First time backing a horse

I'll be backing mine next summer, can't wait! Filly is 20 months now and I've had her for a year, we have a great bond and I've learnt so much from her! Ive done the usual desensitising, ground manners, rope halter training, in hand walks, she's chilled with a saddle cloth and roller on and having the girth done up. Another thing I'm doing is getting her used to the mounting block next to her and standing on it to groom and lean across stroking otherwise of bod, good as gets then used to see you above them! Going to start long reining this summer and introduce synthetic saddle and bridle (once wolf teeth out). I'm going to have the odd lesson (never long reined before) and will continue ridden lessons when she's brought back into work nearer 4. I thought I'd miss riding but im enjoying every little milestone with her I'm actually having more fun!

For those that have experience, do you use a martingale initially?
 
took troy out in a bit and bridle first time yesterday, was a proper gent :-) think the wee dander helped take his mind off the bit in his mouth. by then end he wasn't chewing it anymore. gave him polo's apple and allowed him to eat some grass a bit to let him see it wasn't a problem. next ones the saddle :-)
 
I know this thread is really old, but I want to say how encouraging it was :) A few weeks ago I bought a well handled but completely unbroken 4 yo. I have seen horses broken and helped with early schooling but never done it alone, and this is my first pony since I was a teenager. My plan was to just take things at her pace and learn together. She is such a calm, sweet mare she had no objection to tack, bit, tightening the girth or me leaning all over her, so I was sitting on her after a week and let her follow another horse out on a very short hack on a bridle path, just letting her go where she wanted, letting her stop to look at things etc. I thought (still think) It was an ok thing to do. It was fast, but I only ever progressed because she was completely relaxed with that stage. She was never forced, never retrained when I tacked her up, never pushed, she hadn't even seen a whip at that point. Despite this, I have had a fair amount of negativity from people telling me I'm rushing her, I'm going to ruin her because I don't know what I'm doing, I shouldn't be riding her before she's learnt to lunge blah blah blah. I was upset for a couple of days (very unlike me, I usually don't let stuff affect me) but reading through these posts from people who have done it before, and learnt along the way really helped me. Thanks for sharing guys x
 
i think if you have previous riding experience to a good standard and are not generally nervy then its absolutely fine to do it yourself!

i have done loads, started at 11 helping, by 14 doing ponies myself and helping trainer do young warmbloods.

sadly wont be doing any more as came off my 3yo and landed awkwardly breaking my collarbone so i cant risk doing any more(its the first breakage ive had!). so now i dont get to be the first one to ride him :(

its very rewarding.
 
I backed my first pony when I was about 20, I'd had several young and very green horses by then which I think is advisable. I did it with a few project ponies first, I find they're easier to do generally. How long they took totally depended on them, some took to it really quickly, others took longer as I'm always keen to keep them happy about it all. I find it extremely rewarding, I don't particularily "enjoy" the very first bits of leaning over them and the actual getting on bit the first few times until you know how they'll react (current mare exploded twice within first 2 mins of me getting on her for the 4th day!), but I love all the rest of the education bit. Especially fun is introducing them to events :)
 
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