Backing problem - any ideas?

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pagancluf

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My friend has bought a 6yr old tb x wb that has been a brood mare and she wants her ridden so she has backed horses before and thought why not? Can put saddle on her, bridle, and she has made a "dummy" by filling jhods with straw and sewing a large teddy to it! The mare will accept all this in the stable, and also on the yard but will not let anyone near her in the menage? You can lean over the saddle in the stable and also on the yard but in the menage she gets scared and bolts (on the lunge). She will walk around the yard with someone leaning over her really calmly?
Any one got any ideas how to progress further with her? Thanks in advance
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Just a thought, you could try her in the field. Do everything your doing in the field and see if she has the same affect.If she is calm in the field, start riding her in the field then gradually take her into the school.

In the meantime, keep taking her in the school in hand, maybe groom her in there, feed her, so she associates the school with nice things.
 
is there any lanes where you are? try taking her out of the yard as she wont associate that with the school. had she had a bad experience before your friend bought her? maybe they tried in the school and freaked her out.
 
I had the same problem with Alee when I first took her in the school. She would rear and charge off quite dangerously. I eventually sent her away to get the problem sorted, but what he did with her was have her on a long line and keep sending her forward until she chooses to stop and stand. They are given a choice they either stop and stand nicely or you send them on again. Eventually they realise that the choice is either hard work or standing quietly. Worked with my mare.
 
Get Mickey Gavin out? Someone on the forum PM'd me that he had been to a yard and within an hour had a horse that had never been backed being ridden - as so much ground work has been done it's worth a thought.
 
Sounds to me as though there may be some history with this, a school shouldn't worry a horse unless it has had a bad experience. Personally if I wanted to back the horse and do a long lasting good job I would do loads of work long reining first and so that she was very sensitive to voice commands. Is it just with something on her back she can't cope? as long reining is very non-confrontational and uses horse body language and tends to get them working forward calmly without them feeling claustrophobic. You could always try long reining from the yard to the school and back again and then walk her round the school once and back to yard, do every thing by tiny amount and gradually increase each day so that to start with she is literally in the school for a minute and 1 lap and out again that way she won't see it as a chore you can then build up to have a person on board.
 
Sounds like she just isnt relaxed enough yet to me
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All horses get uptight if you move to fast, and when she is in the stable its a familiar place, where she feels secure and has less space to run, same on the yard she is more secure. I would scrap the dummy aswell, I find they create more problems than they solve.
If she is nervous you also need to start doing "scary" things like moving the saddle around, tugging the girth and letting the saddle flaps drop down etc, and have tit bits on hand and lots of kind reasurance, that way if something else frightens her she wont have tack related worrys that could come into play!
Is there a barn where she is? With Foxy I backed her myself at home and then had her riden away by a jokey who was fantastic, he found her easy compaired to the yearlings he had to get on!
If I think of anything else I will let you know!
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Without meaning to sound rude i would suggest professional help. Someone who has done plenty of backing etc that could come to the yard and see for themselves the problem and help sort it before it becomes a bigger issue.

Sometimes older horses can be more difficult than young horses, someone may have tried and failed, the horse is physically and mentally stronger and has had more time to learn the wrong thing.

good luck
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Reading your post again maybe a "ragdoll" rider who will just stay on and keep calm until she realises it is not going to hurt. I don't know if this is what is happening but if the rider jumps off when she panics she will learn that by running she gets rid of the scary thing on her back.

I know its easier said than done but backing isn't always pretty and there are people out there who are great at this sort of thing. I can't stress enough how important it is that this is sorted now and not left to get out of hand.

Good luck again.
 
We've just got a four year old back from an event yard after deciding he might be a sod to back at home.. He tolerated everything from tack to leading out in traffic but was really humpy when you tried to lean over him.
The yard backed him in a round pen and the rider put him in canter and just kept him going with the aid of a person on the ground witha lunge whip..
Not conventional but some horses don't follow the normal path of breaking, and you have to be flexible. Without a round pen we knew he would be damned difficult.
I would not get on this mare on the road if she is likely to take off, send her away to someone who has a tough little jockey who can stick on and ensure things don't go badly. We are perfectly capable of backing but without th pen knew it wouldn't work.
I would also advise tons of long reining , ours was very easy to ride because of his steering abilities.
Another thing to do is desensitise the mare, fasten all sorts of things on her and allow her to run round on the lunge until she gives up.. We had one like that and after a few sessions she gave in and accepted anything and everything from balloons to plastic bags on the saddle. Have a very long lunge line and just stand there and wait..
 
Possibly why at 6 she is still unbroken, and been used as a broodmare only??? Simply will not be ridden. They do exist.
 
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