I have a horse that my sisters (8 year old) horse wont go in the alley way she was rearing up in the alley wayand we did discover that her saddle was hurting her so we changed saddles and she quit rearing but she still refuses to go in, but you can hand walk her in and then get on and she halls butt in there and does what shes suppose to do. What should we do?
Thanks Michelle Epps
Michelle,
It sounds like you need to take this horse to some barrel races and DON'T run her, just spend a lot of time walking her in and out of the alley and
walking through the pattern. She thinks she is going to have to run each time she goes in and becomes very worried and nervous since she probably remembers that at one time there was pain involved. You are going to have to spend some time and give her a chance to figure out that she doesn't have to "bust a gut" every time she heads to the arena and that it's not going to hurt. Be sure that ALL of your equipment fits correctly and that you are giving her consistent signals and cues so that you don't confuse her and cause her to dread running barrels.
Martha Wright
