To back or not to back!

daisydoo

daisydoo

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I know its very early days as my filly is only 11.5mnths but my dilemma is I am getting help from an experienced lady who is self taught but has backed all of her horses successfully. So far so good with training as my girl has been handled since birth. My question is, is the riding part really the 'easy' bit, if I can lay all of the groundwork before the getting on, i.e long reining etc of course I am talking years from now? Would be good to hear other peoples experiences. Or should I get to this point and still send her away for a few weeks (I would want to be involved as much as possible) or get a trainer to come to my yard to help. I'm just very conscience of not wanting to do anything to ruin her or develop bad habits.
 
Having the right facilities and help is the crucial bit.

I did 3 of my own but did have experienced help to hand. As I do not consider myself to be a brave rider all three went to a professional yard to be ridden away.

So my routine was and will be with a youngster I have now, was od all the handling on the ground, teaching of manners, long reins and small amount on lunge, leant over, sat on and lead around secure area.

Then they go away, but I visited them and when the professional breaker was happy the youngster was going forwards and understood the basics I rode the baby in the company of the pro.

It has been drummed into me the starting of a horse will remain with it all it's life and must be done properly, and a young horse must never learn it can dump anyone.

Good luck with your baby.
 
The groundwork is the most important bit, I've backed loads myself and I know from the groundwork when its ready to get on, I've never had one explode on me when backed, at all.

I think for your first one it would be worth having some help with the groundwork then maybe getting some professional help either by sending her away or getting someone who will come to you. But they really need working and progressing every day when you first back them, that's how I prefer to do it.
 
My youngster is nearly 3 and we're doing the backing bit at the moment (if you go through my posts you'll see her progress).

We have a school at home, so I decided to keep her at home and get our instructor to come to her twice a week - C has been doing all the lunging and longreining, and will continue to do so for another two weeks until she gets a saddle - then I will get on whilst on C's lunge line, and so on and so forth.

I am totally inexperienced, but didn't want to send her away from home, and although perhaps that would have been a much quicker method, the slower pace has suited us both so far. And its MUCH cheaper!
 
The groundwork is the most important, time consuming part. The actual backing is more often just another little step after all the other small steps you have been taking to date.

If you have the time to put in, and some support from someone who has backed before and you like the end product that came out of that, then I think thats preferable to sending them away. But if time is limited, it can be better to send away as time is the non negotiable part.
 
The easiest horse I've ever sat on was a 10yr old. She was well bred, quite highly strung but had never been ridden. But had been extremely well handled & a real pro to lunge & longline, just unridden due to owners circumstances. Within a few months you'd never guess she hadn't been ridden all her life, & that came down to years of fab preparation. Not saying we should all spend 6yrs preparing but it does go to show how important the right handling is. By comparison the worst was a horse that should have been simple but had been handled incorrectly, by a well meaning, but very inexperienced owner.
I think if you doubt you can do something well, get help. Some people have a trainer do it all, some teach basic lunging & longlining first, some back & then get a trainer to ride away, some do it all themselves. It's entirely down to what you have experience with & what works best for you & the horse.
 
My coblet has just turned 2. He was started at 1 year with groundwork as he got too much for me, breaking out of fields, charging at me in the field and generally just being bad mannered. He is my first youngster so I was keen not to make any major mistakes with him. I got someone to come to my yard who is trained in Intelligent horsemanship (Monty Roberts methods) and he taught me the four basic ingredients to regain some control and I was so pleased with the results that he has come back this year to help me get him into a roller and start long lining. We put the roller on on the 1st of may(Ollies 2nd birthday) and he was as good as gold other than not going forwards but this will come in time. We are putting saddle on next week as he accepted and long lined in the roller without so much as a playful buck:-)

However I wont be attempting to back him myself. I have already got plans to send him to Carrie Adams who is based in Collingham, near Lincs to be backed etc.

Too mmuch can go wrong so its worth spending the money and getting the right help and training. Good luck and enjoy!
 
I backed mine myself but after ovarian pain caused my girl to explode and dump me one day before I'd got on I made the decision that for her sake and mine I'd send her to a professional. So once regumate had worked off she went to Matt Hall. He was on her after five days, she's been there three weeks and so far not put a foot wrong. Next week hopefully I'm going up there to get on board and can't wait. For me and mine it was totally the right thing to do!
 
Thanks for all the encouraging comments, I am feeling more confident every day, the huge plus point is that I have plenty of time, I handle D everyday so she is already very well mannered, can touch her everywhere, leading really nice, backing up on command, now just starting to taking her on walks around the grounds. She is lovely just to go into her field and give her a scratch or a brush. So I will be continuing everyday doing this and as she is not even a year Im hopeful the training will just progress until I can sit on her. But I think from that point I will want regular lessons anyway. We dont have a school but can use a small sectioned off paddock. Also we have a pen which is ideal for the first time I get on her. wooo
 
Enjoy the baby time! I took things slowly with mine, lots of walking around the lanes in hand, getting used to traffic etc. consequently when I did back her she was an angel in traffic.
The time when you get on her for the first time will be the time when you get the biggest, stupidest grin on your face you've ever had!! And it will make the emotional youngster roller coaster worth every minute and ££££! :D:D:D
 
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