well with the new grasses in an dall sugar has fund a new bad habit. We have our front pasture that the horses are on, its mainly dirt, and a little grass, but not much, we feed a great quality hay at night and in mornings. When i get home we have been letting the horses into the side pasture to graze, its very green grass it use to be a hay field, it has clover and allot of that yummy stuff for them, so when i open the gate sugar bolts right in there, and of course scoot follows, "she's influencing him, not a good thing. i was going to let them in there this after noon but she sqealed past me and allmost bucked in my face! So i went up to her and gave her a smack on the shoulder for it, i didnt have time to work with her becouse i was on my way to school which really bugged me. But what can i  do to have her calm down, and walk into the pasture, im afraid she's going to get worse, but i also want to increase there grazing time becouse i know grass is good for them.  you all that have seen sugars pix know she's not a little darling, she's a big 15h QH gal ( who can be a hand full), whose in heat also by the way, so thats fun also.

What about leading them? Leading them to the pasture through the gate might get there attention back on you.Once they are out more they may slow down to,our horses have been doing the same thing.Good luck

 Wow QHAllAround, that was pretty graphic and a very good point. My dad has this problem to, with my horse. He usually grabs onto the halter speed walks her halfway to the gate, and lets go and she bolts right in there. I tell him to leave the gate closed. Grab a lead and walk her calmly to the gate, they can tell when your anticipating them bolting and that makes them.Open the gate and hold onto the lead, walk in calmly, and swing her around to close the gate. By that time she has already realized, yah I'm going out there, then she walks away slowly. If she starts to give me a problem before i get to the gate, I turn her around and take her back to the other pasture, wait a few minutes, and try again. After doing it 2 or 3 times, she got the hint. My dad doesn't do it and he wonders why she practically rips his arm off ever time he turns her out back. I hope this helps. 

Yes, exactly what I was going to say.  Training right takes a little more time than training wrong, but it saves both you and the horse in the long run.  CJ, my 3 year old will shoot through the gate like a rocket if I let him, so I need to lead him into the corrals,   But he leads well and has also been taught not to zip away from the halter as I take it off. Darn it all when I am in a hurry and need to get them all where I need them fast.

well i did try the leading thing, i led her to the pasture, back down to the pasture, and so forth. She was ok about it, then i let her go IN the pasture and she takes off!  So i grab her and do another lesson IN the pasture.  i guess it will take time and repetative lessons every day for a while. i dont wana grill her to hard today becosue its her birthday. hers is MAy12th and mine is May11th isnt that neato. shes turning 11 and im 19. Im gana do something special but im not sure what. 

 That is pretty neat that your B-day is the day before hers. Yes, you don't want to grill her. But don't give up. She will eventually get the idea. It took me a month to get her to do it right for me, but she does still do it for my dad. She acutally ran into the fence. He doesn't even use a lead to take her out wich is dangerous. I tell him to do it the way I told you and he laughs and blows me off. I tell him, either do it the way I told you or you get to pay the vet bill. Let' s see what happens. Good luck wuth her.

Seems like my two sometime take off across the field like they can't get away fast enough.

Now I always lead them in to the pasture, stand between them and the fence and turn them to face me. Then I quietly remove the halter and then step away, so they if  *do* whirl around and take off, I'm out of the way.

Most days they'll hang around to see if there are any more treats forthcoming, but other days, boy, the ground shakes as they thunder across the pasture.

I have to argue with the "put her on a lead and MAKE her behave" thing.  She outweighs you by quite a bit.  I never start an argument I can't definitely win, and that one sounds like a sure loss for your side.

My Zip got into that habit years ago.  I particularly took exception to the pretend kick aimed at my head!  I cured him by chasing him around the pasture.  I let him bolt, then used the rope--swinging it in a circle by my side--and just calmly walked around after him.  He was in the pasture, but he couldn't stop to eat because I kept him moving.    Pretty sneaky.  It worked like a charm.  The key is to not quit.  You have to keep him moving till he stops and just looks at you and you can walk up to him and put the lead back on him.  When that moment comes, you can do the calm walking him to the gate, turning him to face you, and letting him go again.  Give him a treat--it will help him see this as a good thing (and new research shows they learn faster with food rewards).  If he bolts again in a dangerous fashion, follow him again.  Make sure you set aside plenty of time for this exercise.  It doesn't usually take more than two or three repetitions since their goal is to graze, not to run around.  You set yourself up as being in charge by making his feet move when what he most wants is to eat.

Just be patient.  This is a relationship issue, not really a "pasture sour" issue.  He's seeing grazing as far more important than his relationship with you, his herd leader.  That buck and kick are equivalent to giving you the finger as he leaves.  Be tough!

But once he's let you safely walk away, he has the right to bolt, buck, fuss, whatever in the pasture.  He's on vacation!    That's how horses play and how they show their pleasure.  You can't "cure" him of that. You can only show him that you have a safety zone that he is NOT allowed to violate. 

 That's a vaery tricky and good tactic to use. I don't currently have that problem, but my dad does with my horse. But he holds her by the halter and no lead! That's what worries me.

Thanks.  Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it, how they can pick out who they can scam and who they can't? 

I also had a little attitude issue with him when he was a 2-yo.  He'd go out nicely, then turn (at a distance--he was feisty, not stupid LOL) and lay his ears back at me and throw a kick.  I cured THAT one by making sure the pasture gate was closed so he could only go as far as the barnyard, and isolating him from the herd.  I did the whole Monty Roberts body language thing on him until he made the "I'm a baby; don't kill me!" face (mouth wide open and mouthing and head lowered).  That took two repetitions and it was done.  He apologized profusely and never did it again. 

 She loves to scam my da a lot!!!

I am glad thats cured. Don't you just love that face they make? 

It's always fun when I hire a new barn hand.    My herd has been together for a long time--the most recent additions were 3 years ago--and they're trained to do stuff like come in for dinner when I call and go straight to their stalls, eat, and go back out.  Everyone has manners, no one crowds the bucket when you're putting feed in, and so on.  But let a new face turn up and it's like "Let the Games Begin!".  LOL  I hired a girl who grew up on a horse farm.  I figured she'd be quick to get a grip on handling my guys.  HA!  She lasted two months here.  Even the mini got her goat! 

 That's funny. My horse sticks her head in the bucket waiting for us to put the feed in. I make her back away and keep here there until i move away from the bucket. My friend boarded her horse at my parents to and he was horrible. He wouldn't get his head out of the bucket to even put the feed in. She, I guess, didn't care. She never tried to correct it.