How do I get my horse to lift his back??

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BethH

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Hi some advice needed please. Am struggling a bit to get my horse to engage his back end properly. He has worked out how to get a beautiful bend on his neck without using any other part of his body!!! Is excellent at subtle evasion!

He had kissing spines which took a while to diagnose and so really from being backed, he was struggling as he couldn't lift his back at all as the bones were crossing making it impossible. He learnt to bend his neck and power from his hip, rather than lift his back and power from the hock and was very clever at covering up bi-lateral lameness. He had an op last year and I rebacked him, has been back in work for about 12mths now. We have managed to really increase his stride length and calmnesss, so he over tracks well in walk and tracks up in trot which is pretty amazing progress for him. His confirmation is that he is slightly straight in the hock.

Basically he has just turned 8 and whilst I am really pleased with how well he is doing, if I could just encourage the lift through his back it would help him work longer and lower, I need some ideas to help him change the habits of his ridden lifetime.

Hope that makes sense and any ideas gratefully received.
 
Have you ever tried clicker training? Hear me out, I'm not some kind of tree hugging nut!

First familiarise your horse with clicking, you don't need any equipment, just cluck with your tongue, and have plenty of treats, sliced carrots or pony nuts will do. give one with each cluck.

When that is established started clucking as a reward for doing well, standing, moving off, dropping the head, you can gradually phase out the treats although you will still need to give some.

Now you can move on to lifting the back. From standing square prepare to ask the horse to back up, just preparatory to lifting the feet if you watch the abdominal muscles closely and the spine you will see a rounding of the back and a lifting of the muscles - that is the moment you want to capture. Train your horse to hold that point for a couple of seconds and release. You could this 10 times or so in a session once you have captured it.

Alternatively lunge in a Pessoa if that all seems like too much fuss
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I took my own horse to the physio on Friday after his kissing spines treatment didn't work so hoped some physio might make him more comfortable. They said I need to work on his "core stability" - like humans in their Pilates class! This means encouraging him to use his tummy muscles to support his back rather than the other way round. They showed me a new (to me!)technique called "taping". A length of duck tape was stuck to him either side, running from just in front of the point of his hip down to his belly about 8" in front of his stifle. He was lunged with this on (you need the extra sticky duck tape!) for a few minutes each side, it really made him lift his tummy and work through his back. You can also put a cross of tape on his rump, the point where it crosses is at the highest point of the rump, (sacro iliac region), with the front of each side just behind point of hip, so viewed from above it makes an X. this makes them lower the quarters. Sounds really complicated but it seemed to work so I've been to buy the duck tape today and will try it for myself tomorrow. I was warned that they sometimes explode when they first feel the tape, and was surprised when my ultra ticklish horse didn't mind it at all.
 
The normal Duck Tape falls off on its own after a few minutes, which is why I got the stronger stuff. Perhaps it depends on how loose the hair is or how greasy the coat. Pull it off in the direction of hair growth not against it! You could maybe try a short piece first to make sure you're not about to give your horse the equivalent of a waxing!
 
Unfortunately I'm hopeless with technology otherwise I would post the diagram that the physio gave me! The idea is that the feeling of the tape around his sides encourages the horse to lift his tummy muscles helping him to work through his back. I've tried to explain it as best I can in my previous post, let me know the bits you don't follow and I'll try again!
 
Hi thank you all for your posts, have had a good chuckle at the duck tape conversation, but actually it is a good idea as it is exactly what I need to get Ryan to do, describes what I need perfectly. The clicker trainer is a great idea too, I am quite into alternative methods for my boy my only problem is Ryan and treats are a terrible combination and he gets incredibly difficult to handle if he starts getting food, he becomes incredibly bargy as he is a really really greedy horse.

He hates the pessoa but moves beautifully on the long reins and is very free but i need to get him to life and round with a rider on board. I have been told to use my calf muscle as a leg aid in an upwards direction to hold him together and encourage a lift and I wondered if any of you guys have any good tips like this too for ridden as it is killing my hips!!??

I think I am going to have to go back and do a bit on long reining to remind him and will give your ideas a go - I wonder if the tape will work although knowing Ryan he will rip it off whilst trying to eat it! Perhaps if I put it on him ridden the girth will hold it in place!!!!! Thank you guys very much for responding some great ideas for me to have a go at.

By the way Tass, the palliative route didn't work for Ryan but am pleased with op so if you ever decide on that route and need any info, I had the most fantastic help from Vets, surgeons, physio etc etc and was given a great rehab programme so will always pass on the info to anyone who needs it.
 
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