Fixing Problems At The Gate

by Kendra Sagers

No matter what barrel race we attend there are always a hand full of horses that refuse to go in the gate. Some whirl circles, others rear, and still others run backwards faster than a lot of horse can run forward. We all dread these horses, many of us have had a problem gate horse, and all of us know that this behavior is neither fun nor safe. So, what do you do if you have a horse with a gate problem?

There is no simple solution, but first and most important I that you know your horse. When trying to find the cause and then the cure for a gate problem, there are several areas I like to cover and in order to come up with the right answers I have to know my horse. In my opinion, the reasons for gate problems can usually be lumped in to one or more of three categories.

• Training or Respect Problems
• Pain or Injury
• Conditioning

The first thing we need to ask is “Why am I having a gate problem?” In general, horses do not disobey just to be “bad”. There is almost always an underlying issue. Has your horse always had a gate problem? Or is this a new issue? The following is a short version of the process I go through to help identify the source of a problem.

Training and Respect Problems
Your horse must respect you. If you don’t have the respect of your horse, you can’t begin to fix any problems. When you are not entering a gate, do you always have control of you horse? If the answer is no, this is probably the best place to start. Horses get excited and nervous, this is normal, but if your horse is not listening to you when he is at home and you are working then you are asking for gate problems.

There are a few exercises I do to check for control.

Brake Check
No matter where I am or what speed I am going, when I want to stop my horse I need to be sure I can. To do a brake check, start at the walk and periodically ask your horse to stop. If from the time you say whoa and ask him to stop until the time he actually does is more than two or three steps, you need to work on your whoa. Gradually speed up this exercise until you are at a good paced lope. Even with speed, I expect a horse to stop within a few steps.

Give Me Now
Second, check to see how responsive your horse is to the bit. When you ask for his head either to the side or to give straight back, does he give willingly? If you ask and he quickly gives at the pole and follows the bit, then you are probably ok. If you have to use a great deal of force to get a little reaction, your horse is not listening and you need to spend some time softening your horse.

Move There Now
When you ask your horse (no matter what speed) to move whether it is forward, backward, or to the side; does he do so quickly? If the answer is yes, you are probably ok on this exercise. If he takes time to move then you have some work to do. This is a good indicator of both respect and training level. If you can not get your horse to move off of your legs and other cues at home, it makes perfect sense that he would not want to do so under stress conditions.

I suggest you check these skills as one of the first steps in identifying a gate problem.

Pain or Injury
Pain and or injury can also be a major reason a horse does not want to go in to a gate. Think about it, if you knew you were going to do something that was going to really hurt you would you be really eager to go and do it? Likely not, and your horse is no different.

Make the Gate A Happy Place
Also, it is so important to make the gate a happy place. I suggest you haul your horses to a lot of practices before actually running especially if you get nervous or the horse is new to the sport. Spend a lot of time going in and out of the gate with no pressure at all.

When you are done practicing or competing walk the horse back to the gate. Dismount at the gate. Loosen their cinch and take off their boots. This will make them look forward to going to the gate.