To introduce this week’s Q&A video, I’ll start with a metaphor… let’s say you experience headaches often, that were actually caused by a serious (but unknown to you) health condition. If you were able to completely resolve the symptoms by taking pain relievers, you might think “problem solved!”

That is, until some time down the road, when the headaches continue, or become more frequent, and you start having stomach problems from the pain relievers, or the actual underlying condition causing the headaches gets worse and starts to wreck havoc on the rest of your body and your health.

The same goes for gate issues – they are a symptom of a deeper problem.

Those deeper problems can be difficult to recognize. Just because we can get our horse in the gate, doesn’t mean the underlying issue they resisted is resolved, or that the symptom (your horse being unwilling to go in the gate) may not occur again, get worse, or that the underlying problem will eventually cause issues in other areas as well.

What is Your Horse Thinking at the Gate?

I feel as though there are three main causes of gate problems.

The first is physical. When a horse becomes unwilling to go in the gate, there’s a good possibility he’s hurting some where. If you had a close up video or photographs of the positions your horse’s body has to contort in as they round the pattern, it would really open your eyes to just how much physical stress they go through.

The second is an emotional issue. This is a more common occurrence in horses that by nature are more insecure and nervous. They are the HOT, sensitive horses that if we don’t do our part to meet their needs, will struggle to hold up under the mental pressure involved in such an intense, high speed event. I think of these horses as having a bad case of “stage fright.” They most likely want to please, but their reaction in the alley is akin to a human having an anxiety attack.

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