I know my boy is a bit barn sour and buddy sour, he's improved immensely over the last month and is able to be away from our mares when feeding, tied up, or led away. I've practiced him following me in a seperate yard without being led, meaning he's free and away from the girls and is completely fine.
My next struggle is riding him without the girls. He's fine by himself in a round yard, but as soon as we move fields and he can't see them, he'll constantly try and turn around and trot to the gate and nearly took off the other day which as a somewhat beginner I was not ready for and had to one rein stop him. I didn’t come off but it was definitely something.
But he just keeps fighting me. All I’m doing now is having us standing calmly while I’m on him, letting him eat grass, and in between eating practicing giving in to both sides since he’s a bit stiff. Once I feel he’s relaxed, I’ll get him to walk on but he’ll immediately go to turn around which I have him spin or if I have time pull him the other way. The other day was somewhat successful, we got a few relaxed steps forward in and I stopped him before he decided to pull and I gave him a treat, pats, and let him eat grass.
Is what I’m doing now something I should be extremely consistent with? Will it eventually start working? Or are there other methods. My goal now is to have him just walk from point A to point B in the yard without him feeling the need to turn around, next goal is to have him get out the gate, and my overall end goal is to trail walk solo. I don’t care how long it takes I just need to know what will be successful in obtaining those goals.
TIA!