From: Katja
Dear Jessica, your advice has helped me so many times in the past, I hope you can help me again. This is my first question to HORSE-SENSE although I have been a subscriber for several years. You usually answer my questions before I even ask them, so I didn't ever need to ask before!
My husband bought a cute little mare at a sale and brought her home for our son. It has been ten months now and Satin (that's what my son named the mare) has gained about two hundred pounds and is now normal weight, had her vaccinations from the vet and had her hoofs trimmed by the blacksmith. She has had her teeth floated too. She is very kind and sweet, we think she is about seven years old, possibly part Quarter Horse and part Morgan, but we are just guessing. Everyone who sees her thinks she is some other breed but everyone likes her. She has a nice walk and trot and canter and is starting to do a very smooth shuffly gait on trails. She is quiet and not at all spooky. Jason (my son) just loves her.
She only has two problems, one is not very important because the vet says she is sound (she has a lot of scars on the back of one leg). The other problem is that whenever you ask her to step backward she begins to throw her head in the air and get very nervous. It doesn't matter if she is being ridden or just being led in her halter. When the rider or the person who is leading her asks her to back, she starts to shake and flip her head around, and then she tries to step sideways and she starts to sweat, and she just does not want to step backward whatsoever. Now she will do it if we really insist, pushing her in the chest and pulling her nose in with her halter, but she only does a few steps, then she begins the stepping sideways and tossing her head again, and if we insist she will eventually take another few steps but her eyes get all white and she starts dripping sweat off her. Since she is such a nice mare in all other ways I think we could ignore this and just not ask her to back! But my husband and the vet both say that she needs to learn to back when we ask her to, or else some day there could be a bad situation at home or on the trail where she would need to back and wouldn't do it. She is so good about everything else, she loves her stall and her hay and her buddies in the pasture, and she nickers at us whenever we come into the barn. It's just this one thing that makes her crazy. You are so good with horses and their psychology, can you think of a way to teach her that backing isn't scary, and why do you think she is so afraid of it? Do you think there is a connection with the scars on her leg?
Thank you lots for your great advice! Katja
I don't know whether there's any connection between the scars on your mare's leg and her fear of backing, but I rather suspect that there isn't. Since the scars are not an unsoundness but only a blemish - a cosmetic defect that doesn't interfere with her movement - why don't we just focus on her real problem, which is being frightened of stepping backward?
I've yet to meet a horse that doesn't tell the truth, so I believe your mare when she says that she's frightened to take those steps backwards. WHY is she frightened? It's likely that before you bought her, she had a bad experience - or more than one bad experience - involving stepping backward. She may have backed out of a trailer and slipped and fallen on a slick surface, or she may have been out on the road, under saddle, and inadvertently been backed into a ditch or culvert - something that any horse would find terrifying. She may even have been backed into an electric fence.
Or she may have been forced to back across the arena until her mouth, neck, back, and hocks became sore. Some self-styled "trainers" do this to punish horses, and it can certainly create both physical and mental problems for the horse. Whatever happened to your little mare was obviously both highly unpleasant and extremely memorable, since being asked to back still causes her to react with great fear and apprehension, even after ten months of your family's loving care.
Whatever caused her fear, YOU are the ones who will have to help her get over it. I understand your wanting to leave the mare alone since this is her only real problem, but I think you will all be better off if the problem can be solved instead of ignored. Your husband and vet are right - there may, indeed, come a time when this mare will need to step backwards, calmly and quietly and in response to a request. That's your goal - and here are some ideas to help you reach it.
Since she is just as nervous without a rider as she is with one, you'll be able to begin on the ground. You're on the right track when you ask for just a few steps at a time, but you can go to an even simpler level, and I suggest that you do. Plan to spend time with her every day, even if it's just a minute or two, and be very sensitive to her reactions. Your aim is not to get her backing across the field on command, it's to get her comfortable with stepping backward at your request.
Take some time to teach her a "head down" cue. Use treats and praise, and then when you begin asking her to back (with her head down!), continue to use the treats and praise. She needs to know that each step back is a GOOD thing, and that she's doing what you want her to do. Ask for ONE step at a time. Her good nature is something very precious that must be preserved - don't cause her any unpleasantness or fear, especially when the goal is to have her learn to accept something that she perceives as threatening or frightening.
TAKE YOUR TIME - and this doesn't mean "go slowly for two hours". It's quite possible that someone else has already done something like that. "Take your time" means that you must take the time it takes to get the result you want, and in the beginning, this may mean taking fifteen seconds to ask for, get, and reward a single CALM step backwards.
The reason for the sideways stepping and the eye-rolling is fear - and good manners. Her fear makes her unwilling to step backwards (into the unknown or into a situation she is sure will be painful), but her good manners are keeping her from moving forward as her nature is telling her to do. The only directions remaining are - you guessed it - to one side or the other. You may be able to defuse her fear by asking for a single step, then praising, rewarding, and pausing until she is quite calm again, then taking a step (or two, or three) FORWARD.
When you get what you want, or an approximation of what you want, or indeed any hint of what you want, take a break - don't repeat the request immediately, or she'll never know that she got the answer right. If you don't get what you want, ask yourself why. Is she afraid? Do something else with her, reassure her, and when she's calm and relaxed, ask again, VERY quietly. She can't learn what you want her to learn if she's anxious or upset, so make your "stepping backwards" lessons very short, gentle, and pleasant, and ONLY when the mare is relaxed and calm.
Change the way you ask for her to back. Stop pulling on her halter and pushing on her chest - you should never try to move your horse in any direction by pushing or pulling. For one thing, it's frightening for her - horses instinctively fear being trapped, and for a horse, having its head pulled down and its body pushed backwards can be terrifying. Pushing and pulling a horse is also far too much work for you, in addition to being a precedent you don't want to set. And that kind of "teaching" won't help her learn, physically or mentally or emotionally. Instead of trying to force her to comply, try this: Teach her to pay attention to you, and give her a SIGNAL that says "take a step backwards, please", then allow HER to offer a response. If you like the response, you can praise and reward; if you don't like the response, you can pause and then ask again.
Try putting a fingertip on her chest - and tap instead of pushing. She may stand there like a statue, but don't increase the pressure. Be patient. If you keep tapping and saying "Baaaaack" at regular intervals, there will come a moment when she shifts back. THAT is when you STOP tapping, remove your hand, praise and reward her - even if all she did was shift her weight back a little, even if her feet never moved. Once she gets the idea that you are ASKING and then ALLOWING her to do what you've asked, she will try harder and harder to figure out just what you want and give it to you.
She should quickly get to the point where no tapping is necessary - just the combination of your voice and that light, brief, finger pressure will do the trick. When the tip of your finger and your voice are enough to get her stepping backwards every time, try teaching her to step backward when you use the finger to POINT at her chest (and say "back").
All of this will go a long way towards resolving her issues of insecurity and fear. She needs to begin to associate backing with GOOD things, not with punishment and angry humans. She can learn to be relaxed about backing, and there are other things you can do to help her.
She loves her stall? She loves the pasture? Great. Whenever you put her into her stall for supper, or put her into the pasture to hang out with her friends and graze, back her. Turn her around to face you when she's still a couple of steps away from the stall door or pasture gate, get her attention, ask her to take a few steps back, praise her, give her a treat, and let her go. All of this will help her learn that backing does NOT have to mean coercion, fear, pain, and bad things happening - it can be something that she does to go into her safe stall or her happy pasture.
She's doing so well with everything else - just be patient and understanding, take your time, be absolutely calm and kind and consistent, ask for just a little at a time, let her know you're pleased with her, and backing will eventually cease to be a problem. She sounds like a very sweet and willing mare, and she's lucky to have found such a good home.
Jessica
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