Buddy sour? Barn Sour! Try this trick! 

Thank you! I moved my horse to a new place only a few days ago and she is buddy sour for the first time in her life now so I was taken by surprise and not sure how to help her through it. She didn't have issues leaving other horses prior to the move but after only one day with her new buddy she was SO attached I could barely lead her 50 feet away, it doesn't help that the other horse also immediately paces the fence and screams as soon as we walk away. There was a lot of pressure on me from other people at the barn to "show her whos boss" and "teach her some respect" but I've never wanted to beat on my horse for any reason, least of all anxiety. Your video showed that there IS a better way.

I love how the dog waits and keeps you company along the way.

I REALLY like that you emphasize helping them relax in order to gain confidence. I never have liked the idea of working a horse hard at the barn to deter barn-sour behavior, so I’ve never done that. Sure, this method takes time and patience, but those are so vital to anything we do with horses!

Great video! I like that you used a horse who was actually buddy sour. For those who aren't impressed with just grass, I've put "treasures" in 4-5 buckets spaced 40ft or so apart .... a carrot in the first bucket, piece of apple in the second, and third, then a handful of grain towards the end. Same principle - you're making it a positive experience and going slow.

This is how i trained my horses, it works. Great video ,Ivy. I don't train gaited horses but i still watch your videos, no matter how long i have been training horses,i am always learning. Thanks.

It really works! I‘m so impressed! My Missouri Foxtrotter was very much attached to his girlfriend, an Icelandic horse. They lived together ever since I got him over 6 years ago. Unfortunately she got very sick and we couldn’t take her out on trail anymore. My Foxtrotter got very buddy sour without her outside and it was no fun riding him. Even going out for a walk was pretty exhausting. Sadly my mare passed away shortly before X-mas and so my Foxtrotter and I had to deal with each other in a new way since he had no fun anymore in anything we did together. I tried your head down training and it worked. Then I went outside with him and let him grase. We got very relaxed pretty far (like twice the length of your driveway) until her put up his head and got tense. So we turned around and he went all the way home very, very calm and even soft. No more pulling and weaning. It was great! Thank you so much for your great help! If you ever make it to Germany, please let me know! My and my horse would love to meet you in person!

Started this training today for my barn sour Arabian who gets nervous/sweaty on the trail and jigs home. It was a short ride to the driveway but she didn’t sweat and was able to walk home. Hoping for positive results as we gradually increase distance!

Thank you so much for making this video! I have searched endlessly to find a video of a horse doing what mine does and how to fix it. You’re the only person I’ve found with a video like this. You’ve helped me and my horse tremendously! Finally a solution other than the one rein stop or working them when you get home and how to actually handle the racing home.

I started a comment earlier, don't know where it went. Sorry if it's a duplicate. This is so nice to see put into practice. It really demonstrates what Craig Cameron or Ken McNabb would say, "ride the horse you have today", or "meet the horse where he is." I see so many people want the horse to do exactly as they want at all costs. "Show him who's the boss," they say. It's so good to see people getting away from that mentality and really working with the horse as they are in that moment and getting the desired results. Great video!

Gosh I found myself nervously watching this and waiting for the “explosion”! I think my horse has me trained!

I BOUGHT A 2 YR. WHO WAS LIKE THIS. I COULDN'T START HIM MYSELF AT THE TIME SO HAD THE BREEDER GOT HIM GOING. SHE WORKED HIM SO MUCH HE WAS SOUR. . I USED THIS METHOD BACK IN THE 90s AND IT MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE. SO GLAD YOU DID THIS EXCELLENT VIDEO ABOUT A KIND AND GENTLER WHY TO PARTNER WITH YOUR HORSE. "ENJOY". WHAT A LOVELY WHY TO PUT IT. FIRST HORSE AT 12 YRS NOW 73 NOW AND STILL LEARNING. KEEP UP THE GREAT TRAINING.YOUNG LADY. Susan

Great video. I was just watching Clint Andersons and this was next. Always willing to take advice from multiple people. Same principle here as what I was doing. Funny thing is I came here for my grey gelding "Baron Royal Fox" and I see you're mare is a grey as well. He is very buddy sour. I just got him yesterday integrated him this morning for about 6 hours I'm the pasture with my stallion and other geldings. Took him out up my drive way that is about a mile and half long. Half way up he started rearing and spinning as well as throwing his head around and I could tell it was him being buddy sour.. thanks for the video.

I love your methods. Learning a lot. I'm just learning to ride. Don't have my own horse but am learning on a Paso Fino. I do talk to him when I ride and can tell by his ears that he's listening. He also loves my hands moving over him after brushing before and after riding. He falls asleep! Been watching your videos and appreciate the positive reinforcement training. It's the same with dogs. Thanks for doing these.

Karen from NJ , here, hello My Arab gets buddy sour easily if I don’t have him on a steady schedule- thank you for this video- he gets so anxious being in the back and scared of being left behind he shakes his head bucks - it’s not fun - I’m applying this method this week ! I find this way is a good training method ! I refer to your video when I need a refresher ! So Thank You! I recently turned my bestie on to your channel she just bought a beautiful Rocky Mountain horse and she is enjoying your channel as well❤

Hi. I have a 19 year old mare that is barn/stall sour. She hates being out in her paddock. Not attached to any horse. She has was fine her paddock for months. A new horse moved in, he is in a diagonal paddock, doesn’t do anything to her, but as soon as he neighs, She will run herself into a sweat trying to get out of her paddock & back to the barn. I can stay with her & it doesn’t matter. She will run into me. Her mind is just blown.

Thanks for this lovely advice, I like the way you are staying cool and calm while the horse is bringing itself more and more up. Also I like how you treat him rather than doing the ‚work here, relax there‘ thing in a punishment way.

Te felicito a ti y a tu montado Es uno de los videos mas lindos que he visto Me encanto el contraste con la sombra El paisaje y tu conversacion

I ride a girlfriends 17 year old horse who is very sweet several times a week...He does try to rush back to the barn but as you said, I distract him to a degree and will have him go in a circle. The other thing I do is don't go in a straight line to the barn..This took a little while to do because he just wanted pick up speed on the driveway to the barn. I have been taking him up a small hill, past a round pen, past a few outdoor small pastures in a round about way to the barn...He did not want to do this the first time. Now he does exactly what I direct him to do and when we do go to the barn, he is real calm, head down and it is a slow approach...I like your technique as well. I just wanted to let you know what has worked for me. Great video though.

Thank you! I've been helping my friend with a barn sour buddy sour gelding who is actually gonna be my first horse. I've been keeping his nose away from the barn and turning him around in circles when he tries to go back a few extra tips is helpful!!❤ I'm learning along the way

This video is VERY timely for me & my horse. Last riding session, my husband's horse was acting up so didn't go on a short trail near the arena we were at. While we ride away, his horse whinnying a lot. When we came back and out of the woods, my horse started to hop, spin & just act up. I took him into a circle just to stay on. We were about 400' from his buddy. He tried to race back so a friend lead him back for me. It was so stressful and I felt like we have gone backwards on that day of training. Cannot wait to try this (in NW Kentucky, and we have snow now)....

We got a new horse from a trader and it seemed great and relaxed there. At home he was very tense the first time we tried to ride. Only rode a few minutes and after a few weeks of ground work enlisted a young trainer-to-be. She did great with ground work, but when she rode the next week in our rope arena, within 10 minutes, he bolted FAST, jumped out of the arena (we didn’t know he could jump), and went to the barn entrance (his new friend was in there) and stood. Trainer was injured. She got on and he tried again. I stood in front of him to keep him from jumping again, but he twisted and turned and she fell off again. My husband and I will watch this together. We’ll be doing a lot of ground work before anyone gets on him again. This horse is very well behaved while doing ground work but acts this way under saddle. We’ve used two different saddles so I don’t think fitting is the problem. He seems very athletic so I don’t think it’s back issues either. He’s sweet as can be on the ground.

Just found ur videos on gaited and buddy sour horses and I've learned a lot already. Will definitely try these training techniques to help. Will surely check out more of ur training techniques as I work with my horse.

Ok. That's what I thought. Take em out farther every time. That's how I am doing it with our youngest gelding. Our mare has only been ridden 1 time in her 8 years of life so this will help with training her as well. Good video thank you!

I ride my horse on the race track by my barn. There is a little pathway that leads back to the barn and he will try to swerve to the side and dump me so he can go back to his buddy and the barn. Even going down the side walking away from the pathway he'll be squirrelly and try to get back to the pathway. I used to be able to gallop around the track but down its hard to canter without being worried he will dump me

This is very helpful! I would like to bring my TWH to your TN clinic next Autumn. She has been trained extensively in the past but I'm not coordinated enough to achieve relaxation.

How would one go about doing this if there was no grass available? Snow here😬

omg thank you!!! I just got a mare and a yearling to train for a friend (To pay for the mare i am training the yearling) and the yearling is fine leaving the mare out of site but when i ride, my mare freaks out and i didn't know what to do because people told me to work them together and i am the only one who know about horses so i needed a way that didnt involve two people! The mare also came from a herd of 5 plus horses including her brothers so she always knew if one horse left there was still another

I have a gaited horse named Deacon who is used for trail riding, he is bad barn sour and has a bad attitude. I’ve had him since I was a kid , everyone is telling me to sell him. But today I was riding out in the pasture, he did the spins, galloping towards the barn and I was hanging on for my dear life. He bucked trying to get me off, tried pulling back on the reins to get him to stop but he wasn’t going to. Once we got to halfway to the the barn, I pulled back again and he stopped. Afterwards I got to thinking about selling him.. I’m really attached to Deacon and I don’t want to sell. I’m not that busy, I only work two days a week at my job and the other time I ride whenever I can. Today was the first day it was sunny due to rain the past couple of days was the first day I rode.

Wait a minute, I'm so distracted by the fact that your last name just got a whole lot easier to pronounce! 🤣 congrats!! OK I need to focus, my horses are sooo bad 🐎

My mare has only become buddy sour over the past week because a horse she knew before has moved on. She used to hack out alone, now I can barely walk her out the field without a tantrum. Im hoping this works 🥰

What if there is no grass to eat? I live in Arizona just dirt all around?

Great Video thank u

Hi Ivy, great video, thank you. I found it interesting that the horse sought out the higher plant. If that is willow, the bark contains a pain reliever. My horse used to seek out willow. I later learned that she had arthritis and she sought out something to relieve her discomfort. Might be something to consider if you are riding a horse down the lane and h/she consistently seeks out the willow.

This goes against the whole don’t let them eat when riding but allows the horse to enjoy the outing until she can handle more.

My horse is buddy sour. If I turn away from trail riding with other , she starts doing all u said.

I tried to take my mare for a ride down the road with my mom this weekend....my moms horse was relaxed and fine but mine....was a nervous wreck! I was afraid she'd get me run over because she was pitching a fit in the middle of the road with traffic having to stop for me. My mom doesn't like warming up or doing any ground work at all, she wants to hope on and ride off into the sunset...MY horses need some work before I can safely do that. After our failed ride I started walking my girl from the ground just past our driveway to where she gets anxious, let her get some "fast food" and came back to the barn.

This is EXACTLY what my gelding did the same day he met his new pasture mate. He’s been a little buddy sour before but NEVER like this I can’t even take him to the barn directly across from the pasture

I like your method but I would also add that from the very beginning of training on the ground the rider/handler has to have the connection with the horse. This connection has to be there for the horse to put its safety in you. Another point to emphasize is the rider HAS to have more confidence than the horse. They horse needs your confidence. DON'T GET MORE ANXIOUS/NERVOUS THAN THE HORSE. Also when riding make sure your saddle fits very well. A bad fitting saddle can cause exactly the same behavior. A lazy horse can also constantly take its mind away from you by just wanting not to ride. I don't necessarily believe in the eating thing when overcoming riding out from home alone. This can and most usually does cause a trying to eat habit that gets really old on trail. As I am typing this you mentioned that "the other horse is not talking which helps", that statement proves that letting th we horse eat is not needed. The horse left behind didn't talk and no one was on its back stopping to let it eat.

I moved my horse to the barn earlier this month. First time on trail he went halfway through the path that leads to the trail before noping out of it. Second time, he made it to the park and turned around and threw a fit after being at the park for 5 min. 3rd time he made through but, only because my friends ponied him for me. I attempted recently to try it on my own. He'd take 5 steps into the path before turning around and heading right back towards the barn. I tried circling him but, I was Starting to get nervous (had a bad accident in January.) I gave up and just did arena riding instead. I hope this helps

my horse does that snatching of inedible's when he's nervous...

I'm in Ft. Worth and have an 18yo TWH! I would love for you to train him!

I'll try it.

at least she is walking. Mine becomes an oak tree.

I'm in the desert so there is no grass for them to eat. What do I do in that situation?

My mare is great for about a 1/2 mile then starts jigging and jigs for the rest of the ride. How far out should I go to start this training?

❤

Why did the video get cut off abruptly?

זה עודר תודה רבה

Do you find that when you let them eat while riding they start wanting to eat all the time every time you stop . We tried rewarding the horse like half way through the ride as a treat and after just one time of letting them eat a little they tried to stop and eat all the time. I like the idea of rewarding them but having them try to eat the whole ride was very annoying . I have some that are buddy sour and I would like to try this .

What do you mean by horses being trained to go hot and they weren't trained to stop?

I've recently taken up a client whose horses all have this issue. I am mostly concerned about one though. She is extremely hard in the mouth and we know nothing of her past. She's currently in a wire twist per owners choice, but it almost seems like that bit is too much sensitivity for turning but she has no brakes. I feel like Im running into a wall. Any suggestions? I'm happy to try anything with her. I've tried doing serpentines and circles, even have tried to encourage relaxing, but there seems so be no indication of some relaxation. Just always wanting to go and swing her butt around like she's running barrles. Thank you to whoever suggests anything

Thank you:)

We livin in az, unfortunately no grass

I totally relate to you on this! I have to do more of this daily. Is that a go pro on your helmut? Excellent view for learning.

What type of bit did you use? Both of my mares do this but one is worse than the other. She acts pretty much the same as this one but when I kick and give her a cue she backs up and kicks up. They are both in a snaffle right now!

How would this look is its just ground work and your not on the horse? My horse will come to me and I can get him out the gate but then he eats the grass around and he will lock all 4 legs and not move. Ive tried walking him in a circle to keep him moving but then he will pull the same thing with me.. What am I doing wrong?

Mine will ride about 1mile down the road and when we come to water he goes crazy and won't stop until we head back also he won't stop he will walk sideways and go backwards how can I fix that

Wish I had watched this before now. My buddy sour mare blew up yesterday, and when I tried to just stand, that's when she started rearing and then broke away (we were just walking).

What about a horse that rears when your almost out of the gate? (The ending of the property). Or they rear and turn around at the end of the road.

I bought a retired 4 year old racehorse. She was,fine the first 30 minutes riding then she bolted. She threw me off I cracked my ribs and busted,my knee up. Thats been 2,months ago. I havent ridden her after this. I'm scared. What can I do?

I live in Arizona... Where there is no grass! So what do you recommend as far as that goes? 🤷

Maybe its just me but eating while in the saddle is never a teaching strategy for me anyways standing and relaxing is one thing but different strokes for different folks

Dawn from Arizona, I don't have the grass to let him eat.

My horse will plant his feet, will not move whatsoever, what should I do for that?

If you want to use clicker training how would /could you use it to help with this?

I am doing this as well. One day it works, the next day, she gets so sour coming back, I have to get off to stay safe. Her anxiety is high high . I stand with her until she is relaxed. What do you think about hopping off and walking back

If you think that’s a Buddy sour horse, you haven’t met my horse. That horse was a pleasure to ride. You would no way get my horse that far down such a long driveway. My horse would of you you go maybe 50-100 feet and he will get tense, whinny back to his friends and he’s a side walker as well. Last time out I couldn’t get him more 50 Feet from the gate let alone down the driveway.

Yes but eating under the bit is not recommended

Hi Ivy, Thanks for your videos! Will this training work to reduce the horses anxiety when you leave her behind and take out her buddy? We have 2 horses and when I take my horse out of site of the mare she starts racing and I am concerned she may injure herself.......... seemed to help if she could hear his bear bell and see where he was . Our horses are 17 years old and we have had since 4 and 6 but the herd bound issue seems to be better and worse at times......eg worse after trailering together. Perhaps this lesson needs to be revisited if the horses have been together and time has lapsed since riding alone?

Hi, Ivy. Are there any reasons why a horse might suddenly become barn sour?

Love this. I live in the desert, so I dont have any grass. Any ideas? Ty:)

My daughter has a mustang mare and we had her in the round pen riding, she was fine when the other horse's were around in the pasture so she could see them but when they left her and she couldn't see them she got really nervous and started drenching with sweat, I took her out to bring in the cattle and she got maybe 20 feet from the gate and started bucking and then a run away she headed rite for the other horse's that was just over the hill from the round pen. What would you suggest in a situation like this. Lee

Why not the one-rein stop ?

What type of bridle do you have on her?

I thought horses can’t eat grass with a bit in there mouth

What if there is no grass?

Why aren't you a fan of join up?

This is actually dangerous for an inexperienced rider. This mare is sensible, not all horses are and by giving that much rein, they could easily bolt. Horses know exactly if the rider is nervous and when they get off-center. I certainly wouldn’t recommend this method for anyone who doesn’t know horses well.

🐎🐴🤠😘😍🥰♥️💝💞

@17:30 ish... I know that face 😅

Why would anybody take advice from a person that allows their dog to roam freely in the road? She's obviously a unfit pet owner. 🤦 7:53