Inside the Horse’s Mind: Ring Sourness
It can present itself in different ways. The horse could be resistant to walk through the arena gate, he could try to bolt or buck once he’s already in, or maybe he tries to run out the gate every time you pass it. Either way, ring sourness is a problem that is best addressed in its early stages, before it becomes a larger problem to tackle.
First, ensure that there is no physical problem that is causing your horse’s behavior. Does he not want to work in the ring because the footing is too hard and his feet are sore? Does he have a soundness issues or ulcers? Ruling these things out will help you determine that you are dealing with real ring sourness, and not discomfort.
Understanding the horse’s thought process is important here. For some reason, the horse is telling you, “I don’t want to go or be in the arena.” Maybe something bad happened there and he associates it with a traumatic event. Did he fall? Did you have a really terrible ride or overwork in the arena? Or maybe he just associates going into the arena with the onslaught of hard work. Either way, you can proceed the same way.
The arena has to become his happy place and there are a few ways to do this.
1) Lead your horse into the arena without a saddle or anything that stresses him out. Go in and just do some basic easy ground work, or carrot streches – anything that is easy and positive. Give him lots of praise and keep it short. Repeat as often as possible for a few days, even 2-3 times a day.
2) Work your horse outside the arena, and go into the arena for rest. This is changing his basic association, and if he associates the arena with rest and no pressure, he will begin to want to be there.
3) Finally, when you go back to working your horse in the arena, keep your sessions short and try to vary where you ride. If your horse tends to become ring sour, don’t spend hours toiling away and drilling there. It’s akin to going into an office of a job you hate. Make the work fun, easy, and rewarding, and the rest will follow.