having trouble backing up!!

[maora]

Does anyone have any good training tips for teaching an old horse new tricks!! My horse does great on flat work...jumping etc...but he will only take one or two steps back when I ask him...he is fine on the ground...will back up no problem...but when I ride him it is a different story.....

thanks for you help!!:angel6:

[MagnoliaFly]

I dont know if you've heard of the Pat Parelli system that teaches working from the ground before doing any particular movement on the horses back.

You said he does it from the ground? What do you use to ask him to back up? Your hand, lead rope, carrot stick? How long does he back up before stopping?

After he'll back up on the ground no matter what signal you give him, its time to try and do it on his back. Tighten the reins just enough so he knows it isnt time to go foward, and the Parelli system says to gently tap the heels of your feet backwards (this is hard to describe) and they do it bareback so the feet are more forward than in the normal behind-the-girth position. The minute the horse backs up release the leg pressure you've been giving and praise him.

There are other methods but this one worked the best for me.

[maora]

Thanks for the quick reply....I have not tried the "move your heel backward" ..but I have tried the sqeeze and release...he does move back...only 2 steps and sometimes not straight...I have tried pressure in his mouth...then release..and complete pressure until he moves....legs on...legs off!! inside rein, outside rein...etc!! I am just not sure why he won't do it while backed...on the ground...I just say back up..and he does!! I am working with him with a bridle on from the ground...trying to see if I can get him to understand pressure then release...thanks for you advise....I will let you know how things go!!

[MagnoliaFly]

Starting with the ground work will help your horse understand alot better what your trying to do. At my stables we were taught to ask a horse to back up by standing 10-12 feet ahead of it with a long lead rope in hand and to gently shake it until the horse backed up off of the pressure. The second the horse did we stopped shaking the lead rope and praised him, not by letting him trot back to us (because your in charge) but by praising from a distance and letting the decision to come back be on your terms. As the lessons progressed, you could work on the amount of "pressure" to lengthen the speed and distance the horse backed up. The whole point of the excercise was to have to barely shake the lead rope and have the horse back up for you. This was also done with a device called a "carrot stick"http://www.shopworks.com/parellishop/images/p_000D1D0F-5693-1CE9-84A5010D0A0A8CF2.gif
And this was gently pressed against the chest cavity until the horse backed up. It was also used to move the horse sideways - without moving the front legs. The last method was gently pulling the tail backwards, asking the horse to back up.
Once those ground skills were perfect then you would start under saddle (or more preferably, bareback).