Re backing very nervous horse.

GlamourDol

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For nervous, read was sent to a dealer and owner thinks had several shades of s**t beaten out of her.

Backed before and ridden by a child but has got herself so scared that shes had to start again.

So owner has been lunging her etc, and I did the same today, jumped up by the side of her, lent over put foot in stirrup and stood up against her side, lifted leg, must have brushed her back and she had a little bit of a break down.

She settled immediately after and let me stand in my stirrup next to her again, but somehow we need to desensitive her to a leg going over her back.

Is this just a case of doing it an awful lot to try and get her over her past memories?
 

zaminda

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Yep! Keep going, very quietly, time and patience is the only way. It took us 7 months to start ours, and a year to get her going properly. She was supposed to be unstarted, but we later found a very deep scar on her tongue, which the vet felt had ben caused by it being tied down to tight. Good luck, and keep a diary of your progress. It can be demoralising, and you need to remember how far you have come.
 

susieoci

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I have had a very similar thing with a horse i backed for someone a year ago, when the lady fell off her for the first time the horse was terrified, as soon as you would put a foot in the stirrup she would flat out bolt, so obviously we had her vetted and all was well (get a vet to check your horse if you havent already, and check tack is fitting right). So with my horse i did what you have been doing foot in stirrup hopping up next to her, and just getting her confident with her tack again, then after a few days of that i got on and for about 4 weeks she would flat out run off and keep running for 20 mins or so and i would gently ask her to slow without pressuring her, 3 months on she is perfect now owner is back riding her, shes 100% confident again, if you have any doubt about your abilities i would not recommened re-backing yourself, be very very careful, and take as much time as the horse needs dont rush at all, i believe you have to allow the horse to realise there is nothing to fear and sometimes this means letting the horse do what it feels it needs to do to keep itself safe and for this the rider needs a hell of alot of confidence and balance. Hope that kind of makes sense. :eek:
 

Brightbay

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She settled immediately after and let me stand in my stirrup next to her again, but somehow we need to desensitive her to a leg going over her back.

Is this just a case of doing it an awful lot to try and get her over her past memories?

Can you pair this process with something she likes? Best way to make something scary a pleasant experience is to pair it regularly with something the horse likes. I usually use food, but if the horse enjoys being scratched, I would do vigorous scratches - try to get the horse to do the lip curling scratchy face ;) - and then a little practice, then more scratches. If you're happy using food, a little practice, a piece of carrot, repeat... Food is good, because if the horse won't take it, you know they're too worried and you need to go back a step.
 

GlamourDol

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Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. Yep using food, and she was generally more interested in that than what im doing until her upset but she was calm immediately which is obvs a good thing.

One thing she does do, is as soon as we've done something, and shes been rewarded she turns to sniff me. Just checking that Im still who she thinks I am, I reckon!

Definitly going to be a softly softly aproach with this one, especially while her confidence is so delicate!
 

LittleBlackMule

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A seriously stressed horse won't eat, so if she was still interested in the food, it implies she wasn't hugely upset by what you were doing, just would prefer you didn't!
 

Brightbay

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Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. Yep using food, and she was generally more interested in that than what im doing until her upset but she was calm immediately which is obvs a good thing.

One thing she does do, is as soon as we've done something, and shes been rewarded she turns to sniff me. Just checking that Im still who she thinks I am, I reckon!

Definitly going to be a softly softly aproach with this one, especially while her confidence is so delicate!

Sounds like you're on the right track then, but just went a wee bit too fast for her on this occasion :)
 
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