Gatehappy, How do I get Her to Stop ?

[BigStarLover]

Ok, The horse That I ride, Princess, Is very nice; although she has a few kinks. She has one eye, so I guess that feeds into the fact that when ever we pass the gate she has trouble, maybe it is because whenever we are done with out lesson it is feeding time. After our lesson the stable hands go home and pack up 4 the night. So I guess Princess is just anxious to go inside, But how do I stop her from getting worked up at the gate? I try to turn her in circles, but I can never get out of them, I squeeze in on my inside foot and she turns around but this happens a lot, it seems as if she just keeps going in circles around and around until I can get her to face the right direction. Any suggestions?

[iluvcreek4vr]

What you can do is whenever you start going towards the gate turn her around and go the other way so that she never goes by the gate than keep her away from the gate whenever you have to do something. Dont mount or dismount near the gate(go as far away as possible). Than she will forget about the gate. Keep treats in your pocket after you are done riding if she was a good girl.


Idk if i am right but its the same thing my friend and i did with one of the horses at the barn. Good luck.

[snapmyapp]

I was at a show once, and I was warming up in the warmup arena, the gate was wide open, and really big, and every time we passed by it since we were working on the rail, snappy would try to just leave, so I did circles, but not sweet lil lets walk a slow nice cirlce, it was a fast paced "if you wanna go out the gate, your not going to like it" type of deal, and every time we passed by if he did it or not, i would automatically make him sidepass away , practically across the whole arena, and after that he realized leaving wasnt such a great idea.

so maybe try that. another is, walk up to the gate and just stand, if she get giddy, back her up quick and just stand in that spot, if she takes another step ANYWHERE back her up again. she should be respective- espcially since she shouldnt be starving like so many horses think they are D:

[BigStarLover]

thanks guys !!! great advice

[Raggle]

I did the same thing that the other two mentioned. My mare was as sour as a horse can get about barns. At one point I walked her in and out of the barn about twenty times, and even got to a trot a few times. I suppose this same principle can be used, except for that you turn away from the gate like they said. ^^

If they still refuse and give you a ton of trouble then I will tie them up for a little while and purposely ignore them for that entire time period. I've lounged them if it was horribly bad, too. Of course you can glance over to check on them.

[hoovesfirst]

i guess if she isn' yours this may be hard but if she tries to leave let her go that dirtction then turn her in circles until her nose is almost touching her shoulder do this until she learns that it's not okay or fun to walk out no matter how loungh it takes BUT you might not be able to ride that loungh thats what might be bad but if you ask your trainer i also think that if you wher in control of his feed he might respect you more ;)

[BigStarLover]

I am In control of the feed because I fed them, and it seems like she goes to the gate and just liftes her head over the gate, she is probably trying to open it, I do circles at ever corner for warming up and througout the lesson, but when we get to the gate, I try to turn her around and she keeps going around in circles

[iluvcreek4vr]

If she decides to go she wants to go in circles make her go in circle the opposite way she wants to go and keep making the circles smaller and smaller than push with the heel of your foot on her stomach on the inside and she will go away from the pressure.

[DixieGirl]

My horse does the same thing. I just work through it! Good Luck!! ;)

[Barrelbabe_23]

She didnt do it to me when I rode her?? And you knows it because of the food..lol

[Love My Dun]

I like the way you put that, haha, 'gate happy'

well to fix a gatehappy horse is pretty easy.
just do a lot of work around the gate. lunging (if the horse knows how to lunge), w/t/c work there.

and try (if theres no little ledge or anything and if the gate is big enough) try taking her in and out of the gate, so she starts to realize the gate isn't always a way out of work.

[Love My Dun]

Oh, and PS.--

if you're going to do the in/out of the gate thing (My second idea, which i think would be better) then don't do a walk.
maybe at first, but after a couple times in and out pick up a brisk trot and then a faster trot.

I'm not sure if you want to canter in and out of the gate, however, unless it is wide. very wide.

a fast/extended trot would probably be best.
and don't focus an entire lesson on this.
just in the beginning and END.
especially the end, thats what the horse remembers most about the lesson.