Petrified of gates

[Rachael42]

Hi, my horse point blank refuses to go close enough to a gate for me to open it. He either reverses away, spins round or if I manage to get the gate he will run through it no matter if he can fit or not(normally getting stuck and panicking or taking my legs off in the process) In hand he will walk through no bother. He’s a brilliant hacker but this is the one issue I can’t seem to solve with him. I have a gate in the arena we have been using for practice and he will walk up to this and let me open it no bother. Anyone experienced this before? How did you solve it?

 

[Sprig]

It sounds like you need to practice, practice, practice. Make gates boring!

 

[JackFrost]

Yes, I had this in an otherwise sensible horse, though not quite as dramatic as yours! My guess was that at some point a gate had closed on him or he had got stuck in one. It did slowly get better until it was not an issue at all. With mine, it just took enough good experiences with nice gates until he forgot about the nasty ones. Keep up the practice and look out for friendly gates to use so he can get more confidence, and learn they don't all attack.