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Herd bound horse

S

scout

Well-known member
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Jul 16, 2007
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Location
southeast Iowa
Sorry another question folks. I have a 5 year old gelding that is herd bound he works great when with one of compaions but is a major pain in the you know what when by his self. I ve taken him away from the herd twice for 30 days and he came around ,but every time he gets back with a herd I go back to square one . Its hard to teach him any thing when all he wants to do is whinny and go back to his pals. Any suggestions.
 
scout said:
Sorry another question folks. I have a 5 year old gelding that is herd bound he works great when with one of compaions but is a major pain in the you know what when by his self. I ve taken him away from the herd twice for 30 days and he came around ,but every time he gets back with a herd I go back to square one . Its hard to teach him any thing when all he wants to do is whinny and go back to his pals. Any suggestions.
Click to expand...

Lots of good horses out there - cheap too - unless he is a stellar keeper why put up with it?

Otherwise no answer from me on this one.

BC
 
I know what you're talking about, and it is extremely irritating. I'm probably the last person on this forum who should attempt to give horse advice, but here goes :-) :

What has helped me is to say, "Great, lets go back to your pals," and when you get to them, work the crap out of him...make it work when he's around the others. I usually just lope/trot circles around the other riders, stop and turn, change directions, mix it up and get him listening to you. When you head off alone again, he will probably try to pull his trick again, so go back to the other horses and repeat. Obviously set this up when you have time to make it a training session since it may take awhile. Hopefully your horse will clue in that going away from others can be relaxing, and acting like a jerk will only get him more work.

Or, if you don't want to go back to the others, just work the crap out of him where you're at when he tries to pull his crap with you away from the other horses. The whole goal is to get him thinking about you and not anything else. This has worked for me, but I'm certainly NO horse expert :D .

As for spurring him, I agree, but I'm too chicken to spur the crap out of one when I'm off alone. But it sounds like you're a bull rider, so I'm betting it wouldn't bother you :D .

There are good horse people on this forum, hopefully one of them will speak up and give us both some advice, I'd really like to hear what you're supposed to do :D .
 
I agree with Wyoming Rancher on this. Set it up as a training session with his buddies on one end of a pen/corral, ride away from them, when he acts up take him back to them and work him, then ride him away preferably out of sight of the others. Stop him and just let him relax and stand with no pressures. This may take awhile, but eventually he'll figure out that going to the herd involves a lot of work and not being with the herd is easy and relaxing. Good luck. You may want to look into some training videos as well, they can give you quite a few tips but keep in mind not all training techniques work on all horses an not all trainers are created equal either.
 
I've seen quite a bit of training some seems cruel but was very effective but with all the animal lovers I would'nt care to repeat what I've witnessed.The whinying would come to a halt if he were mine right shortly.I bet a set of spurs would get his attention noteing I don't wear any my horse responds just fine with slight leg commands but he knew more than I did when I got him.I like rideing with someone with more experiance than myself you tend to pick up things.
 
I would just ride this horse and get the job done. When he does something undesireable... deal with it, immediately.
Remember, the right things easy and the wrong things difficult.

I ride alone nearly all the time, don't have this problem.
 
Persistence is the word, and you need to have more of it than he does. :D

My old horse tended to be this way too. Even at our pasture 12 miles away, he would walk faster if he was headed north! Even after a trailer ride he knew which way was home. :roll: :roll:

The cure wasn't difficult, but it went on for his whole life. We did a lot of good little things, and made them habits. This horse was quite spoiled when I got him, and his response to his herdbound ways was usually a dead run flat out runaway! That was unacceptable. :shock: Totally. :shock: He was very fast, and fit, so these first few goes were pretty hair raising.

First rule. Keep him guessing. Never do the same thing twice in a row.

Second rule. You never run home. Ever. Ever. Ever. :!:

Third rule. Never get off in the same location, even if it means riding into the yard, turning around, going down the road a way, then getting off.

Fourth rule. Work him a bit when you get home. Don't associate home with instant release. Going home does not mean he gets to see his buddies. Even tying him up and letting him stand for half an hour before he gets to go back with the friends helps.

Do this consistently and he'll eventually come around. My horse did, and turned into the best horse anyone could ask for.
 
The most important thing to do is get busy on him if he tries to line out for his buddies,when i'm out riding a colt i like to ride back and fourth from my friends and let the horse know he can leave on his own,and then ride back to the group,so he knows were going back.Eventually get further and further away.he may feel the need to move his feet pretty quick,but it sounds like you have the ability to get with him if he needs to leave.And of course pulling him out often and just taking off ,even for just 10 or 20 minutes a day,Consistancy,lots of riding.my two cents.
 
if he were mine,I would treat him like i do all spoilt horses,take control of him,remember you are trainer..........he is horse,if you caint do it,find someone that can..................good luck
 
Thanks for the suggestions I hate to admit it but I think a bunch of wet saddle blankets would be the best bet . He loves to work if I keep him busy he is ok . When checking cows if I try to just stand to take count of cows etc , he wants to go back to the herd. I'll admit he is a let bit of a hand full, but I like a horse with a little spirt. I turn circles returning him to the spot we started and I've spanked him . I'll keep you up to date.
 

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