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Get Your Back Up


July 10, 2014
​Written by: Josh Lyons & Keith Hosman
From our Learning To Ride a Horse series of free horse-training tips and articles: Improve your horse's back up.
​When you're teaching your horse to back up, remember that the farther you back up, the worse your back up gets. Think of it this way: If you want your horse to quiet down at a lope, you lope him, right? The longer you lope, the quieter the horse gets. And, yes, if you do this a lot, they'll get stronger and be able to go longer - but they will have learned to relax as long as you leave them alone as you ride. As long as you leave them alone and don't give them a reason to get more nervous, they'll relax. Just sit up there and relax, maybe sing a song.
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If I were to back up long enough, the horse would relax - and get lazy - in their back up. If I wanted to make his back up or spin faster, then what I have to do is quit while they're speeding up, not when they're slowing down. So when I'm working on backing up, I may not care about the proper frame, I may just be concentrating on the energy, on backing quickly. I'll get the impulsion quick - and then quit. Maybe the horse was in the correct frame, maybe it wasn't. The bottom line is that if I quit when the horse is showing the energy, he'll get faster and faster. But if I quit otherwise, he'll get lazier and lazier. He may be quieter and calmer, but I'll lose his performance in the movement.

Print This Article:

Get Your Back Up (Plus: Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder, Part 2)
File Size: 350 kb
File Type: pdf
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Wanna teach your horse to drop its head and stay relaxed? When you're finished with this article, click here to read about the "Classic Serpentine."

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  • Home
  • Training Articles
    • Training 2.5 Mustangs (Blog)
    • Just Got a Horse
    • Owning a Horse
    • Bratty Horses & Challenges
    • Fear
    • Dangerous Situations
    • Ground Training & Control
    • Tips
    • Breaking and Basic Training
    • Tried It and It's Not Working
  • Contact
  • Books/Audio
  • Trainers by You