Going backwards!

[CracklinRosie]

I took my 19 year old ex eventer into the school last night for the first time in a long time and it would appear she has forgotten how to rein back!!!!

She used to be so lovely to school but and everything else we did was as it used to be but when I ased her to back up I got diddly squat!

Now I may have been giving her the wrong aids so please, what is correct?

If I was doing it correctly, how can I encourage her to rein back?

 

[Flicker]

I have always been taught to take a contact, close your hands, place legs just behind the girth, squeeze, and say 'baaaaack'. Works like a charm for my lad - although I have noticed that if the legs are too far back he doesn't respond - probably because it tips my weight forward. Make sure you are sitting up, nice and tall and deep.
Have you tried asking someone to gently push him back from his chest until the penny drops again?
Read somewhere that horses don't like going back because they are flight animals and you are basically asking them to step into the unknown because they can't see where they are going. Just make it encouraging for him and the first step back they take, make a fuss and then ask them to walk forward straightaway.
Good luck.

 

[CracklinRosie]

Thanks, that's what I was doing, she always worked really well from my voice before. I's a long story but she'd been out on loan and not treated very well or ridden well either so this might be a contributing factor.

Will try again on Thursday and take it nice and slow. She's a sensitive type but very willing.

 

[mickey]

If you can't get her to do it from ridden aids, having someone on the horse's shoulder with a dressage whip will help. If she doesn't move back when the ground person moves towards her shoulder, then a tap with the stick on a shoulder (or alternate shoulders) from the ground will help. Ground helper shouldn't be brash about it though and rush in and scare her.

 

[CracklinRosie]

Thanks but that won't work, she's petrified of sticks in any way shape or form. Can try it with out the stick though.

 

[toffeesmarty]

We had same problem regarding sticks with one of ours. To help him I put two parallel poles on the floor side by side with another across the to form a U shape.
We walked him in at the 'open end' of the U and when he reached the top asked him to go back. The side poles help to keep him straight and the cross pole stopped him from going forwards. After four attempts he was going back.

 

[CracklinRosie]

Ha ha like that idea but she's a bit f a loony with poles on the ground, they're for jumping don't you know!!!!

 

[mickey]

If she is petrified of sticks/whips then steer away from the approach I have suggested. The last thing you want is too much reaction and her going up in the air.