Stall pulling

Question
Hello my newly purchased thoroughbred gelding has a very calm temperment and he is really behaved when i ride him but everytime i put him in a tie stall he starts to pull and he has broken 3 halters and a stall. He is great beign tied outside and to posts in the barn but it seems he just panics when placed in a stall. I was wondering if you could help me and if there are some solutions...Thank you very much!

Answer
Hi Gracyn!

Your horse just does not know how to give to pressure especially when he is not feeling secure.  You know you have done your homework and a good job of really teaching your horse when they can fill in during a very stressful time/place.

The simple answer is don't tie him in the tie stall.  I'm thinking that the tie stall has cross ties?  It really doesn't matter.   If you are using the tie stall to tack up or groom, here is what I want you to do:  It seems your horse is not comfortable in small spaces and you have to build some confidence in him first.  Organize all of your grooming and tacking up items first so you will not need to tie him.  Take him into the stall, keep your lead rope over your arm, don't rely on the ties to train your horse, you do it!  This means when he moves a foot you will be there to move it back to it's proper location.  When you FEEL that your horse is reaching the end of his comfort level with being in the tie stall, take him out.  Just go for a little walk until you feel him change and become relaxed and comfortable again, then take him back to the tie stall.  Comfort him while he is in the stall.  Rub him and get your hands on him.  Make him feel good about being around you and in this confined space.  Keep flowing in and out of the tie stall, never staying so long that he becomes worried and really bothered.  I also want you working on all of your ground work.  If you are not familiar with the type of ground work I talking about, watch the "Ground Work" DVD by Buck Brannaman and read his Ground Work book.  It is critical that you have a good understanding of this and you do a quality job of teaching these things to your horse.  When your ground work is really good, many of these issues of security and confidence will be gone.  It is amazing!  

Try these things, get your ground work accomplished with real quality, and then give me a shout and let me know how things are going!

Smiles!  Denise

Sorry this answer took so long to get to you, I received a message from the server letting me know there was a problem with delivery.  Let me know when you finally see this.  There is no way to rate the "server"...I wish there was!