Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> However, one does not teach it by teaching the "right foot placement"
> (if by right foot placement you mean teaching the horse which foot to
> move when), but rather by teaching the horse first to work off it's
> hindquarters and to work well "through the reins."
>
> If, when asked to back, the horse first shuffles backwards, moves only
> one leg, and goes crooked with the hind quarters deviating to one side
> or the other ("a serious fault" according the the dressage rule book),
> then the horse is not sufficiently "forward" to be able to "properly: be
> asked to back. :).
>
> If a horse resists the bit (or whatever you have connecting your horse
> to the reins), then the horse is not yet ready to be taught the "right
> way" to do a rein-back, and if you spend too much time trying to teach
> it before the horse accepts your "hand" then you risk teaching the horse
> a new way to resist by backing away from it...and that is absolute hell
> to try to fix :).
Too many people try to get horses to back up by simply hauling back on the
reins.  This doesn't work--or even if the horse backs up, it will do so in
a resisting manner.

To teach a horse to back, one has to "drive" the hindquarters forward and
then limit forward motion with "fixed" hands (does not mean rigid
hands--in fact, you may need to "chat" gently with the mouth to do this,
with small alternating motions of the reins/bit) so that the direction of
motion is backward.  For some reason, the need to use one's legs to get
the horse collected (on the HQ) seems to evade many people when they try
to back up.

Heidi


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Common sense should also be a part of the decision making process. If you
see someone who doesn't have any, hand them your tool box.
~ Lisa Salas - The Odd Farm

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