by Heather J Powell

Created on: December 21, 2006   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Have you ever had a horse that is barn sour? Does your equine companion behave perfectly at home but becomes one of the devil's own when you try to leave the barn and go out for a nice relaxing trail ride?

Most riders find that riding in the arena is only satisfying to a point. Even when training my show jumpers, I throw in at least one trail ride a week for each of them. Being out in the countryside is where God intended horses to be. OK so He didn't intend for them to be carrying my fat butt around while they were out there, but you know what I mean!

So we all know how frustrating it is when you make up your mind to spend a couple of hours relaxing and unwinding on the back of your horse, just trolling around the neighborhood, only to find that your horse has other ideas and refuses to leave the safety and familiarity of the barn. What was intended as a stress reduction exercise can rapidly turn into an instant blood-pressure elevation technique.

So how to deal with the equine tantrum without bursting the proverbial blood vessel?

First of all, accept that you are not going on a trail ride today - rather that what you really wanted to do was to have a training session with your buddy which would actually evolve into a program which will culminate in a trail ride sometime in the future. Accepting this inevitable fact will go a long way towards keeping the blood pressure even and will minimize the risk of the loss of temper on either part and thus the risk of damage to anyone. Just how far in the future your trail ride might be depends on how stubborn your buddy is and how often you are prepared to work at this. As with any horse training exercise, patience is the key and each session will last no longer than your temper, so be prepared for a lot of short workouts!

What gave you the first clue that your horse was not going to leave the barn? Did he just walk so far towards the gate and then stop? Did he start prancing or backing up as you walked towards the gate? Did he turn around every time you pointed him away from the barn? Did he get so far and then turn around and head back? Did he (as one of my mares loves to do) stop dead and start lifting his front feet up as he tried to wheel around (not exactly a rear but more of a protest)?

Whatever form of protest you (or he) can think of is quite possible to be exhibited by the barn or buddy sour horse. Many people decide to overcome the problem by always riding out with a friend and letting the other horse lead the

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