How do you fix a horse that speeds up when heading toward home and slows down heading away?

The horse that accelerates when heading toward home and drags its feet heading away is expressing a classic barn sour or herd bound pattern, and Clinton Anderson addresses it as one of the clearest examples of the horse directing itself rather than responding to the rider. Anderson's correction reverses the pattern deliberately and consistently. When the horse accelerates toward home — where it wants to go — he immediately turns it away from home and puts it to work. Trotting circles, yielding, backing — active work that requires effort and attention. When the horse slows or drags heading away from home — where it does not want to go — he maintains forward energy with active leg and makes the horse trot, even if it would rather walk. The deliberate reversal of the horse's preference teaches the horse over time that the direction it wants to go always results in work, and the direction it does not want to go results in a lighter ride and eventually, rest. This is the direct application of making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult — in this case, the right thing is going where directed regardless of preference. Anderson is specific about the need for complete consistency: one instance of allowing the horse to arrive home at its preferred pace without correction, or one instance of fighting the slow pace away from home rather than demanding a trot, undermines many correct repetitions. The horse's homing behavior is strong and has usually been reinforced over a long period — it takes many consistent correct repetitions to establish that the rider's direction overrides the horse's homing preference. For severely barn sour horses, Anderson may ride them away from home for a long session, work them hard away from home, and rest them frequently when heading away — making the away direction the place of rest and the home direction the place of work, which directly inverts the horse's established preference.