Landcruiser
Well-Known Member
People were mentioning having a "backing older horses" or "backing 5/6 yr olds" thread and I couldn't find one so have started one. Apologies if there's another.
Anyway, I'm 7 weeks into backing my 5 yr old mare Hummingbird. I waited until she was properly 5, in the hope that her front would catch up with her croup, but nope.. She also had a lot of medical issues at 3/4 including a meniscal tear in her stifle joint, with ensuing surgery, box/small pen rest, lengthy rehab, then ulcers, then selenium deficiency, then last winter she had mud fever that got infected - honestly, she's a vet's dream. Oh, and she jumped a gate in March or rather failed to jump in and landed on it, causing mostly superficial but extensive abrasions and a nice slice out of her fetlock on her "meniscal tear" leg.
So with all that, here we are at 5, having done a ton of groundwork over the 2 and a half years I've had her. Pre injury she went to Hartsop Farm for Kelly Marks' "Perfect Manners" course, and she's done several TREC obstacle clinics in hand, and a "Top Barn" in hand obstacle day. Last winter I started walking her out in hand, and we walked about 60 miles together over several months. She did a "real" Winter Trec in hand and won her class with almost perfect marks.
7 weeks ago, having done a lot of saddling, tying stuff to the saddle, leaning over etc I got on her, with Adam Goodfellow (IH) as my ground man. She was an absolute dream to back and she's pretty much been a superstar ever since. She's bitless, was started in a TCS but now has a properly fitted Strada.
Given how much solo handwalking I'd done I wasn't worried about hacking. First walk out OH came, second time I fancied it he was away so I went solo. She was a little unsure a few times and I hopped off to pass the local pigs that she doesn't like, but no spooks at all. Today we had our very first hack in company - a friend came and rode my old gelding, and I had my first ever few strides of canter after I held her back and my friend took him to the top of a nice sloping track with good footing. No bucks and a really nice feel of impulsion from behind. Maybe those long back legs are going to be a positive!?
Going forward I'm working on finessing her steering, and on building her strength slowly. She can already do laterals which she learned in hand but has easily transferred to ridden - sidepass over a pole anyone? Easy peasy. So lots of slow work over poles, laterals, hacking straight lines building up stamina. She'll do winter TREC if there are any close by, and then hopefully we'll be ready to start a few real summer TRECs next yr when she's 6. She's showing a lot of promise because she's very bold and "up for it."
Anyway, I'm 7 weeks into backing my 5 yr old mare Hummingbird. I waited until she was properly 5, in the hope that her front would catch up with her croup, but nope.. She also had a lot of medical issues at 3/4 including a meniscal tear in her stifle joint, with ensuing surgery, box/small pen rest, lengthy rehab, then ulcers, then selenium deficiency, then last winter she had mud fever that got infected - honestly, she's a vet's dream. Oh, and she jumped a gate in March or rather failed to jump in and landed on it, causing mostly superficial but extensive abrasions and a nice slice out of her fetlock on her "meniscal tear" leg.
So with all that, here we are at 5, having done a ton of groundwork over the 2 and a half years I've had her. Pre injury she went to Hartsop Farm for Kelly Marks' "Perfect Manners" course, and she's done several TREC obstacle clinics in hand, and a "Top Barn" in hand obstacle day. Last winter I started walking her out in hand, and we walked about 60 miles together over several months. She did a "real" Winter Trec in hand and won her class with almost perfect marks.
7 weeks ago, having done a lot of saddling, tying stuff to the saddle, leaning over etc I got on her, with Adam Goodfellow (IH) as my ground man. She was an absolute dream to back and she's pretty much been a superstar ever since. She's bitless, was started in a TCS but now has a properly fitted Strada.
Given how much solo handwalking I'd done I wasn't worried about hacking. First walk out OH came, second time I fancied it he was away so I went solo. She was a little unsure a few times and I hopped off to pass the local pigs that she doesn't like, but no spooks at all. Today we had our very first hack in company - a friend came and rode my old gelding, and I had my first ever few strides of canter after I held her back and my friend took him to the top of a nice sloping track with good footing. No bucks and a really nice feel of impulsion from behind. Maybe those long back legs are going to be a positive!?
Going forward I'm working on finessing her steering, and on building her strength slowly. She can already do laterals which she learned in hand but has easily transferred to ridden - sidepass over a pole anyone? Easy peasy. So lots of slow work over poles, laterals, hacking straight lines building up stamina. She'll do winter TREC if there are any close by, and then hopefully we'll be ready to start a few real summer TRECs next yr when she's 6. She's showing a lot of promise because she's very bold and "up for it."
