My TB when scared while leading will resort to backing up. This is usually in a pasture situation when I try to bring him in alone. I think it is a combo of being scared of something (a wheelbarrow, a weird pole, etc) and a bit of being herd bound. So best way to get him out of this habit? He is fine when the whole group comes in but going in solo has been an issue that I fear is now manifesting its way under saddle.
Donāt get mad, it will make it worse.
I usually let them back up a couple steps, let them stop, and then coax them towards the scary object. You can always double check that vision, etc. is normal.
If heās just being a dink and has your number then use a lunge line or long lead rope and when he starts acting up immediately send him out at a trot. Make him work until heās focused on you and not on the scary object. Do this every time he spooks. If itās really bad then I wouldnāt even ride, I would just bring him in, lunging every time he ignores you and gives something the hairy eyeball, give him a treat when he gets to the barn, then throw him back outside.
Eventually heāll learn that youāre the boss and he doesnāt need his herd to protect him, and secondly that itās easier to just walk to the barn.
What if there is no room to work him? Itās only when we get to an area that is narrow that he starts to balk and back up.n
A chain over his nose or a knotted rope halter might effect something of a transformation.
In the moment, go with him, quietly. Donāt pull, or he may start to go up. First get him to stop, then work on moving forward again. Carry a dressage whip with you at all times, so you can ask him to go forward by tapping behind you. Never pull.
Fixing this though starts when heās in a trainable mood, so you need to set aside time to work on his leading skills. Right now heās a follower, which breaks down when things get hairy.
Horses need to learn that itās ok to be scared BUT they are not allowed to back up. They can move around a bit, they can stand still, their choice. But going backwards is not an option, and certainly going up is never an option.
So the first thing it to teach a much better āgive to pressureā. He has the right to stop (for now) but he doesnāt have the right to back up. Get him really solid on giving to very light pressure on the halter. Head down, walk forward, turn left and right. Donāt ask him to back up for a long while. He doesnāt need to practice that.
Then if possible, set up situations that might cause him to back up, and use your whip, or the popper end (not the knotted end) of a 12ā or longer lead rope and the second he thinks about taking a step back, ask him, strongly if you have to, to move forward. Even if he just takes a step forward and stops, thatās fine - he did as you asked.
Keep working on that until his reaction is at least to just stop. Then you can work on not stopping at all.
Iād just be really careful, as you can easily make a backwards-thinking horse go up in the air with these. Both the chain and the rope will only make an effect by pulling on them, and if he doesnāt have a good give to pressure installed (and he probably doesnāt) his reaction may be in the backwards direction instead of forward.
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Teach him to touch scary things with his nose. Clicker training works great. I get him to touch things heās familiar with his nose and then start adding in scary things. Instead of going back they go forward to touch it. Makes things less scary and builds confidence. Works great.
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Iād say no pressure on the lead rope until you get some training progress. I carry a lunge whip for dealing with this - I donāt think dressage whips are long enough. I like to touch them on the very back of the haunch or even across the butt - like I would if I were actually lunging.
I find with a really balky horse, touching with a dressage whip somewhere on the flank usually just sends them spinning away from me.
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Good point about the difference between lunge and dressage whip. It will depend on the horse. The lunge whip, when used from a leading position, wonāt have much of an impact on him other than he can feel it. If thatās enough to break him out of his focus, perfect.
The dressage whip can ābiteā if needed. I donāt mind the hind end moving out as long as itās not also going to send his front end into me, and thatās why working on better leading behavior in a training environment is where to start. Moving the hind end out might be enough to get him moving forward again. The individual horse needs to be judged, and youāre right, the dressage whip might not be suitable yet.
Agreeā¦ no chain over the nose to correct backing up. Itās going to have the opposite effect.
If it were I, and the horse insisted on backing up, Iād make him back up ā in the direction you want him to go. The backing up thing is an evasion. Use it against him. Drama free, just calmly circle him back in the direction he wanted to get away from, ass first, and back him past whatās freaking him out. Heāll get tired of it soon enough.
T.H.E. most valuable thing someone can teach a horse is to spook in place.
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In the hands of an inexperienced handler the ātransformationā will more than likely not be the desired oneā¦
Even in a narrow area you can distract his thinking with work.
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I wouldnāt even back up a horse who is prone to backing up, just so itās your idea. We want them to learn the desired behavior, which in this case is preferably to walk forward, but at the very least, just stop, never take backwards steps.
Backing is the next most ultimate aversion to going forward. The worst is going up.
Going in the backwards direction should always, IMHO, be done purposefully and correctly - head down/level, diagonal pairs That makes it purposeful.
Further backing up a horse who is scared is not doing his body any favors, allows him to practice incorrect work in moments of tension, and Iāve seen too many horses who were backed to āmake it he personās ideaā who just got quicker and quicker to resort to backing up when confused or frightened.
The only time I think Iād force backing up is in the horse is getting into my space in an uncontrolled manner, endangering me, and then backing him up, even aggressively, is the fastest way to get safeĀ® again. But heās not already in the mindset of going backwards, so itās a little different.
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I wouldnāt use a chain on a horse who backs up, nor would I ask the horse to back up more.
In the moment, ask the horse to do something that you know he will do that doesnāt feed into this behavior; it can be to touch your hand if heās clicker trained, or just get him to move his front feet by moving him slightly sideways and then forward. Exuberant praise when he gets it right. But mostly you want to unstick him and keep him calm. (You should also give him a lot of praise when you first catch him in the field, and occasionally as youāre bringing him in when he hasnāt stopped).
If the behavior always only happens in a particular space, youāll probably have to train him through it there. But if itās a random occurrence, you should just work through it each time. Keep it positive, donāt get frustrated, I would also say that I would lay off backing him up in any situation if at all possible, including under saddle, for a while.
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I would also avoid further backing of this horse and no chain on the nose, that will only make it worse.
Recently I was at a (haul-out) barn situation where I had to go around the barn instead of through the barn aisle to get where I wanted to go. It was a cold and windy day and there is a big flag pole right at the corner of the barn that I had to walk past. Flag was flapping, flag lines were banging against the pole, and even the pole itself seemed to be swaying in the wind. Pony did NOT want to go by it and she usually isnāt a spooky little thing.
I let her stop. I let her stand there and have a snorty look at it. And I asked her to take just one step forward. She did and got lots of pats and praise. Then I let her circle back to where she felt safe and we stood there for a minute. Then I asked for two steps forward. Good. Praise and pats. Stand there and wait. When sheād let out a sigh then I knew it was okay to ask for another step. It didnāt take but a couple minutes of that to get past the flag pole and she was good. But forcing the issue, or making her back up, or putting a chain over her nose (which I donāt have anyway) would have only made the problem worse.
Your horse needs to be able to look to you and to your body language for reassurance to know that it is okay.
If I were you, Iād first practice walking ground work in an area that is safe (to your horseās way of thinking) where his attention will already be on you. Walk, stop, walk, stop, walk faster, walk slower, walk faster, stop, etc. His pace needs to match your pace. His feet need to do what your feet are doing. Will he move forward from an invitation on the lead rope? You need to get good at that. You donāt want to be pulling and tugging, you want to be able to offer a āfeelā of the rope and have him respond to that.
Get a rope halter if you donāt have one (and similar lead that is tied into the halter) - that will give you and him a better feel for each other. If youāre using a leather halter and cotton lead, there is a certain amount of dullness that isnāt helpful with communication (which is perhaps why people go to a chain over the nose).
Have you ever done any flag work, a la Buck Brannaman? That can serve many purposes - it can give a horse more of a visual cue than just a dressage whip and you donāt need to touch the horse for them to see that you are asking for a āgo forwardā response. It helps with desensitizing to sound (flag or plastic baggie makes a funny and maybe scary sound) and to the sight of something flying around in the air. You can use it to stroke their neck or scratch their back or belly to show that it is just āa thingā that in and of itself is not good or bad and that they should read your energy and body language to decide how to respond. For example, I can stand near my horse and wave a flag or baggie such that it makes a racket, but my horse will not move because my intention isnāt for them to move, it is just for them to stand there while this weird thing is flapping about.
I donāt think we can tell you exactly what to do in that moment because we arenāt there. But you can learn some tools that will prepare you and your horse for how to deal with scary situations. It is time for you to take a step back and do some homework. Both of you will be better for it and it will be a fun learning experience for you.
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^^^^^ This works beautifully for horses and scarey things!!!
The first time I tried to get my horse to go through a little water on a trail ride he wouldnāt go forward and kept backing up more and more forcefully. So I backed him through the water and never had an issue since. Sounds like this horse could use some groundwork but backing him through this scary section might get him over his fright. Worth a try at least and if not resort to other suggestions but in general sounds like groundwork would benefit this horse
This might be a helpful exercise:
http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-training/clinton-anderson-sending-exercise.aspx
Full disclosure I didnāt watch the video. However, Iāve taught this to my horse and its really helpful when he gets āstuckā or scared and doesnāt want to move forward. Especially in the barn haha. When I put the whip to his withers he knows I want him to go forward. I can walk him down the side of the arena with the whip at his withers standing at his shoulders or behind. Super helpful.
Additionally, if your horseās first reaction is to back up it is probably worth it to do some desensitization. Round pens are nice if you have access to one. There is room to move around, but your horse can never get too far away from you. Any of the ānatural horsemanshipā trainers will have good videos on how to do this.
You need to put a forward button on him. Teach him verbal cue for walk and whoa (and trot too, but not essential at this stage). Work with him in a rope halter or chain over the nose. Tell him āwalkā and at the same time tap his hocks with a dressage whip. Make sure he starts walking a split second before you do. When he walks praise praise praise. Tell him āwhoaā and stop him, praise. Rinse, repeat. It doesnāt take them long to learn. Once they know in hand you can reinforce under saddle.
Iāve been amazed at how this works with my young horse who liked to get into arguments under saddle and would stop and spin when he decided he didnāt want to go somewhere. Itās been transforming, big battle turned into little battles, now only the very occasional resistance. Works well for trailer loading too. Good luck!
You need to teach the horse to give to pressure, lead, and desensitize him to strange objects. Horses learn when pressure is released, so you need to do your training in a controlled environment where you can keep the pressure on the horse until he responds correctly. If you release the pressure when he responds incorrectly, he learns to do the wrong thing.
For example, if you are trying to lead your horse past something he is afraid of, and he pulls away and backs up and you release, you just taught him to back up. I suspect this is what has been happening. And itās migrating to his behavior under saddle because the same thing is happening - you are asking him to do something (putting pressure on him) and he misbehaves, you stop asking, and he just learned to misbehave.
You NEVER want to use a chain shank or anything that will cause pain. Pain makes a horse more anxious, and he will not learn through use of pain.
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So heās backing up in four different situations?
A. When you try to lead him out of the pasture alone?
B. When he sees something scary on the way out of the pasture and/or on way to barn?
C. In narrow spaces?
D. Under saddle?
Sounds to me like A. and D. are āavoidanceā behaviors that he has learned ā does/tries to get away with, and B. and C. sound like genuine scaredy-cat behaviors. If so, each situation needs to be addressed differently ā different methods. You shouldnāt deal with scared behavior in the same way you would deal with learned/stubborn behaviors.
Horse āhistoryā is important too. How long as he been doing the backing up in each situation? Is this all new behavior or has he been doing all this for ages?
Hard for me at least, to offer advice without knowing more about your horseās history ā and also your history concerning āhowā you were/are handing the various situations-- right or wrong. It all makes a difference towards what you can do now to resolve the various problems.
