Backing Yougsters

fidleyspromise

fidleyspromise

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There are a lot of experienced people on here who have youngsters / back youngsters.

I was wondering what your thoughts are in regards to different personalities such as the bolshy/more confident ones or the spooky/nervous ones?

Does this make a difference in the length of time they take to back and how?
Which do you prefer?
Does this make a difference in how you prepare them?

Any other details relating to this you can think of? :)


Thanks (all opinions appreciated)
 
I havent backed a youngster, have my first one who will be backed summertime, my friend who has the experience thinks she will be easy to do and pick things up quickly as she is a well balanced youngster, been out showing in-hand, been for walks, took to long-reinging (no real contact just to get her used to listening more) fine and loves to please.
 
We spend lots of time long reining no matter what the horse.Obviously the spookier the horse the more time we spend long reining so that the horse can get over its fears without having to cope with a rider.We would always have someone with a non interfering lead rein as well but the horse always knows to move independantly of the person near their head and learn voice commands/hand aids from the person doing the long reining(the person who eventually rides it).It pays dividends I feel when they behave impecably like this before a rider gets on the scene.
 
Yours sounds like a joy Abigail.
I backed my highland and she was always eager to please and always calm and took everything in her stride and she was VERY confident.

I now have a 3 yr old (will be 4 in spring) Newfie that is very nervous but gradually building in confidence, eager to please but does worry and spook and just wondering what I can expect the differences to be.

Ballyshan - Thank you. If you have one that is flighty with things around the legs, how do you go about getting them used to the long lines?
 
Well handled = easiest
Wild = takes longer (handle first, then still not enough experience with humans so backing slightly slower)
Confident = quick to hack alone, be relaxed and easy to train.
Spooky = requires a rider with a better seat, can take longer beyond basics (e.g. once you're trying to get to proper schooling) as won't settle and concentrate

Would rather teach spooky to jump than 'don't care/bolshy' as spooky will usually not touch the poles, whereas bolshy might well go straight through them.

I'm not a pro though by any means, just done a few for friends & my own.
 
Yep she is and she is a highland not put a foot wrong since i had her only issue was a bond issue with other highland mare that was it. Got told of in show ring for her being so well behaved, do get stopped by people asking why im not riding her as people think she is older as she doesnt care about traffic. Also been lead of my other mare as well so she now likes pigs and all other animals as copied other mare who is fine with them. Im very lucky!
 
I enjoy working with both. In my experience spooky, nervy horses look to you for reassurance and once you have their confidence they are really rewarding to work with and will try their heart out for you. The more gung-ho horses generally ask more questions and require firmer boundaries at the initial stages as apposed to the nicely nicely approach used with the first type. Groundwork, groundwork, groundwork is my approach to both and timeframes depend on each individual horse. For me it’s about perfecting each step before moving onto another and gradually asking more from them / introducing different things.
 
With nervous ones, at work we attatched a teddy bear on to the saddle with a rollar on top, and two haynets attatched and did light lunging. This got the horses used to have something against their side and something above their heads.

Ground work is always key and so is handling. Some of the over confident ones can be more of a pain than the nervous ones, because they're confident they try it on with the rider more and try to get away with more stuff.

I don't know what I prefer but I do love the feeling of being on a horse for the first time in its life!

x
 
Out of 7 we currently have 4 youngsters. a rising 3 yr old pony cob, 2 rising 2 year old warmblood crosses, and a weanling foal who is going to make 16hands+ of BIG chunky MW.

The easiest to do will be one of the warmblood crosses. At the minute hes a little sod, but with the right handling he'll come out the other side. The pony cob will be no bother so long as its done properly. The other warmblood cross will be a nightmare. Out of them all hes currently the best behaved, but thats because he trusts us and if things scare him he hides behind us. He has a very strong fear reaction to ANYTHING touching his back :( And his default reaction to anything he doesnt like is to shut down for a few seconds then explode! If I thought it wouldn't be detrimental I'd happily send him away, but it would really knock him. Instead we'll spend the next 2 years working with him, gently pushing the boundaries, and take things very, very, VERY slowly.

The one who will be the easiest is the weanling. Hes had a hell of a rough start before we got him, but he genuinely is the MOST laid back horse I've ever met! He went from almost feral with only bad experiences with people, to leading/loading/picking his feet up in 3 weeks. He just accpets things so long as they are fair and done competently.

So in answer to your question, yes, personality makes a difference. Probably not that much of a difference, so long as its done by competent people who can read the signs etc, unless you get the one out of maybe a hundred like our one of our rising 2 year olds...
 
I've only really properly backed ponies to date (as opposed to horses who I've always bought as very green youngsters but they've tended to be backed). Generally the ponies I've had had verged on the spooky/nervous side purely because I tend to buy them cheap off a hillside so they haven't been handled that much! I've only ever had one bolshy horse who luckily I intended to keep as he wouldn't have been a quick turn around anyway! I think neither is ideal though, generally I think youngsters are so innocent they learn very quickly to not be nervous. I think a lot of horses ARE bolshy BECAUSE they are nervous though. Anyway, with the nervy types I tend to work hard to desensitize them - lots of throwing saddlepads on their backs / rubbing plastic bags on them / walking them in hand (then under saddle) over tarpolin etc. just little things like that.
 
The only thing you can be sure of when backing youngsters is that the ones you think will be easy often aren't - and the ones you think will be tricky are often the easiest!

In other words, DON'T start the job with any preconceptions!! Just start at the beginning, progress quietly and let the horse tell you when he is happy with each step!

Example: a mare my staff have nicknamed 'psycho b*tch from hell'! (She is a sharp TBxID with history!)

She was a bit of a nightmare to start in the school as she was SO spooky - going quietly one second and flat out gallop the next! It was weeks before I let go of my neck strap!

I THOUGHT she'd be a nightmare to hack - and put off her first outing for more than a week - but she turned out to be fantastic! Not scared of anything - striding out boldly - a real pleasure! (She has a low tolerance for anything 'boring' - and the school was boring!)
 
Thanks all for your experiences/advice.

Janetgeorge - I realised earlier I need to stop thinking about it and just get on with the preparation. I started to think about it because both poies are total opposites and depending on how all the prep goes, I am looking into perhaps sending her away for it to be done.

I'll take it one day at a time, get all the prep sorted and if I have any doubts - I won't be doing it :)
 
as above, no rules really, other than to listen to the horse and take it at a speed that suits the individual, make sure they're totally happy with 1 stage before going on to the next.
i had one in to back who was easypeasy, but got bored in the school after 1 day under saddle, started planting because he was bored (not because he was being naughty) so we hacked out (v v quiet lane, with someone on foot) and he was good as gold, much happier looking around and going somewhere. i have a mare now who is very insecure and LOVES it in the school, but is pretty on edge the moment we walk out the gate, and very relieved to get back. she never gets bored, total opposite to the other horse, so we do lots of school work and only occasional hacks at the moment. i tailor it to the horse's confidence level, basically.
 
Hi Kerilli - Thanks :) Yep, my mare was like that. 2 days in the school and started to plant and then started hacking and she's never looked back (until today but that's a totally different story).
The youngster at the moment, is loving going out in hand and is reluctant to go back to her field - so just need to see how she goes. It's still months away before consider backing her, lol.
 
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