{"id":4774,"date":"2014-07-23T17:02:33","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T07:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=4774"},"modified":"2026-04-02T17:06:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T06:06:33","slug":"help-herd-bound-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalhorseworld.com\/stage\/help-herd-bound-horse\/","title":{"rendered":"How to help your herd bound horse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"About Us\" href=\"\/about-us\/\"><strong>by Cynthia Cooper<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4775\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4775\" style=\"width: 245px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img title=\"How to help your herd bound horse - Natural Horse World\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4775 size-full\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/TrailrideAlone1.jpg\" alt=\"TrailrideAlone\" width=\"245\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/naturalhorseworld.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/TrailrideAlone1.jpg 245w, https:\/\/naturalhorseworld.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/TrailrideAlone1-185x300.jpg 185w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It takes a good relationship with your horse to have a relaxed trail ride together away from the herd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Often referred to as being \u2018barn sour\u2019 or rushing home, the herd bound horse just wants to stay near the barn or get home and back to their mates as fast as possible.<br \/>\nIt can turn in to a frustrating or dangerous situation, especially if you\u2019re out on the trail and lose control when you head for home.<br \/>\nSome horses display mild issues such as jigging, reefing on the bridle\/ head tossing, or just speed up their pace, while others can buck or rear when held back.<br \/>\nAll they are trying to tell you is they would rather be back home with their friends, especially their best buddy.<\/p>\n<h3>So aren\u2019t you supposed to be one of their best friends?<\/h3>\n<p>Well, if your horse doesn\u2019t see you that way, there are many and varied ways to convince them that you do have their best interests at heart.<br \/>\nSpending more time doing friendly things away from the herd is a good place to start so the horse sees time with you as a good thing, not always hard work!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Take them out for a walk to nibble on nice grass and other plants they don\u2019t have access too in their paddock.<\/li>\n<li>Catch and saddle them but just go out of sight of the herd (or as far as they can cope with without being upset) and give them a bucket feed instead of riding.<\/li>\n<li>Take them to the round yard\/arena for some &#8216;positive reinforcement (+R\/clicker) training\u2019 and finish with a nice grooming session.<\/li>\n<li>When you do go for a ride, stay within the horse\u2019s \u2018<a href=\"\/comfort-zones\/\">comfort zone<\/a>\u2019 and work on gradually expanding that combined with positive reinforcement so your horse can learn to cope with being away from the herd.<\/li>\n<li>Remember to include some reward breaks for grazing and resting during your ride to strengthen the bond and trust you have \u2013 and to show your horse it&#8217;s not all about you \u2013 they are considered too!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>There are so many ways we can give our horses a good reason to enjoy our company<\/h3>\n<p>From grooming to finding their itchy spots, feeding them and taking them out with a mate instead of insisting they go it alone.<br \/>\nThis is one of my favourite ways of exercising more than one horse at a time \u2013 I ride one and lead one. They then don\u2019t mind leaving the herd so much as the three of us become the herd that goes out to explore!<br \/>\nMy horses see going for a ride as a wonderful opportunity to see new places, find things to eat, and get a nice grooming session at the start and finish.<br \/>\nIt only takes a bit of practice in an enclosed area to teach a horse to lead another, and to get comfortable with the rope, learning to ensure it doesn\u2019t get caught up under your horse\u2019s tail.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4776\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4776\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img title=\"How to help your herd bound horse - Natural Horse World\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4776 size-full\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/RideLeading1.jpg\" alt=\"RideLeading\" width=\"300\" height=\"256\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4776\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leading a horse out from another is a great way to work with herd-bound horses, and exercises two instead of one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Its also helpful to teach the horse being led to keep its head level with your leg, or go behind on a long lead for where there are narrow trails or gates to go through.<br \/>\nWhen starting out with leading like this, select two horses that get along well together and ride the more confident\/dominant one \u2013 in most cases this works well although sometimes, the dominant horse can be less confident and be better off led!<\/p>\n<h3>Expand your horse&#8217;s comfort zone.<\/h3>\n<p>If it&#8217;s not possible to take another horse out too and you have to go alone, here are some suggestions to help expand your horse\u2019s comfort zone so they learn that leaving the herd is not all bad. Deb in the USA told me of this strategy that worked for her \u2018barn sour\u2019 horse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday I placed 3 buckets with a little treat in a triangle and used the telephone poles to line them up so I could remember where they were. I walked her to the field, then hopped on, and rode her in a straight line towards the first bucket. Since she was walking away from home, it was a hesitant, drunken cowboy kind of walk to the first bucket.<\/p>\n<p>It helped me to have the bucket to focus on, so when Eclipse turned her head towards home, my focus stayed in the direction I wanted to go.<br \/>\nShe was pleasantly surprised to find food sitting in the middle of this field. I headed her to the second bucket, towards home but angled away, and she argued a bit more.<\/p>\n<p>Once she got the idea, she started relaxing. By the time I had started the fourth circuit, we were on a casual rein, and she was a million times better than when we started.<br \/>\nTomorrow I will do the same thing, and then gradually move the buckets further away from home and even start putting the buckets along our usual trail ride.<br \/>\nI just want to cruise down the trail and have a casual ride. I don&#8217;t need all this drama, and I bet she doesn&#8217;t either. This is a nice, calm way to help a horse through the anxiety of leaving home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From here you could then carry your treats with you instead of having to continue putting buckets along the trail. A pocketful of \u2018horse trail mix\u2019 (sunflower seeds, oats, chopped carrot) will be a welcome treat when you reach various points along the trail.<br \/>\nYou can also use the treat rewards on the way home to reinforce good behaviour, and if it all falls apart, you know you\u2019ve gone a bit too far out of your horse\u2019s comfort zone.<\/p>\n<h3>More solutions.<\/h3>\n<p>When their behaviour gets dangerous or you simply don\u2019t want to put up with jigging, you can get off and walk if your horse has good ground manners. If your horse keeps walking too fast and passing you, simply yield the hindquarters so they end up behind you again, and keep walking. Pretty soon your horse will find it easier to stay with you, especially if you reward them with a treat for doing so.<\/p>\n<p>There are many more options for helping your herd bound horse \u2013 just doing a search on \u2018Barn sour horse\u2019 or Herd bound Horse\u2019 will find thousands of pages and many varied suggestions from trainers worldwide. Some advice is good and some will only reinforce your \u2018do as I say\u2019 attitude (I\u2019d rather a \u2018would you like to?\u2019 attitude), so here are a few I\u2019d recommend for further reading:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/horse-canada.com\/free-rein\/helping-the-herd-bound-horse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Helping the Herd Bound Horse<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.equinebehaviorist.ca\/post\/the-herd-bound-horse-separation-distress-in-horses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What Separation Distress Really Is<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This video explains why horses suffer from separation anxiety.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><div  id=\"_ytid_58254\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WPMrDt8Y-bE?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img title=\"How to help your herd bound horse - Natural Horse World\" decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"YouTube player\"  src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/WPMrDt8Y-bE\/maxresdefault.jpg\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Cynthia Cooper Often referred to as being \u2018barn sour\u2019 or rushing home, the herd bound horse just wants to stay near the barn or get home and back to their mates as fast as possible. It can turn in to a frustrating or dangerous situation, especially if you\u2019re out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thinkrank_schema_form_data":"","_thinkrank_selected_schema_type":"","_thinkrank_additional_schemas":"","_thinkrank_canonical_url":"","_thinkrank_og_title":"","_thinkrank_og_description":"","_thinkrank_og_image":"","_thinkrank_twitter_title":"","_thinkrank_twitter_description":"","_thinkrank_twitter_image":"","_thinkrank_imported_from":"yoast","_thinkrank_focus_keywords":["herd bound horse"],"_thinkrank_focus_keyword":"herd bound 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