Running Backward - HELP!

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Whoopit

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Now the youngster is getting more confident hacking out in company, he is developing three very irritating habits.

1) If there is something he doesn't want to pass, he starts backing up. If you ask him to walk forward with a little leg, he just backs up even faster. I know he's not scared because after a lot of growling in his ear and several well-placed smacks with a stick he trots happily past, ears pricked, once he's realised nobody is going to go past him and go first - in other words, he's hoping i'll get fed up of arguing and ask someone else to go first. Any ideas how to stop him just continually backing up as he treads all over horses behind? This is the one that really p**ses me off!! :mad:

2) If he's being a complete d**kh**d, he bounces off the floor with his front feet and whips round at something he doesn't like. Then doesn't even go anywhere - just stops, so i know he's taking the mick. Turn around with leg and growling, he'll walk straight by. And this isn't stuff that's unusual - it's wheelie bins, certain make of cars (Porsche's!!! and some others), fallen walls. . .

3) If he's being overtaken by another horse or you ask him to go by, he stops. Dead. No warning. And i mean from canter to stop in one stride. He will go after a lot of yelling and smacking and leg (i realise i sound like a very bad rider!) but this can take up to 10 or 15 minutes to get him to walk on.

Any suggestions to any of the above? :confused: Other than shooting him!!!! :p
 
Humour him If he wants to back up let him but keep him going backwards when he wants to stop untill YOU decide.
Same with the stopping...let him but then don't let him go till YOU are ready :D
 
hannah87 said:
What does he do if you hack him alone out of interest?
Click to expand...

He does more of the whipping round out alone then just stops and stands once his back is toward it. Sometimes he does back up but not as far as he does if he knows someone is behind him. I think he backs up until the horse behind is then forced to be in front of him byt the act of him going backward. It's exceedingly annoying!!
 
Have you tried turning him and backing him past said "scary" object?

I mayb get shot down in flames here but have you tried hacking him in draw reins? My mare developed a horrfic habit of going sideways past things she didnt like - and was virtually impossible to stop her doing so. It began dangerous on the road when she would go sideways past a "scary" bin and into the path of a car. I hacked her in draw reins on the advice of a friend and they gave me that extra control and could stop her doing it and it broke the habit. I very VERY occasionally hack in them now just to remind her. Just a suggestion (I dont really like them but in some situations they are a helpful tool).
 
Can't say i'd ever thought of draw reins. Wouldn't hurt to give a whirl. I'm going to try covering his ears too and see if i can hold of some blinkers. I know blinkers is probably sounding extreme but there is a reason! He WILL NOT look where he's going. He constantly turns his head side to side - i dont just mean something has caught his attention, i mean constantly!! He's like a nodding dog but sideways and its really hard work. I've left him to nosy at nothing before and he's tripped up kerbs, fallen over ballards and slipped down ditches because he's not looking where he's going - obviously i'd not let anything dangerous happen to him, but he hasn't learnt!! I can't constantly turn his head for an hours hack so he's looking straight for 20 seconds cos it makes me ache!

Can you tell i'm getting really exasperated?!!

Not sure the backing past thing would work? It's definitely not going to hurt to try. He plays dumb and swears blind he doesn't understand rein-back!! He has a really high head carriage so I don't know if he finds hard as his ears are naturally in my eyes all the time (???) but i guess thats something we can work on the school.

Thanks for ideas Hannah - i'll try everything and anything suggested and see if any work :D
 
Dizzy does this, or certainly used to! And spins (hence her name lol).

When going backwards, you keep him going, don't let him stop 'till you say so. If going backwards is not a good plan (horses, cars, etc. behind you), turn him in circles (hold on to a bit of mane, it can get a bit spinny!).

When he plants, if he doesn't repond to a good Thelwell kick or a good thwack, turn him from a standstill. It doesn't matter how far you get him round, you need to make him move his feet at your will. I've had Dizz's rein so short I've practically had hold of the bit (which was half way through her mouth!). Do this as well if he has whipped round and is facing the other way; don't let him choose when to stop, make him move his feet :)

If he wants to go to the right, unless he's going right to save you both from something, then turn him left, and vice versa.

The backing up past things is quite useful - we used to get some speed up lol. Once went past a roadworks sign backwards, after about ten minutes of discussion; on the way home she went to stop, so I just sat there, told her home was on the other side and it was up to her - she went past lol. She's been backwards down ditches a few times, luckily not filled with water! I thought she had reared and I couldn't figure out why we were so stationary and why we were so close to the ground - rofl :D.

I'm not overly keen on martingales, but if he's using his head carriage to ignore the aids, make use of one :). Also move your hands to whatever is the height and position you need them to be to get him to listen to you.

When you can get him listening a bit, leg yields and half halts to get his mind on you :).

Just re-read your post. Am thinking that him ignoring all the yelling and smacking is teaching him to ignore you aids. I would suggest that you don't do any of that, just turn him (and I know it can be hard lol, I've had noses practically stuck in my stomach and the horse still doesn't want to turn, but we get there, eventually :)). Once he's moved a step, release the pressure and praise, then do it again until he takes another step. It can be a slow process, but you are reinforcing the pressure and release - when he moves away from the pressure he gets the release as the reward.
 
This may be the way to go - circles.

He does have a martingale on but only a running. Once when he bounced and whipped round, he poked me in the eye with an ear!

I'll give the turning away in cirlces to keep him moving thing a whirl and see how he gets on. Do you think eventually it will just wear off? I'm assuming it's a phase as he's 5yrs old and finding his confidence feet, but I don't want to hope for that and it turn out to be a monster!
 
Yes, it will wear off :). It's a baby thing, a not sure what to do thing, a throw-his-toys-out-of-his-pram thing :)

Dizz is definately a lot calmer now, on the whole lol (she's a six year old DWB). And she definately moves off the leg now as well :D

Regardign the cirls, be prepared to have to be quite firm! And release as soon as you get movement - ned needs the reward otherwise will have no idea what he's meant to do.
 
This may sound silly, but are his eyes ok? and his neck? When the current Appy had a bad neck she seemed to not be able to see the same as she had before (and can again now that the neck is sorted with chiro and accupuncture by the vet). At the time I posted on here and someone suggested thatthere is a nerve in the neck, which if trapped, can affect sight. Might be worth a look see perhaps, expecially if he is ok to follow another horse. She also had a nose poking carriage (helped now by a pelham)
 
First off chuck away your whip, your horse has a confidence and training problem horses are flight animals, to reverse away from any situation is the last resort as they cannot see backwards, they then spin to put their flight instinct into action, he needs to learn to be confident in his rider, beating a horse gives them no reason to trust you more than the thing that is frightening them in the first place.

Teach your horse to rein back on command. When you mount, ask for rein back. Finish work in the school, the last thing you do is ask for rein back and a pat on the neck then get off. Teach them that reversing is not a way to escape of what they are afraid of. Take that tool out of their tool box and they will not use it against you.

Build your horses confidence, at the moment something upsets him and frightens him all he has is an hysterical rider on top screaming at him and smacking him, so what he is afraid of is really really scary if his rider is scared as well. Slow your paces down, give the horse time to think, ie. when hacking out make sure you can feel the foot falls in walk so you are getting a slow walk, so if something spooks him rather than running back or trying to spin he can just pull up and have a look. If he does this praise him, then praise him in to walking on, encourage dont beat him as why would he then trust you more than the thing that is scaring him?

Your horse is not taking the mickey out of you, horses do not think like this, it sounds that he has no confidence in you as a rider, so is resorting to instinct. Time and schooling, more time and schooling and more time and schooling will solve the problem, gadgets, whips and screaming will not solve anything. Give the horse a reason to trust you, and have confidence in your judgement when you say something is safe for them to believe you.
 
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