Backing Young Horses at the Centre
with Compassion and Respect
This year we have had many requests to start young horses, 3 and 4 year olds, to a safe life of ridden work. This is a very important time in a horse’s life, and we take care to ensure that it is done with great respect.
Soundness and strength can be encouraged and established at this stage but if feedback is not received and respected from the horse, much damage can be done that can last a long time and affect the safety, comfort and soundness of the horse. Submission and understanding of what is happening is never achieved through exhaustion and must always be achieved through understanding and being fair to the horse.
3 year olds and 4 year olds will be weak physically so care and time should be taken to ensure that this phase is not physically overwhelming or tiring.
Backing young horses requires, easy careful strengthening of their weak young bodies with careful experienced long-reining work. This will go on for a few weeks (often every second day for about 15 minutes depending on the horse) and the muscle measurement is monitored and recorded on graphs so no guesswork here at all but evidence that the thoracic spine is developing strength before a rider is introduced.
The process of introducing the rider for the first time is done calmly, and with respect and I find it usually goes very well. Horses never fail to amaze me at how well they take to this. Carefully, and only when the horse is very happy with the saddle a rider is lowered in a relaxed way as seen in the picture just to see what the horse feels about having a riders weight gently draped across its thoracic spine. Rarely, are there reactions to this phase if all other assessments have been done well but if for some reason the horse objects to this new weight on his back the rider is able to remove herself easily and safely.
When Backing young horses, feeding a polo mint to encourage relaxation and good posture of the neck and back helps at this stage and can distract the horse, which I find helpful and successful. The horse is then lead around the school whilst they are given the opportunity to get used to carrying a weight on their back for the very first time. Horses will figure out how to adjust their balance to do this and how to use their body to be comfortable and able to keep going.
When all is well after leading the horse around, halt is established, and the rider then slowly raises their body so that the horse can start to see a rider above their head. Sometimes this can startle a horse as in the wild a predator above the head is even more of a threat than danger on the ground that a horse feels very confident to flee from. I take time with this phase but rarely find it causes trouble as again polo mints are fed for encouragement and distraction purposes.
As soon as the horse has made it clear that they are happy with the rider sitting up, then we lead the horse around the school so again the horse can learn to adjust their balance and learn the important art of carrying the rider with ease. Feedback from the horse must be listened to at all stages and adjustments made if all is not well. Some stages take longer than others. When backing young horses, it is up to the horse to let you know all is well - they are all individuals and respect at all times is important.
Contact Us For Help Backing Your Horse
Getting this stage of your horse's training right is very important. Mary and her team have a wealth of experience in this area and having backed many different types of horses for different disciplines over the years, they will be able to assist.
The approach is calm, respectful, systematic and with the welfare and the soundness of the horse at the forefront at all times. No rushed jobs or forced systems used here.
Long reining is very important at this stage. So much can be achieved on straight lines with no damage to weak young joints. Submission is not achieved through exhaustion but through understanding and the ability to be able to work with us and not against us.
Call Mary on 07929 666408 to discuss your requirements and how we can help. We are based in Slinfold, near Horsham in West Sussex.
