Backed, but where did you go from there?

Alexia

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May 21, 2005
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Does anyone have any good tips / stories / ideas for bringing on a newly backed horse?

I've recently back ed my youngester and am now wanting to spend time bringing him on especially during this summer before turning him away come winter.

He's (naturally) very wobbly under saddle, so any ideas / exercises for balance, body awareness, co ordination? What about concerntration? Or any good muscle building exercises?


:):):)
 
Hi in the same situation as you but mine has already been turned away and will now be coming back into work so I would also appreciate all suggestions! :D
 
concentration will come with time and age. i guess it depends on how quick you want to do things. I know a horse that was backed in the last 8 weeks and he's doing his first prelim test soon. I'm backing my youngster just now. He'll spend the summer hacking to build up muscle and establish confidence. Will be combining that with very short (10 minute) lessons with my RI working on the basics in the school with him.
 
stick to short sessions with him, if he knows his lefts and right do lots of changes of reins etc, i wouldnt normally recommend circles at this point.

are you ready for hacking? with any unbroken ones i have i lead them out, then have someone else on bored and i walk (horse normally has more trust in me) then after a few small hacks like that i change over and have a person on the ground and me on bored, will get the person to start dropping back so the horse doesnt become reliant. then will start braving hacking on their own,.

i do a lot of ground work first i get them ued to the sound of a car, the horn revving etc, will expose them to flapping bags, umbrellas, loud bangs, strimmers, and random boxes ect. normally whilst loose then with me holding them then with me ridding.
 
Eventerbabe you say you will spend the summer hacking, how did you go about getting him used to the road, that is the one main thing that I haven't tackled yet mine is used to traffic being around him i.e tractors passing his stable, one end of the school be very close to the road but the actuall event of taking him on the road I haven't done yet. :rolleyes:
 
I'm planning a lot of groundwork with Quitus still so he trusts me entirely after such a horrid start to life.. Then I was thinking of short sessions in the school and getting him hacking out in walk then eventually trotting out hacking once he's off the forehand a bit more! Would like to get him to his 1st prelim at the end of the year!
 
I would say just general hacking to let him see things and get his own balance on a straight line and light schooling in walk with a small amounts of trot.

I plan on backing my horse over the next 6-8week and then taking him on a small weekly hack, slowly building it up. I also have lots of fields to make the use of without leaving the yard. Once he is use to me being up there start with small schooling sessions getting him to work properly at walk, introduce simple bending and lateral movements with some trot. It all depends on the individual though, some go better having something new done every day to prevent bordem, others may need more time to settle the nerves and reassure them, some do well after a break being turned away...others don't (im not a fan of turning away)

If your horses character will allow you to do so safely, i would be introducing as many new things as possible and taking them out places.

ETA traffic is not an issue for us as we have miles and miles of off road hacking but he has previously done all the road work ie inhand walks.
 
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That sounds a lot like jez when I bought him...the 'wobbly' bit made me laugh!

We were v lucky to have a local RI who was experienced in bringing on young horses and she knew how far to take things with him. She gave some very valuable advice, firstly to work in small bursts a few minutes at a time i.e. a few minutes concentrating and a few minutes of 'jerry time' where he could amble around the school looking at what he wanted.

Secondly she said to me it is perfectly healthy for a young horse to be a little bit tired and a little bit frightened and warned me not to baby him too much. So I got him out and about doing little bits as soon and often as I could.

Jez actually had some time off recently and when bringing him back into work I put more emphasis on lunging than ridden. I have only been doing 2 or 3 short sessions per week (of about 15 minutes) but that has really helped him build back some muscle.

As for body awareness....mine is now 17 hands and only stopped growing last yr and i'm still not convinced he knows how large he is!!
 
Jaydevon - thanks for your post we must have been posting at the same time!! getting used to things off the road sounds ideal, my boy is as a rule fairly calm, however he is an arab and so does have the flighty tendecies in him!! :)
 
Eventerbabe you say you will spend the summer hacking, how did you go about getting him used to the road, that is the one main thing that I haven't tackled yet mine is used to traffic being around him i.e tractors passing his stable, one end of the school be very close to the road but the actuall event of taking him on the road I haven't done yet. :rolleyes:

lots of inhand work! i've had him since he was 2 (he's now just turned 4) and since he was about 3 he's been led out on the roads inhand to familiarise him with our hacking routes and traffic :) i always make sure i have another person with me when going out inhand. It's handy to have my mum with us to stop/slow traffic if he gets jittery.
 
Forgot to add - I always tried to hack out with a sensible rider on sensible horse (not always easy to find...:rolleyes:)

Jez used to want to walk on the right hand side of the road and was most put out having to walk on the left!
 
The short bursts of concerntrated work with 'their' time following sounds a great idea, thanks for that. All suggestions / tips seem to be pointing towards hacking work!! :o Guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get him on that road!! I am very lucky in that I do have a small, quite, good rider that will get on him while I wallk along with him.

Ace87 - How old is your youngester?
 
He's (naturally) very wobbly under saddle, so any ideas / exercises for balance, body awareness, co ordination? What about concerntration? Or any good muscle building exercises?

Sounds like he's a typical baby. The wobbliness will just iron itself out with time, there aren't any hard and fast rules really.
Personally over the summer I'd be doing a little bit of everything, keeping sessions short and interesting. Hacking is the best education really, with a sensible horse at first as others have suggested. Get him used to going in front and behind, turning away from others, walking whilst another trots or canters ahead. Then doing simple school work - changes of rein, lots of transitions - and a gradual introduction to roads.
If you keep him going right the way through the summer (are you planning to turn him away at any point?), then personally I'd be aiming to introduce basic lateral work and rein back too.
Good luck, backing your own horse is just the most rewarding thing. I bought Holly at 6 months, she is now 6 years old, and my greatest achievement :)
 
Advice given to me with my youngster was to hack and let them get used to balancing a rider. Ride over different terrian, hills, banks, sand, mud, wooden boards -anything. Keep everything interesting, in the school, lots of changes of direction avoiding repetitive circles, encouraging the horse to work from behind with the head and neck long and low and relaxed.
Try de-spooking in the school/yard, I used flags,poles, a gym ball (teach him to kick and follow it).If you are riding through a field with cows/sheep, when they approach, slowly ride your horse towards them as it'll give him confidence when he sees he can make them move away from him.
Best advice I had,was to make the first year fun, learning through increasing confidence.
 
Mine was 4 on the 25th March! He was trained as a trotter but never actually raced as he was scared of the sulkie he had to pull.. So he was backed in July 07 when he was rescued from going for meat and was turned away til end of Feb!

He's never been out on roads so I want to get him used to walking out in hand first while building up his fitness and letting him hack round a field!
 
Personally, I don't hack the young ones until they've done a bit of schooling - if you haven't taught them the basics then you can't use them to get out of trouble on a hack. Anyway, basic stuff for wobbly youngsters that I go through:

1. Let them learn to carry themselves. This doesn't mean lean on the rein, it means a nice length of neck without being rude, and let them sort out difficulties. They will stumble, wobble whatever - you've got to have the balance to stick on them without yanking them around in the gob / kicking them etc. They need their head and neck to learn to rebalance with someone on board

2. Learn to be in front of the leg, and to move shoulders away from leg pressure. Everything develops from this. I call it 'cowboy riding', as we usually teach it with reins in one hand so you've got a spare hand to grab the saddle / martingale strap / clump of mane if horse stumbles and you need stability. The idea is horse goes where you say, when you say it. Most pick this up very quickly, but you will of course have some arguments along the way. Keep a sense of humor, one of those goes a long way and the horses really do pick up on your generally way of going (i.e. "He he he wouldn't it be fun to spin round and go over here oh dear a little stumble what a shame you OK? Off we go again", rather than "Get over there NOW, FASTER, Don't trip!!")

3. Make sure step 2 doesn't shorten the natural paces - you've got to let them just do their own thing and stride on (without pacing) between the 'go here do that' riding

4. When the basics are there, start turns on the forehand, then when they're progressing start leg-yielding, teaching it along the wall to start. When that's getting there, start doing all of that in true flexion and counter-flexion. This builds suppleness and the horses's knowledge that he can move anywhere with his neck where you want it. The observant will have noticed that this all adds up to the basics of all the lateral exercises: leg yield, shoulder in, half-pass, travers and renvers. You can start doing these gently (in walk) when everything else is progressing well.

5. Don't forget to jump them occasionally on the lunge (Maybe once a fortnight); really frees up their shoulders and teaches them self-confidence. The odd small jump with jockey won't do any harm - they need to know they can jump with rider - but the aim isn't height, speed or whatever, just confidence.

It all develops into a system, and you find you warm up any horse the same way, they soon know what's happening (i.e. I run any horse I ride through response to the leg, shoulder-mobilising, then turn on the forehand, then leg-yield) - This gets all bits of the horse moving.

I'll stop now, I'm rambling, but that's the basics of what I do with the youngsters.
 
lots of inhand work! i've had him since he was 2 (he's now just turned 4) and since he was about 3 he's been led out on the roads inhand to familiarise him with our hacking routes and traffic :) i always make sure i have another person with me when going out inhand. It's handy to have my mum with us to stop/slow traffic if he gets jittery.

ALl mine have been exactly the same and I spent their time after backing just hacking, not looking to do any real ridden work for a year as I gave mine the winter off following backing
 
Wow, what inspiring stories, all your tips and experiences have really encouraged me. (I am besotted with my boy but also terrified the minute my feet leave the ground! :rolleyes:)

Hollymead - 6mths to 6 years that is some achievement.
Jamesjackson - thanks for all your ideas/tips I shall certainly be working along those lines.
Ace87 - how inspiring to have saved your horse from that kind of end.

I went home last night really confident and spent a good half an hour working with my boy. We started on the lunge, were we had a few bucks and a bit of jumping about then, we spent a bit of time spooking at the 'horse eating' jump wings that had been moved to a diff position, oh yes and not forgetting the terrifying, kitten that took a front row position by the fence. After this though I got on and working in short bursts with some 'him' time in between esecially once his concerntration went. We worked on changing the rein and went over a few poles. All in all it felt very posisitive so thank you all :D:D
 
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