Backing a young horse- books?/advice?

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joben

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I'm an experienced rider, but have never backed a young horse. Could anyone recommend a good book to help me through it? any other tips/do's/don'ts welcomed.
 
Have you ever helped back a horse/ seen the process done? I wouldnt recommend doing it unless you have- books cater for the 'norm' but every horse is different. If you havent then I'd try and go watch a pro do it if you can.
 
I would get a trainer just to get you on the right track, this bit is SOOOO important and will effect the rest of his riden life... even if they come every few weeks it will make all the differance.. my other words of wisedom is groundwork, groundwork, bond, groundwork!! and the smaller steps you take the less can go wrong!! No pressure but when you're in that showing ring in a few years time this bit will determin your results!
 
Maybe just ask at a local yard if they mind if you sit and watch the goings on- I'm sure they wont and it would be invaluable experience. Dont be put off doing it yourself but also dont be slow to get help if you need it at any stage- it's such an important time in their lives. When I broke in my first horse (seriously mis-guided, I was only 14 and she was a strong-willed tb mare!!) a local freelance woman came to mine and helped me start her off- she was my extra pair of hands and guided me through it. Cheaper than sending them off to be broken and you're more involved that way so could be an idea
 
I had done all the schooling of our grey mare as she was just backed when we got her. However our other mare was the first horse I actually backed.
She was quite a sharp TB, and I just took things really slowly. I never went on the the next step until she was totally confident. It took roughly 2 months to get through the lunging, bitting, saddled up, lunging in saddle to actually sitting on her. For about three weeks after this, I still rode her on the lunge for a few minutes before taking her on her own. I was fully prepared to send her away at any stage where I felt that she was getting too much for me, but that situation never arose, and I'm glad that I was able to do it all myself. Another factor would have been that if we had sent her away I'm sure she would have gone backwards a bit when settling into the new yard, and doing her myself avoided this.
BTW - agree with kirstyfk, Pippa Funnell's book on young horses is v good, though I am sure there are other good ones about as well.

Good luck

Fiona
 
Books wise I would think you can't go wrong with those by Reiner Klimke (Basic Training of the Young Horse is good) and Anthony Paalman's books are good too. Closer to home - The Young Horse: Breaking and Training by Jennie Loriston Clarke. If you haven't read it already I would definitely have a look at a book about equine physiology paying particular attention to those bits that describe how young horses grow and develop mentally and physically.

I would reccomend the following: first read good books to know what is a quality thing and what is showing off , then go to watch people with experience doing the job, then (as mentioned above) get someone freelance to be your 'second pair of eyes' and then start the most wonderful part of horse's training - starting a young fellow:)
Anyway, that was what I did and it worked for me;) all the horses I started ended up fairly well (this is not to say I didn't fail a few times!).
All the best:)
 
The other one I can suggest is Richard Maxwell's From Birth to Backing... good for making things simple and easy to understand.

Have you got a trainer who could help you? Maybe you could do it together... when I got my 5 year old to reback I got my instructor out twice a week for 30 mins and she left me with work to do in between the sessions. It was really useful.
 
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