about this method is that you reach the goal eventually but it doesn't require a ton of time and patience, you still get home in a timely fashion and don't have to exhaust yourself. But you have to be able to be calm and stay on if the horse gets upset about standing still - some will hop or go sideways before standing. 

I find that horses teach themselves well. Eventually you have one ride where the horse feels calmer than usual and walks nicely. That ends up happening more and more as the horse understands it is a better method to get them home faster.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

@gottatrot : Does that keep you out of faster gaits on the way home entirely, or does your horse understand the difference between waiting for your aids and not waiting for your aids? This basically sounds like what I did yesterday - I only leaned on him when he tried "walk-canter" transitions on me, otherwise I was pretty peaceful, I think. I did the waiting, I did the walking in the opposite direction - it kind of had an effect in the short term (i.e. we eventually passed a critical trail section without breaking gait), but he always "forgot" the lesson he'd just learned a few 100 meters down the trail. So, does that mean I need more repetition or do I need to escalate the "wrong thing = uncomfortable"?


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

What is your routine when you get home? One simple thing that can help is to just tie the horse and let him stand for an hour or two. That makes home a little less thrilling as a destination.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

mmshiro said:


> Does that keep you out of faster gaits on the way home entirely, or does your horse understand the difference between waiting for your aids and not waiting for your aids?


What I do is decide what distance from home is my "rule" area where I insist on only walking. At one barn there was pavement for the last 1/4 mile so that was easy - only walking allowed on the pavement. If I never went faster on the way home I'd have to walk for 4 miles sometimes or more. 

If my horse wanted to speed off as soon as we turned around, I'd ask for walking for a quarter mile or so before picking up the pace again when facing home. But as long as the horse doesn't try galloping when I ask for a canter, we do go fast facing home as long as we're far enough away. Once we're in my "rule" area, I insist on walking only. 

I'd say you're doing the right thing, just keep it up consistently.
Once it's solid, I've had to on occasion actually run a horse home due to another horse getting loose, someone being late because we went too slow, or bad weather. In those cases it did not put the horse back into the rushing on the next ride, they seemed to understand when it was their idea vs my idea.

I personally don't have time usually to tie a horse for a long time after riding. I also often ride at the horses' dinner time. Some things that help are feeding the horse a bit before riding (a good idea anyway to prevent ulcers) so they're not hungry, and then just making sure the ride is positive and following a routine. Even if I take the horses out at dinnertime they know we're riding, then we'll stand, untack, brush and pick out hooves, then go into their pens for dinner. Horses are comforted by routines.


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

This thread is cool because it is one of things I was most worried about with mine.... since I saw, at that time, so many posts about bolting-homeward-bound horses lol. Katie can be prancy to get home or not I find it differs each time. But when she is... I have to suck in a breath to pretend I don't care and I let her stretch out. Automatically giving her that release she slows down immediately. I'll halt her about a minute later and give her a treat (a recent thing) and by then life is good and she's plodding home. It's only on the way back I let her do some grazing so the "good part" is along it and not just at the end. I was able to do a short canter on the buckle on the way home on my most recent hack which is like.. impossible in the arena haha. 

I mean it's working. God forbid the day we bolt down that specific bridle-path with its terrain....


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

My first horse's slow pace was... Canter piaffe?? Especially on the way home. He would bolt uncontrollably with others. Let me control him tho... Barely. It didn't help I was a teen hoon at the time & loved racing wherever we could. Tried all sorts, including the above, including 'turn his dream to a nightmare'(you want to trot/canter/gallop? So go, hard & keep it up way past when you want to stop) that last I think especially made it worse. Not to mention it was an unsafe or impossible tactic in many situations. 

Then I started using tactics Gotta has described. That really helped. You need to be utterly consistent tho - can't allow it some times but not others. That is the general rule of any reliable training. & one thing people find so hard. 

Then I started studying behavioral psych & positive reinforcement based training. This helped me work out how to change *the mindset & motivation* for behaviors, get the horse WANTING to be out with me, not in a rush to be done with me. Reinforcing the behaviors *& attitudes* I wanted more, having to 'correct' those I didn't less.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

I don't mind if my horse goes home a little faster, as long as he stays at the gait I put him in. If he wants to walk fast, that's fine, but he'd better be walking. Trot, same thing. My Paso has some mental issues and gets rushy heading home, so for now, we are walking. He walks as fast as his little butt can shuffle, but as long as he's walking, I leave him alone.


When you get home, don't unsaddle and turn the horse out right away. Lope circles for awhile. Leave the horse saddled and standing tied for an hour or two. Put him in a stall or pen rather than right back out with his buddies. Don't feed him right away. 



Also look at whether he's getting worse or better. If your horse is not improving or is getting worse, check for pain from physical issues or saddle fit. Some horses tend to hurry home because they know that will end the ride and ease their discomfort, and in that case, you need to address the pain and the rushing will usually go away.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

If you don't mind, I have a follow-up issue I'd like to run by y'all.

Yesterday I took Hamlet out, and I took him on a short-distance walk-only ride. I wanted to see if his getting amped up cantering may have had anything to do with his wanting to rush. Indeed, apart from a few half halts, he kept at the walk the entire way. I did not have to "correct" him as he took "No" for an answer the handful of times he did try to trot away.

The second part of the exercise was to go past the barn a few times so "going towards home" doesn't necessarily mean "going home". Hence the short ride. Immediately after passing the barn, he tried his darndest to do a 180º and return to the barn, so naturally my task was to dissuade him from this, as "changing direction unasked" is just as big a no-no as "changing gaits unasked". At first I just kept him straight with gentle corrections, keeping him between my hands and legs. That would not stop him from jiggling back and forth. I then let him turn, but caught him right away and led him into a full circle, so each time he turned, he turned 360º. He didn't catch on either that this doesn't get him home. I finally escalated to pretty harsh corrections each time he tried to veer from the straight - a rather tough kick with the outside leg and tightened reins to keep his head straight, followed by immediate release of the reins when I felt he didn't pull to the side anymore. Eventually, he gave me 6-7 steps away from the barn on a loose rein and my legs in neutral (a smidgen of slack, not buckle), so that's when I turned him as gently as I could muster and took him home. (We were about 1 min from the barn, so "going home" was pretty clear.) Oh, and he still did not ask to speed up...to his credit.

So, question: Should I have escalated faster? Did I nag him for too long? Or was I right to find the least amount of pressure needed to get the job done and only escalate immediately next time - now that he should know better? I know how to proceed with Hamlet: If he gets jiggly, one or two gentle nudges to keep him straight, then it's straight to "Cut it out!" correction. 

Should I have done anything differently the first time? Should I be going about it differently with a different horse or a different, new issue next time?

I guess I'm looking for a bit of a shortcut through developing "feel" and "experience"...


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## Joel Reiter (Feb 9, 2015)

Hey, whatever works! If you didn't have a wreck and he walked home on a loose rein that sounds like a win.

If my big guy turns around without permission I go immediately into a circle and keep circling little tiny circles while I bump him with the inside leg to make him hustle. He hates that, but I tell him what a good boy he is and what nice circles he turned and then give him a chance to go the way I want. He quickly realizes that the choice is not the one he wanted -- not go out or go home, but go out or turn circles. He will go out.

However, this might not be safe on every horse. I have a friend who tried this and almost got bucked off. I credit training the one-rein stop with making my circles drama free.


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## ChasingDreams (Nov 14, 2017)

> I credit training the one-rein stop with making my circles drama free.



I can relate! Chase doesn’t rush home. Actually, going home, I have the opposite problem as he likes to slow way down or stop and try to go back into the woods 

My problem is rushing IN the woods, especially going down hills. I think it has to do with being a bit unfit yet in his hind end, but he hates walking down hills. And I mean, some of the hills he tries to hustle down are precarious.

I’ll usually start with half-halts, then alternating a sort of “half-pass” (I’m not well trained in dressage but that’s what it feels like we are doing) to either side. I also try to sit deep and think “Walk” with my whole body. Usually, that works ok. But, in the rare instances he is still not slowing- he has a fabulous one-rein stop. Instant shut-down. 

After the one-rein stop, he will usually mind. But, my confidence in him grew tenfold once I realized he had that “emergency brake” trained so well. That is one thing the person who started him did so, so right IMO


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

@ChasingDreams you have a lucky horse haha I've never been or seen a horse that looks longingly back at the "park" like my dogs do.


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## ChasingDreams (Nov 14, 2017)

> @ChasingDreams you have a lucky horse haha I've never been or seen a horse that looks longingly back at the "park" like my dogs do.



He’s young and curious... and we haven’t been here real long. I’m sure the excitement will wear off eventually lol


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

ChasingDreams said:


> I can relate!
> My problem is rushing IN the woods, especially going down hills.


Yeah, this was Dita on downhills. Nothing improved my seat faster in a shorter amount of time than holding on to this while making sure she has her head for balance. 










I kinda got a kick out of her occasionally _sliding_ down in loose ground, though...made me feel a little bit like


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## ChasingDreams (Nov 14, 2017)

Lol @mmshiro you are much more brave than I  


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

@ChasingDreams: Last winter I let her gallop once across a field. Downhill. On snow. THAT was when I seriously reconsidered some of my life's decisions, especially the more recent ones...  (I had done the same field with two other horses two days before that without any puckering effect, so I felt "prepared".) But here I am, living to reminisce about her... *sigh*


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

mmshiro said:


> I guess I'm looking for a bit of a shortcut through developing "feel" and "experience"...


Your response tells you it was right. Every horse is different, and I don't think there are any shortcuts. But you are learning the right way, listening to what the horse is telling you and adapting if he doesn't do what you expect.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

I like trails that make a loop for this very reason. I've had a few horses that wanted to rush home (once). I short tie their head about 6 feet up in a tree and leave them there for an hour or so. They are in no hurry to go home after that. When they do behave they get a treat.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

I like trails that make a loop for this very reason. I've had a few horses that wanted to rush home (once). I short tie their head about 6 feet up in a tree and leave them there for an hour or so. They are in no hurry to go home after that. When they do behave they get a treat.


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