The Art of Natural Dressage

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 Post subject: Barn/Buddy Sourness
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:20 pm 
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Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:19 am
Posts: 98
Location: America
There haven't been many posts lately, so I'm going to try to get a discussion started. Anyway, Rose has always been a bit barn sour. It's never been as bad as some horses, who won't even leave the building, but she is always slow and kind of not wanting to leave the barn, but would be happy to go cantering back. It's not much of a problem now, because it's too muddy to go outside right now. Eventually, though, I would enjoy playing with her in a field, or going on a walk. I feel like it's less of a barn sourness, and more of a buddy sourness, where she doesn't want to leave the other horses. Technically, I could play with her in a field while the other horses are there, but I don't trust one of the horses in her field at all. I feel like I have to keep one eye on that horse, and that's not how I want to interact with Rose. So, if I want to play with her outside, it has to be by ourselves. Does anyone have suggestions?


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 Post subject: Re: Barn/Buddy Sourness
PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:11 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2013 7:00 am
Posts: 567
Location: Scotland
It is so sad that the forum has slowed :( , and that i have been neglecting it and my diary- But as always there is just too many interesting things to do , than to write about what I have already done ;)
Anyway ..
To me , i would just create the situation, so that coming with me , away from her friends would make the most sense for her . Basically i would just be very attending to all of her thoughts - even if it was to just eat grass .Grass is always a good form of sense for a horse , at least in my expirince :) . (Though i would quickly get bored with just eating grass , so i would suggest morphing it into some sort of grass game ) and of course supplying lots of treats for all her efforts :D
Creating an exploring game where you lead the way to the best grass or even some treats you have put out before is great , as it is always fun to just go exploring like that , and it generates alot of curiousity from the horse about where you are heading next :)

:green:


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 Post subject: Re: Barn/Buddy Sourness
PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:49 am 
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Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 2:05 am
Posts: 458
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Poppy gets very attached to the others. With her the things that help the most are lots of going and coming back, frequent short journeys without pushing her out of her comfort zone. She is definitely better if I let her go home if she shows signs of getting upset and to try and turn around before she gets to that point. She also improves the more often I take her out (makes it less of a big deal).
I haven't been very consistent with working her on this as we are in a situation where we can play within the paddock. Although she has improved a fair bit. When we started she would only go 20m or so the the front verge of the property she was on and now she will go a few hundred meters down the road. She has no desire to go further but thats ok.
As Ali said finding something that motivates them to leave helps as well. With Poppy she gets motivated to go and find grass, BJ used to like meeting other horses and Marlee just likes to check whats going on in the world and then come home.


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 Post subject: Re: Barn/Buddy Sourness
PostPosted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 4:44 am 
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Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 4:39 pm
Posts: 236
Location: Denmark
Reviving a 1½ year old thread :P

Mine are very close, and do not like when one is out of sight, and individuals are hesitant to leave the others.
My suggestion is similar to Ali's.I'm taking advantage of the spring grass (of which there is non in their pasture). I take one horse out to grass, and all we do is really just walk and eat. Not the most exciting acivity (for me), but my priority is just to make it a pleasant experience for at least the horse I have out with me.
Whomever is left in the pasture call out for the one horse I bring with me, and in the beginning, the single horse would call back and be wary of walking too far or getting out of sight. I'm seeing a change in behaviour and willingness already though, having hardly done anything at all but just let them go further at their own pace. I may suggest going towards a grassier area, as to let the horse know I know stuff about nice chow that they don't 8)

My hope is that I'll eventually be able to actually go for a proper walk with a single horse at a time. I feel that hope might actually become a reality this year! (lol)

_________________
Then I started asking myself: "What can I do for my horse?"


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