GROUNDWORK PART 4

YIELD BACKWARDS WITH AN INDIRECT FEEL

Over the past few months, we’ve received an increasing number of questions about getting started with groundwork. Whilst we advise that an instructor helps you to get started, there are a few basics that you can teach at home that ultimately form the foundation of all groundwork activities. Over the following few issues, we will look at these basic building blocks of your groundwork toolbox and help you to build a solid foundation for your in-hand work. Last issue, we looked at asking your horse to yield backwards off a direct feel. Once you have mastered this, you can move on to this issue’s exercise – yielding backwards with an indirect feel.

POINTS TO NOTE

Back-up is a valuable exercise for both keeping you safe and for improving the strength and suppleness of your horse, particularly through his hindquarter.

YIELD BACKWARDS WITH AN INDIRECT FEEL

In this exercise, you will teach your horse to back up out of your space from a distance.

Equipment

A halter and long lead rope

Gloves

A helmet

A longer stick e.g. a dressage stick

How to do the exercise

Position your horse so that he faces you with both eyes and ears. Ensure there is plenty of space behind him so he can back up without encountering obstacles or uneven ground.

Focus on a point in the distance behind him, stand tall and lift your energy to let him know you are going to ask him something.

Straighten your arm that is holding the lead rope towards him and point to his chest. The rope should be loose enough at this point not to move the halter.

If he doesn’t move back, send a pulse down the line to move the clip where it joins the halter so he feels the movement. You can repeat this a couple of times and even move the rope rhythmically to see if this helps him to understand your request.

If this doesn’t work, flick the end of the rope or your stick towards his front legs. You can again try this a couple of times and also try to move the rope or stick rhythmically towards his front legs.

If this still does not work, you can walk towards him while flicking the end of the rope or stick towards his front legs. If he is still standing, when you get to him, touch him and ask him to take a step backwards.

Whenever he takes a step backwards or even shifts his weight back, release all pressure. As with the previous exercises, you want to start with just one step of back-up and gradually ask for more over time.

Keep practising the above steps, and you will find that soon your horse is stepping back easily and earlier and earlier in the process. Eventually, you want to be able to just point at your horse’s chest and have him back up. This will take some time, but if you are patient, he will eventually understand.

TIP

You don’t want your horse to have his head high in the air when backing up, as this puts strain on his back and lessens the biomechanical benefit of the exercise.

Troubleshooting

If your horse becomes defensive and goes backwards too much, you will probably find you have used more pressure than is necessary. Reduce your pressure and try again.

If your horse comes forward through the pressure, he may be confused, or he may be feeling defensive. If your horse is simply confused, you can continue to work on the issue with the steps above, making sure you release all pressure when he so much as thinks about taking a step backwards. He will quickly understand what you are asking. On the other hand, if your horse becomes defensive or agitated when you ask him to back up, we advise you to get an experienced groundwork instructor to assist you in handling the issue. Just beware of anyone who tries to ‘force’ your horse to go backwards or wants to ‘show them who is boss’, as this will only escalate the situation and build more tension in your horse, making them more unpredictable in the long run. The ‘dominance’ approach may work as a ‘quick fix’, but the damage done by this sort of training can be long-lasting and almost impossible to undo. Instead, you want a patient instructor who will help your horse understand that backing up is simply about safety, not dominance.

Most horses will struggle to back up straight as, just like us, they have one side that is much stronger than the other. If your horse veers off to one side, either stop him and reposition him before asking for more steps or ask him to yield his hindquarters (check out our next edition for this exercise) to straighten him up before asking for more backup steps.

NOTE

Some trainers have ‘chased horses backwards’, particularly during the backing process, as an exercise in dominance. This kind of exercise can lead to a horse shutting down and demonstrating learned helplessness or becoming defensive and even aggressive to protect themselves from the threat they believe humans now pose. We do not advocate for dominance-based training methods but instead train using science-backed equine ethology and behaviour-supported methodologies. It is, however, worth mentioning that back-up has been used in this way by some trainers to give an understanding of why your horse may behave in an unexpected fashion when asked to move backwards; your horse is not being ‘naughty’ - he is simply responding to a traumatic incident that occurred in his early training. It is also worth understanding how backup has been used negatively, as it demonstrates why the behaviours that can be displayed with this exercise can be dangerous and require professional, patient assistance.

MAKING THE EXERCISE MORE DIFFICULT

Once your horse understands this basic form of the back-up, you can increase the distance between you both, asking him to move backwards without moving your feet.

TOP TIP

Keep your stimulus aimed low (at your horse’s chest or below) to help prevent him from going backwards with his head up and back hollow, which is undesirable and unhealthy from a biomechanical perspective.

NEXT TIME

In our next issue, we will be looking at asking the horse to yield his hindquarters from a direct feel.