Turning your horse back out into the paddock

laura jeanne

laura jeanne

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Jan 7, 2004
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Whe I turn my horse back out, I want to have him stand still facing me while I take off the halter. The way I do it now, I stand by the gate with my back to it and him facing me and start to take the halter off. He wants to swerve away and run off which I don't like because I had a horse run off and kick his feet up once.

So I take 3 carrot pieces with me and let him know I have them in my hand. I give him one and let him see the others so he is focused on them and then he stands there while I take the halter off. I feed him the other two and he still stands there waiting for more and this gives me time to step back and get out the gate.

Is there a way to get him to stand there without the carrot routine? Should I be aiming for this? He is in a rather small paddock with one other horse who is always in there when I let mine go.

Thanks!
 
To be honest I can't see a problem with 'treating' under these circumstances if it means you have a horse that isn't going to turn tails on you and charge off the minute he hits the field. I was blindsided by a horse that I was turning out once and literally flew across the field. Thankfully I had a soft landing and lived to tell the tale! He wasn't mine so I couldn't work on manners but I would if I spent more time with him.

I've always had a 'treat' routine for turning out Saff and she's very good now as she knows the routine.

I always walk her a little way into the field and then turn her around to face the gate. She has to stand for her headcollar to be taken off and do some carrot stretches for treats. She doesn't get a treat unless she does what I ask though! She does tend to run through her repertoire in a nanosecond flat to 'ask' for a treat now and then though which is really funny :D

Now I can take her headcollar off and she'll stand and wait. Sometimes she'll wander off to the trough for a drink but will come back to me.
 
Thanks Bay Mare, I just don't want to be giving treats for something that he should be learning to do without them. This way seems to work so far. I am going to ask my RI how she would do it in my lesson today.
 
You can stick with the carrots - I can't see it does any harm ... except I suppose if you ran out of them and he started to mug you by the gate - but if the rest of his manners are good that shouldn't happen.

Another thing you can do is just practice 'forward and back' . Just ask him to back up a step or two right there at the gate, while you still have his lead rope on. Then you choose when that exercise is over and he gets his treats. get into th ehabit of it, and try it after you've taken the halter off (and before giving him treats). It keeps him guessing, and then if you don't have a treat for him one day, you can still back him out of your space off lead, before finally 'releasing' him.
 
I had to do a similar thing with a horse I had. He used to get very excited at the gate & even reared a couple of times. I never gave the treat in anticipation of good behaviour though, only when he had behaved well. ie. He only got the treat after he had allowed his headcollar to be taken of quietly, not before.
 
artemis said:
I never gave the treat in anticipation of good behaviour though, only when he had behaved well. ie. He only got the treat after he had allowed his headcollar to be taken of quietly, not before.
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Oh definitely. She has to earn the treat, I don't treat indiscriminately as a rule. She will sometimes 'ask' for a treat (which is really funny) but she doesn't get one unless I've asked her to perform a certain task.

I've also taught her to 'look away' before she gets the treat so you don't get the 'good behaviour and then mug for treat' cycle!
 
whenever I turn pickle out, I undo the headcollar but have my right hand under his neck and over his nose, from the moment I have had him as i have turned him out I kiss his cheek :eek: .
on one day it was a godsend, there was already one horse in the field and my friend led two horses through the narrow gate but heard a noise on the stones behind her, thinking it was me having a problem with Pickle she let her two go so that she could get out the way, I wasnt having a problem, but by then 3 horses are charging off across a 5 acre field :eek: thinking "oh boy he is gonna go now" I undid his head collar and quickly stood well back, he just stood there looking at me really confused, my friend and I both realised he was waiting for his kiss :D , I kissed his cheek and off he charged to the other horses :D bless :p :cool:

I think sometimes its just a matter of routine? do exactly the same thing each time you turn your horse out and your horse will wait for the clues :D
 
I like Kate's method, though I wouldn't use the treats.

Another thing you can do is just practice 'forward and back' . Just ask him to back up a step or two right there at the gate, while you still have his lead rope on. Then you choose when that exercise is over
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Whenever I release a horse, "I want to leave the horse," not have the horse leave me. I always turn the horse to face me, and only remove the halter if I have the horses attention. If the horse is "anxious", I will "back em up, move em over" etc. until the attention is on me.

Then, and only then do I drop the halter, turn my back and immediatly "leave my horse". If I truely had their attention, they usually stand still and watch me retreat for a while. Doesn't matter to me, I'm gone. ;)


Have fun, be safe

Jack
 
I have an almost identical routine with Megan and for the self same reason; if she has no reason to hang around she's off bucking and farting (both right in your face if you don't get the h*ll out of there quickly) :eek: She has done this since we got her and aren't sure whether this is exuberance that is imprinted due to being a former RS pony (let off for a run after a day's hard work?).

We have, for almost a year now had no incident at all because, as you do we lead right into the field, treat once standing sensibly, remove headcollar (halter), small treat again then we retreat to the gate where she joins us for a farewell treat and a hug. I was a little late to the stable once recently and the girl who kindly put Megan out for me obviously wouldn't have known about this routine and received a swift hoof to the thigh as Megan went directly back to cavorting off at the gate before she had left the gateway because she'd just yanked off her headcollar and slapped her bum to go off... so she did!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I would never think of this as being a too time consuming or mollycoddling (as I've been accused) of her, or even over treating as it is a nice, bonding 2-3 minutes that we both know, understand and enjoy together... where's the harm in that?
 
With Tahoe I have him so that when I apply pressure to his poll he drops his head to the ground and no halter or bridle comes off his head otherwise. once I get hte halter off his nose I still hold on for a minute and give him a couple pets to reward him and teach him its nice to stay with me for a bit. I used the leadrop around his neck to make sure I still had a hold of him because at first once that halter came off he tried to turn and walk off. Now he stands, gets his pets and I leave him.
 
haha, i actually have trouble shoving mine INTO the field :p it's a case of 'now get your fat bum out of this gateway sharpish, and could you please stop marauding by the gate. GO! PLAY! FIND YOUR FRIEND! BE HAPPY, DAMMIT!' :D

Julia
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