# Riding out vs trailering



## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Does anyone else's horse act completely different on the trail depending on whether they trailered somewhere versus riding off their own property?

My gelding is phenomenal either way, but he is a little bit testy when we ride off the property. Not sure if this is just a touch of barn sour attitude, or if it is fairly common. It is nothing unmanagable, a little jig here, mini-spook there and a bit of calling back to home.

I tried a new plan today, I rode out one direction onto BLM and made him walk quietly back after going about 30 minutes. When we got home I trotted him around the property, then did a jog up the road the other direction (the road has a nice big shoulder and soft sand). Then I walked him back, did one more trot lap around the field then put him up. I am hoping he learns not to rush home, just like he knows not to rush back to the trailer. 

How do you handle slightly rushy, barn sour horses?


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## Dead Rabbit (Jul 14, 2012)

i call it "buddy-sour" they are wanting to get back with the others.

mine is alot harder to handle and acts up to a degree when riding away from the barn and the other horses.
but we came to an understanding quick. i dont tolerate that foolishness. still, shes much better when trailered to the trails.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Farm land around me is disappearing, So I almost always trailer off property. Lots of public just a few miles away from the house.

I have found my horses always behave better when they can not hear their buddies call, When they don't know where the barn is. So I have often trailered my trouble making horses off for a few rides, Once I feel they are controlable, then I'll work more on the barn sour problems by riding close to home.

I'm just choosing which battles I prefer to fight. I think all horses should behave when ridden near home. But I would rather fight one battle at a time vs dealing with a green horse and barn sour horse.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Painted Horse- I suck at multi tasking, so I too like to take on one challenge at a time! Luckily this is the only challenge I have with Cruiser, and I have no choice but to deal with it now. I have no truck to haul with (have a trailer, just no truck for now) and no place to ride on the property other than a track made by the previous owners for dirt bikes.
Luckily it is literally a 10 minute ride to public land with trails. So my only option is to get him over his sourness.
My only other option is to pony his buddy along, which I may start doing occasionally since she desperately needs exercise (she's a friend's mare who is about 300lbs overweight!).


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

that works for awhile, but if you ride the same place as often as I do they end up memorizing that place too. And the trailer parking area becomes the new barn.


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## Dead Rabbit (Jul 14, 2012)

Joe mine does same, when she sees the trailer, she automatically wants to stop when she gets there, i made her go another half mile past it and come back the last time, just to let her know i decide when its time to end the ride.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

Mine's the same either way, but she always goes with her horse buddy, and she knows (or seems to know) where the trailer is, even if we ride in a loop. Around the midpoint it's "Oh, I'm a poor tired horse. Can't you see that I can't manage another step?", but on the last mile or so it changes to "Oh, boy, we're getting close to the hay net, let's hurry!"


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Mine act differently riding out from home then they do from the trailer. Of course, as already mentioned, after trailering to the same area a couple times they know where they are and where the trailer is. Once they know where the trailer is they start getting excited about returnig to the trailer as much as they do to returning to the barn.

Then there is the horses that always know where the trailer is even if it's the first time in the area.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

I can ride 10 miles back in the wilderness and leave from a different trail head than my mare's been to before, on a loop, and some how, when we're headed back, she knows it. Going back she wants to pick up the speed just a bit and walk out.

We're headed for the Rice Camp trail in the Cohutta wilderness area shortly.....we haven't rode this trail yet......she'll still know where the trailer is at the end of the day.

I wish I knew how she gets her sense of direction...


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## goneriding (Jun 6, 2011)

I don't want to stereotype but of all the mares and geldings I have ridden on trail, the mares seem to be a tad more keen with direction.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

The horse knowing the way home can be a good thing if you get lost.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Celeste said:


> The horse knowing the way home can be a good thing if you get lost.


Yes and no. My dad had a mare who always knew where the trailer was. Turn her loose and she would head there in a straight line and didn't much care what was between her and the trailer. Cliffs, mountains, rivers and ravines were no obstacle in her mind. Sometimes that trail was put there for a reason.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

I am envisioning some poor guy riding a horse over the side of a cliff..........

My horse only wants to go home within reason. She is not willing to get her feet wet or step on a yucky surface if she doesn't have to.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

I wish I had the sense of direction that horses have! Sometimes I swear I could get lost in a hall without doors.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Your horse won't learn after working him just the once. It should be done three days in a row to solidify it in his mind. Put his halter on under his bridle and take a lead rope. When you have ridden about as far as you want, dismount, unbridle him and let him graze for a while. That will appease his belly and act as a reward for coming out this far. Let him enjoy the ride in a way that works for him.


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## qh trail rider (Sep 16, 2012)

It seems to me, even if you take your horse an a trail that they have never been on before, they seem to know where the trailer is. Even on a long trail, they suddenly get more energy when you make that turn that goes back in the direction of the trailer, even if you are several miles away from it. I might have no idea where the trailer is exactly, but they do.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

I am well aware that one ride won't cure anything and I am happy to have a challenge to work with him on, actually. I was just a little shocked how very different he was from when we had trailered places.

It certainly doesn't help that during yesterdays ride we could hear his buddy calling for a good portion of the ride (we live on the top of a canyon, and ride down into the canyon onto BLM, so it's very echo-y).


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## BigStallion (Sep 2, 2012)

My mare thinks the trailer is going to eat her!!!


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

qh trail rider said:


> It seems to me, even if you take your horse an a trail that they have never been on before, they seem to know where the trailer is. Even on a long trail, they suddenly get more energy when you make that turn that goes back in the direction of the trailer, even if you are several miles away from it. I might have no idea where the trailer is exactly, but they do.


 
Agreed. We got beyond lost at a new place, and my guy trailblazed us a straight line to the trailer once we decided to trust him to find it. Too bad about all the pricker bushes between us and the trailer. Horses are better than homeing pigeons that way.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

It's not that they don't know where the trailer is. They absolutely know where it is. It that their buddies are not at the trailer. They don't have their herd mates calling them. I can definitely feel the difference between riding near their corral and riding away from the trailer.


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Painted Horse said:


> I can definitely feel the difference between riding near their corral and riding away from the trailer.


Yep, me too. My mare isn't the same horse when ridden at the barn.....

Our short ride yesterday was in and out, not a loop.

Nice loose reins....neck reined on the way in. Two hands and short tight reins on the way out. Had to hold her back just a bit.

Not that I mind, but my wife's quarter horse has to trot to keep up so I want her to dog walk.

This time we didn't stop at the trailer but went down the road and up the next trail for a couple of miles. Made her gait in a flat walk and put her into a running walk from time to time the whole way and sweated her up pretty good. Most of the time when we get back to the trailer my mare knows the ride is over......this time it wasn't.

I'm going to work on trying to convince her the ride isn't over just because she sees the trailer so there isn't any burning desire to get back to it. I'm thinking when see sees the trailer it means more work, not less.

I'm open to suggestions....


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Gunslinger,

That's the same approach I am trying now, except for I ride past my house instead of the trailer! I feel very fortunate to have trails and/or wide shouldered dirt roads on either side.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Every fall I pack a camp up into the mountains for Deer and Elk hunting, It's a 7 mile ride in. The spot we camp is just a primative spot.. Just flat ground with some trees that I can highline off.

My horses head straight to the spot where I hang the highline. I don't have to steer them or ask them to stop walking. In fact on several occassions, I've tested my horses by trying to just wander past the camp site.

The horses know that this is home away from home and always stop dead under where the highline goes. They know exactly where they are









years ago, I rode a friends mare into the Wind Rivers Wilderness with some other friends. We had to turn off on a trail that was just a whisper of a trail. This mare traveled that trail, down once and returned on it. A year later I took her again and was searching for that turn off. It was in a big open meadow and the grass had over grown the trail. Almost invisible. That mare just automatically turned and headed out thru the grassy meadow. She knew where we were headed and she had only been there once before and it had been a year since that previous visit.

They have an amazing memory for trails.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Yeah, I've learned not to argue to much with my horse when returning to an area I've ridden in but don't know well. To often he has a better idea of where we are going than I do.


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## Cacowgirl (Feb 19, 2011)

Sounds like some horses are better than a homing pigeon! I had one mare that walked slower as she approached home-but pass the house & she picked up speed again-she didn't like going home! She was one of a kind for me. Another gal I rode with-we would go back to the trailer, have lunch, then head out again for second ride, the horses were always good. Usually afterwards, we would untack, sponge them off, & load up after watering, a bit of feed & a short rest while we packed things up. Those were some wonderful times.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Darrin, It has gotten me safely off a few mountains in the dark and in blizzard conditions where I had no idea where I was.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

I absolutely had a horse get me out of big trouble once. I was many miles into a maze of dirt roads and I got totally lost. I was riding alone. Nobody knew where I was (including me after a point). I cried. I prayed. Then I just patted the horse on the neck and said "go to the barn" which is what I always said when I wanted to get her in to feed her. She turned this way and that, and after about 45 minutes, I started recognizing things. I am sure that I would have been in the woods alone all night waiting and hoping for a search party if I had relied on my own brains.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Well, I went on down to BLM again today, but I ponied Oreo, Cruiser's buddy. I think I can say he is buddy sour, not so much barn sour. He was happy as a clam for todays ride. And Oreo got some much needed exercise. 

I know I can't always bring his friend along, so we will just have to work through his anxiety to leave Oreo. It doesn't help that if she can't see him, she calls and calls like she is about to die. Kind of funny, really.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Quit making me jealous Karlie, trails are mud over here in the valley after all that darn rain. I see dust in your picture!


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