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Posts: 4385
Sep 14 08 10:24 AM
The biggest problem with backing for correction is that if over done for a particular horse they will use it as an evasion method. I have retrained a few horses where this had become a problem all on it's own and I can say there is nothing more irritating to me than a clever horse who knows how to beat the system, lol. Dilly Dawg, been there, done that, with my mare, too. She's a smart one. But the trainer that we work with has an answer for this, too. Since backing is harder for the horse, we let them back. For example, the last time I needed to worm my mare. I put my right arm under her jaw, with my right hand resting on her face. That way, she can't toss her head away from the wormer paste or evade to the right or left...she can only back to evade. So she begins to back up...I simply back with her. After a few steps, she realizes that the backing didn't really get her away from anything and she'll stand politely to be wormed. When in the saddle, it's the same thing. If we're in a ring and I know she'll run out of space, I let her back. She eventually backs herself in a corner and realizes that didn't work. If we're in a situation where she continues to back, then I make her back faster. In other words, she's going to work MORE than what she wanted. If we're on a trail, then I simply make her back TO whatever she was trying to evade. The past week, we were trail riding and she was spooky about the park signs. She'd see one, start to back away. If I asked her to go forward and she'd continue to spook backwards, then I'd ask her to turn (She'd think "Oh BOY, I get to run away!") and continue to have her back up. Within a few short strides, she'd have her butt to the sign, I'd turn her forward again, end of "discussion." It only took a couple of sign spooks for her to realize that it was easier to simply go forward when I asked because she'd wind up there anyway. I think the NUMBER ONE issue with ANY horse training, ANY method, is consistency. When a horse gets away with something once, you've started a problem. If I ever let my horse use backing up as a way to avoid something, then yes, it can become a problem. There was one time when we were teaching her to NOT be pissy with another horse. Initially, we let her back away at her own speed (we had the horses facing each other, nose to nose) and stop on her own (the other horse would follow so that when she stopped, he was still nose to nose with her). After 10 min, she was accepting the horse in her space much better (ears up, relaxed, etc) until all of a sudden, she *lunged* at him to bite. At that point, we had to up the correction. Instead of backing at her speed and stopping to rest, she had to back at my speed (very quickly) and as soon as she stopped, we began moving forward again. In other words, we took out her rest time and everything became much more work for her. It took only a few more minutes before ALL pissy behavior stopped. By the time we finished for the day, the 2 horses would ground tie so close to each other that the stirrups touched each other's saddle. I really don't think my mare will ever think of backing as an easy way to get out of anything. Cindy
The biggest problem with backing for correction is that if over done for a particular horse they will use it as an evasion method. I have retrained a few horses where this had become a problem all on it's own and I can say there is nothing more irritating to me than a clever horse who knows how to beat the system, lol.
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