What time scale to back a horse?

[lisa_lou]

Bought a 5 yr old that's done nothing. Very loving and friendly, buit and grown well standing at 16.1 fantastic dressage potential. Backed 1 horse before but she was a lot smaller and so easy! How would you start things off and how long till actually sitting on if she takes everything fine ?

 

[Persephone]

I don't put a time scale on.

It's not a race, just do it as and when it 's right

 

[Magnetic Sparrow]

I agree with Persephone, it's like asking 'How long is a piece of string?' It depends on you and the horse.

To start things off I would teach her to accept a saddle and/or roller and a lunging cavesson and probably boots if she moves extravagantly and start to teach her to lunge. You can work on getting her accepting a bridle separately so that when she gets the hang of lunging you can use a bridle as well.

 

[windand rain]

It depends hugely on the horse but if the groundwork is in place and the time has been taken to get her used to the saddle bridle and if necessary (I dont use them) boots I would just get on with it. once established in walk trot and canter on the lunge which usually takes a few days not weeks I then get on long reining to give them and idea of steering and independently moving of in front, then with backing them they work for a little while on the lunge with a rider and are then turned loose to work independently. a few days in the school to establish ridden steering then out hacking alone and in company in all paces all in all it tales about three weeks from start to finish so they are hacking out and about but it can then take a very long time to perfect the schooling. What I never do and I know a lot do is bore them to death in each pace before moving on to the next one so mostly theyare walking trotting and cantering in their first week if they have a good temperament. At 5 she is old enough to start to do a bit but she may well take a little longer to get going as she is used to a different lifestyle. I dont normally start mine until this time in their 4th year so rising 5. Timings of course depend very mush on how accepting she is and there is no hurry it just has always worked with mine as they ahve been handled from birth and have good ground manners and accept most things without question. Buying one in I would have to assess it very carefully for each stage of its training but non is repetitive and nothing takes more than a day or two to establish once the groundwork is in place.

 

[wildwest]

groundwork groundwork groundwork !!! forget trying to get tack on all this will be accepted by horse once groundwork is in place. we always sit on bareback first and walk around in round pen . this can take from 1 week to 4 weeks depending on horse , but everyones different .

 

[lisa_dundee]

I bought my 5 year old stallion 6 month ago and he'd done nothing, he's riding lovely now, I spent 2 week mouthing him and almost 6 week long reining and a bit of lunging, when he was consistent with the long reining and I was happy he had breaks and steering, I got on, in between this I had introduced the saddle and had long reined him in the saddle for weeks, he was a bit sharp when I first started riding him but the secret is to have a good groundsman!! He never did anything to get me off he just had to trust me, he's great now, just don't rush!!