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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
  
Location: Tulsa, Ok | I would not take issue with a horse that is just wanting to get in the pen and do his job so long as the focus was there to get the job done. I have ridden two awesome horses that came off the track that were hard to hold. My system with each was warm them up away from the pen. While waiting their turn I kept them back from the gate/alley and quiet as possible. When I was up I would side pass them with their back to the gate until they were centered up, then turn and send them.
Funny thing - one of those horses was ridden by a small child in his later years. Took out a couple of adults who would try to lead him in. Soon discovered that he would let that tiny eight year old hold him to anywhere until he was ready to send him. |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | My horse is the same way. I hate that he acts like a "barrel horse" but he just loves his job now. We can and will stop if I get after him (ex-tie down horse), but if I make him stop and behave it takes all the fire out of him. He gets angry and won't run. I can somewhat control him, but when he is feeling himself, it is easier just to hang on.
My routine is a short warm up, and getting off and walking. When I hop on and rubber band my over-n-under to my belt he becomes a beast. LOL He got in a bad habit of rearing when I would hold him, but once I quit fighting with him we were good.
Just roll with her instead fo fighting. |
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Expert
Posts: 1586
 
Location: west of East Texas | I have one that does this. The first two years I got her, every run made me wonder if THIS was the run that she just wasn't going in and would be DQ'd. She'd go every way but forward, wouldn't walk in with another horse, wouldn't be led in, would lock up and not go period. She never went up in the air so we worked on every way we knew to get her over this. And it worked. By the end of the 2nd year, she was charging the gate alley so hard that the corner posts were our first obstacle to get around. She caught her hip, her back leg and almost me once and caught me off guard. (My daughter rides her more than me.) Just out of reflex, I shut her down. Right there. We try to warm her up by ponying her. She's completely under control in the warm up but it just isn't fun. She will sit in the holding pen or walk tiny circles, she'll walk up the alley 10 times in a row but she knows when it's real. We try to keep her away until our drag, then at the back of the holding pen, reins loose, laying on her neck. She'll stand there like that. I pick them up when they call my name. But I won't let her clear the deck just because she wants to go. I like my kneecaps. I'll let her be chargy, but I will hold her in until I'm ready. If I have to stop her I will. It only took a couple of times like this and she took it down a notch. I try not to let her get so out of control so that I don't have to get it back. It's so much more fun now that she is going forward that I want to let her go as long as we are both safe! |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12837
| Just wondering what you do if you have to walk into the arena and wait for the gate to be closed before you start. How do you handle a chargy horse under those conditions especially if you have multiple runs? |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| Have you tried giving him something like Maalox before you run? It could be his stomach is burning. And Maalox will Coat his stomach and help with the acid. 60 ccs before you get on him to warm up. If that helps you might try Zesterra the day before you go and each day you are there. |
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