Jill, What you do is pretty much the same as what I do. The horse you’ve shown looks a very nice willing sort and looks desperately eager to learn and to please. That all comes with careful and considered preparation and it’s how it should be always IMO. It’s obvious that’s the case with your horse. That sort of behaviour and willingness does not IMO come from being sent like a whirling dervish round a pen bucking and frightened till the horse realises maybe it’s not to be terrified or hurt. Seems we both prefer to miss that stage and have the horse know it won’t and be willing to please.
So what I was trying to say earlier was that if a horse has been properly prepared and effectively trained then there should be absolutely nothing for it to fear or be concerned about. He should be used to being handled, well mannered and attentive to what you ask and your personal space etc. He should also have experienced traffic and everyday hazards when under long reins. The only thing he won’t have experienced is the rider.
The bit you didn’t show was first time the rider gets on board.
Once the horse has got very used to carrying equipment (saddle etc) and is responding well to commands then I move on to the next stage. So he’ll be doing stops, starts and transitions and changing rein under long lines with his tack on.
Then sometimes it’s in a stable and mostly outside in the arena. Depends on horse/rider/how I’m feeling in relation to the first 2! (Don’t forget though I often do/redo horses that weren’t done right in the first place!)
But after the horse has been longreined with tack and reminded about stop and go and turn. For a horse to be backed for the first time I use a neckstrap mostly (or breastplate that day) and ensure the girth is tightened to take the weight of rider and stirrups right length before anything else. When the horse is long reined the stirrups are tied down with baler band. Only if the schooling session has gone well do I proceed… same with all stages… I don’t progress on until the horse has “got it”. Particularly with the actual backing though, it’s important the horse is accepting of everything that’s happening that day and relaxed and confident and listening.
Then with an assister on the ground and someone to get on. IMO the assister is in many ways the important person for the horse to focus on and to give him reassurance. But most often if the rider is lightweight, confident, fit and balanced it doesn’t matter because the horse will then mostly be aware of the rider and the unusual weight on his back and not particularly care about the person.
Nowadays I am normally the person on the ground and use one of my staff who is little and light weight. So they either use a mounting block or more often get a leg up and first lie on their stomach over the saddle, then eventually stretching out hands to touch the horses opposite side and then to progress to make a big thing of this so he knows a person can “appear” on both sides of him. The rider will talk to him all the time so he knows it’s the rider and not a mountain lion lept on his back! This legging up and lying over would be repeated several times and from both sides. If I’m holding the horse and reassuring when this happens then it’s only VERY VERY lightly - no tension, no restraint. The horse can do what he wants but it’s important that he listens and behaves because he wants to.
Then once he’s accepted the rider lying over and moving and patting both sides she’ll swing her leg over his hindquarters very carefully and sit astride keeping most of the weight of the back and upper body low at first. If the horse is happy and confident, the rider will drop more weight into the saddle and work herself to an upright position talking all the time and stroking the horses’s neck and shoulder on both sides. Once upright for a few minutes, then dismount and repeat over and over again. We don’t slide off. We dismount properly and pretty positively so the horse learns that’s how it happens. Sometimes the dismount actually is of concern as the weight suddenly disappears. Indeed we never go about the horse quietly when this happens. He has to be used to fuss and clatter and stuff happening and know nothing bad will happen to him so there’s nothing to worry about. All this preparation helps for later on.
The move off stage can be confusing for the horse because it’s unbalanced with weight on for the first time so we do that with no contact at all on the reins and with a handler in charge of speed and steering and rider with weight slightly forward and hand through the neck strap for a few steps till the horse gets used to that. The horse may rush on a bit and I just make soothing noises till it relaxes and then stands still and we repeat the whole process again.
Once that we then introduce hand and leg and with the voice commands the horse already knows (from extensive long reining). So he knows that leg means go and hand means slow and then that’s the job done… no bucking… no trauma and no spoilt horse
:no: The other was at this mad place where the owner “trained” in the US. I went there to collect a horse they’d made a total mess of and to give it a fresh start.