wont leave the yard

Question
I have a 10 year old 13hh pony.  First we ride very little because of kids/work etc.  I think I know what caused the problem.  We took a 3 hour ride last fall and since then he has given me trouble leaving the yard.  I think because we ride so little he bacame sore and now associates it with leaving the property.  I didn't realize this was the problem until recently.  ( we have taken additional long rides and no short easy ones) He is to the point now that he fights me and bolted for the barn bucking me off the last time.  He was well mannered but a little green before the ride last fall.  He was an Amish buggy horse before I got him. He has good ground manners, can lead him down the road. But as soon as you go to get on he moves away from you.  I guess he is what they call barn sour.  How or can I retrain him? He obviously doesn't trust me right now.

Answer
Hi Korena

Thanks  for the question and I will try my best to help.

Forstly I am a little concerned  that an adult (unless you are a very ligthweight adult) is  doing riding such a small pony.......... more than  probably he is getting a bit anti social with you  is because  he is uncomfortable being ridden......... if thats not the case  and  you are  letting your children ride him then fine please forgive me.  BUT   if you are riding him then I  might humbly suggest you stop.

You say he was a buggy  pony, well if thats the case  then maybe  being ridden is something he has not been trained for properly and that  will cause him to be all the things you said.

So  how to  correct all this, well no easy shortcut  but back to the very beginning, and retrain him.  Lots of groundwork games, lots of training, no shouting at him, no losing your temper with  hime and definitely NO smacking or hitting him.

You can do this yourself  or  get a trainer in to do it, but if using a trainer  then have a long checklist of questions to ask,  get references and watch them like a hawk when   they are working with him, tell them firmly and clearly  what  you will  put up with and what you  find unacceptable, adn if they are not  what they say they are then get rid of them.