Backing Up To Get Out Of Work

[Laya]

Hooray!! Justin has learned how to back up wonderfully on command and into a square halt. I always thought I'd never get him to back. But he is.

The downfall is now whenever he doesn't want to work, he'll back up from where I want him to go. If I'm training him over jumps, he'll back up and won't move no matter what unless I turn him towards the barn. Then, if I'm riding him back past the barn to work on trotting circles and figure-8's, he'll back up and not move from the stable entrance. It doesn't matter what I do, he won't budge.

I'm going to bring this up with my new trainer, and I know she'll tell me to use a whip whenever he refuses to move, but he hates the whip and I wish there was another way. My old trainer tried using the whip on him before and he bucked out at it. He's fine with spurs but not the whip. Is there another way besides a whip or spurs?

[Edited by Laya on 11th Jul 2000 at 10:25 PM]

[*Anna*]

Before you decide what to do you have to figure out exactly *why* he is doing this. Its very easy to steam in with whips and spurs to make the horse move by force but you have to stop and think - is he doing it to be naughty or is he doing it for some other reason... is he trying to tell you something? Are you over doing it with him? If he's a young horse and you a bombarding him with all this new stuff it may be a little too much for him to take in and when he stops he's trying to tell you that he doesn't want to work now. On the other hand he could just be playing up and in that case it may just be lack of respect - I'd be wary of trying to get his respect with the whip or spurs however, thats only likely to make him resentful of you.

If I was you I'd take a step back and look at what youv'e been doing with him and try to find out what it could be thats making him do it - then you can work on a way round it rather than just skirting the problem and probably making it worse by using whips etc.

Let us know how you get on...

[Laya]

I am assuming that he's only being naughty. He only started acting up 20 minutes into the exercise, and he's used to long hacks and an hour or so of schooling each day, usually with Sunday as a break. He's become barn sour and I think that this may be the reason why. I'm aboutr eady to go riding so I'll let you know if he acts up.

Bye for now!

[Rebecca]

I saw someone on TV deal with a horse that kept backing up, I think it may have been Richard Maxwell but I'm not sure, and his way of working was immediately to _ask_ the horse to back up. After this happened a few times the horse realised that the backing up was no longer his own idea, and therefore no fun any more, and gave it up as an evasion. I thought this was good because it involved no confrontation; it was as if the bloke said, oh, you want to back up, that's a good idea, lets go for it, and lets do it properly, which obviously made it no fun at all, like if you were scribbling on the walls as a child and your Mum came along and insisted you drew a proper neat picture. I read a book 'Adam's Task' by Vicki Hearne, in which she got a hole-digging dog to give up random hole-digging by becoming an obsessive hole-digger herself, until the dog decided it was an utterly boring thing to do, which I suppose was the same principle, though a tad madder.

I'd be glad if some people with more actual horse experience than me commented on this and whether it's a good idea or not. I hope you can sort it all out; it seems a pity not to try some other things before the whip method.

Rebecca

[Sarah]

hello!

I have used what Rebecca suggested. Tango found something that she refused to pass on a ride once so I asked her to go backwards for a long distance - probably about 50m or more. It was very hard work for her and she was very keen to walk forwards after that!

Anna is quite right to say that you have to look at why Justin is doing this. She is right in that he is still only a baby and it sounds like you are working him quite hard if he is jumping (albeit small jumps) and backing up and stuff. As he is also barn sour it shows that perhaps he isn't thrilled with something. Would it be worht turning him away for a month or two just to let him grow up a bit before the evasions and barn-sour-ness become an ingrained behavior pattern with him? As he is only just 4, you have another 20 years or riding him ahead of you. Don't push him too far now or you will end up paying for it in the future.

bye!

[*Anna*]

Yeah I'd say an hour of schooling every day is a little much for a young horse - Give him a break and ease up with it a little bit. Horses do get bored and the more you push him to do it when he doesnt want to the more he is likely to resist it in the future. Making him do it by using a whip is only likely to make him associate schooling with bad experiences and will cause a lot of future problems. Don't make him resent training or you'll have your work cut out for you as he gets older believe me!
In my opinion 20 minutes of schooling each day is fine. Its better to only work 20 minutes when you have his attention than to do an hour where you are fighting with him and forcing him to do it. You've got plenty of time to do all this training he doesnt have to learn everything right now, as Sarah says, hes only 4 years old.
Remember, always, always look for the cause of the behaviour before you correct it.
Whats he like when hes out hacking?

[Allie]

I too have done the same as Sarah and Rebecca. I usually ride on trails, but when I occasionally want to ride on the road, my horse do not like to walk down the driveway (I think this is where the boogeymen live), so we turn around and back up for 20-25 feet, then they are given the opportunity to walk forward again. Works like a charm, and I have never had to back more than twice.


Allie

[Laya]

Justin enjoys to work. He's willing to please and all I'm doing is working him once or twice over a cross-rail. Well, I just took him out on the trails today and he loved it. His ears were pricked, his head up, and he was alert. He isn't spooky at all, and he really does have a good attitude. I tried that backing up thing, and you could tell he was confused. LOL. It worked.

[Jess]

Our project for the week was learning to back up. Eventually he got it, but it took him quite a while. Now, out of the blue, he'll just start backing up uncontrollably. What I do is sit deep in the saddle, squeeze (try not to kick, just squeeze) and shove your hands forward. I don't know why it works, but it does. I also learned an important lesson a few months ago. My friend's horse (she had just bought her, and this mare was definetely NOT the horse for her... green rider, green horse... it just doesn't work) was a real b*tch. All she had needed was some proper training, but she hadn't gotten it and it had gotten worse. So I went over to ride her (she boards 45 minutes away from where I board). I got on in this huge, NHS size ring (all alone) and asked her with typical cues to go over a 2'6" coupe. Well, she refused, reared, bucked, and backed up THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE RING!!! It's a big ring. So I did what I just told you and it worked. She eventually went over the jump, but it took a lot of work and I got a lot of BS. She still rears and bucks and that's not safe for the type of rider that my friend is. So the horse is for sale. I have never seen a horse back up like that. It's amazing. All to avoid a single fence. It makes you wonder what made her that way....