Backing a 4 1/2 yo? Help please

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Barney&Buzz

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All of those that have/do/are backing there own youngster's, please give me you best hints and tips. Hilda lunges, long reins, wears tack, walks out round the track in hand very well, I have a saddle coming for her this week, so I shall do some ground work in it before sit on her. But having not backed a youngster before any advice is gratefully received.
 
Be careful just how much ground work you do as some get very bored of it very easily. Make sure someone is around to help you when you get on for the first time and for a while afterwards just incase anything happens.

The first thing I do, as soon as the horse has accepted a human on it's back walking round the school/field and having the odd trot is go out hacking. Nothing better for getting them going forwards and out of the school. Make sure this is done with a very sensible role model of a horse who can protect you from traffic, be a calming influence, give chase after a loose horse if needs be :D
 
My Top tips are: make sure she is happy for you to pat her rump, shoulders, loins, anywhere you might inadvertently kick/bump when backing & ensure she is not bothered. Spend plenty of time standing alongside her & above her at mounted height so you don't scare her when she sees you out of the corner of her eye. Do everything on both sides. Horses learn on one side and then on the other, make sure she is ambidextrous. Have her absolutely word perfect off basic commands, stand, walk on and trot on. Always ensure the horse is completely happy & calm about each stage before moving on... absolutely essential.
When it comes to backing I would always have a handler, though some people don't. I would always recommend someone experienced guiding you also because you cannot always predict the things that could go wrong where someone who has done a bit of backing might notice.
It's fab backing your own though and with expert guidance, if you are nice and steady & use your common sense you should be ok.
 
Good advice already and yes you must have a helper. I am in a similar position with new horse as I am on my own so I intend to get the ground work re-established (she is already backed and ridden away but been turned away for 4 months) then I will box her to somewhere I can use a school and get assistance.
 
I've got a friend who used to work on a Tb stud and worked with lots of youngsters to give me a hand. I've ridden away just backed babes before but not done the actual backing. I have another friend with a rock steady horse to hack with me and also my own gelding is brilliant so I can get others to ride him out with me, we have a track round our fields we can ride on. Good tip about standing above her and doing everything on both sides. she goes off my voice but whoa is a bit hit and miss still, so will work on that, Thanks
 
Oh good, you've got two willing victims... erm... helpers. ;)

I hope that it all goes smoothly and that you are posting some very proud threads (with photos) about her soon. :)
 
Cortez said:
Absolutely second this! The only sensible way to teach something that you don't know is to have someone there who DOES know. Madness otherwise.
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Third this! Have an experienced person to help on the ground. Also don't over feed her.

As has been said, have her used to you standing over her on a mounting block. I try not to be too precious and make sure mine are used to noise and things moving around them.
 
I can't claim to be an expert on breaking horses but i have a good knowledge of training other species and of animal behaviour! And I do have a very experienced girl working with me and we bounce ideas off each other, so often both learn something new.

One thing we've found useful is to suspend a light coat on the end of a long stick and slowly drag this all over the pony. That gets them used to having something large and apparently threatening above the saddle and with being touched all over. I'll hold it dangling over the saddle, waggle it up and down, and even drag it over their heads! After a while, they couldn't care less!

I wouldn't dream of telling you guys how to break horses. I'm here to learn. But that seems to have been something that worked (borrowed from another discipline) and made the transition from laying over the saddle to sitting up very smooth. The pony in the picture (3 1/2yo) is so desensitised she just gets on with eating -- but then she's a Highland and food is important!!!:D

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Not heard of that one Shy's Mum, I will google it and look on amazon. I do have 'from foal to first ridden' and 'from birth to backing' which are proving very useful.
 
Having started many many horses over the years (and this would be in the hundreds) I know that the most important thing is to be able to get above the horse.

You can do things like lay over them and they do not mind but, when you sit up and they get the shadow of something above them it is that that startles them.

I always have a youngster use to me being above them by having a tall mounting block, mine is about 2'6" high and is two railway sleepers wide and the length of the sleepers.
I stand on this and have the youngster alongside. I fiddle with the tack, can put weight in the stirrup, lean over them and let them wander, pat and fuss the other side and finally just get on and ride away.
 
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