I've had great success in creating the sweet spot going forward and stopping using the Dually Halter. But, I can't get my horses to back up without pulling on them. (This kills the shoulders after awhile.) First of all, neither one seems to get the concept of backing while on lead. Secondly, when I pull on the dually they want to turn. I think it's because of the pressure placement and twisting of the Dually.
I've watched the Uni lesson several times to find out what I'm doing wrong. Since I'm having this problem with both horses I think the problem is with me. Could it be that I'm waiting too long to correct them? The more I school them the firmer they plant their feet.
I've tried the other way of teaching backing up - by wiggling the lead rope while standing in front them. Again, they stay planted.
Does anyone have suggestions?
My POV is that it is more important to be quick to release pressure whenever they start to do what I ask, rather than to correct them when they fail.
Keep in mind that your horses have no idea what you want them to do when you wiggle or pull the rope. So you need to be very quick to let them know whenever they are going in the right direction.
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If you wiggle the rope -(I assume you start with very, very light wiggling and increase slowly - I've been told 3 sec intervals are ideal)- you need to drop it to the ground like it was a rattle snake at the very first *thought* of moving backwards.
Give the horse a break to digest what just happened and start over with very small wiggles and build up until he - by accident or by conscious will - starts to move a foot back; the you drop the rope again. Just open your hand and let it fall to the ground.
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Do they understand moving away from pressure by your fingertips? If they do, you can try moving them back by applying your fingers at the same time as you pull the rope.
Back up and praise, and repeat until a pull is enough.
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In short you need to do whatever you can to be as clear as possible about what you want them to do. It's no use to raise your voice if the person you talk to doesn't speak your language. body language often do the trick, though. ;)
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When I first tried to teach my youngster - 1.5 years ago - to back up by wiggling the rope, he solved the problem by grabbing the rope in his mouth so it couldn't wiggle and be uncomfortable. *LOL*
He responded much better to my raising both hands and wiggling my pointing fingers at him (as if he was an airplane). I just had to be careful not to raise them to high, or I would cause him to rear up instead.
He also learned fast enough to back up from pressure by my fingertips, and knows the command: "Back!"
Then, one day this fall on a NH clinic, he suddenly clicked with the idea of the wiggling rope and backing up. (And I had just told the instructor that it was no use trying that way, because it simply didn't work with him.) In five minutes, I could "park" him about 6 ft away from me, and just had to to make one little wiggle when he moved one foot to make him put it back. You could tell by his look that he was testing out this new "rule". ;)
I believe one important factor that day was that we had done tons of other exercises that built up leadership, trust and respect, so we had that working for us already.
Maybe you are desensitizing him. Could help if you (without being angry) go to a very intense reaction pulling stronger and with a higher frequency. As soon as it works go back to the less intense way to avoid another desensitization.
Thanks for your ideas. I will work with them again as soon as life slows down from the Holidays.
Hello Dirtypaws ..The vid here is a bit misleading as Zinfandel(?)is so good at "getting it" so quickly !I took ages getting the response in backing off.My wrists would hurt if I tried too hard with the Dually,plus it made his head go up and I wanted it down,so I went back to one finger on his n/s shoulder,along with a step toward him and slight pressure on the Dually and the words "back up", and maintained the pressure till he made a slight move to back off,I then praised him ,and we did a bit more ,now he backs off if I pull a tail hair, or wobble the line, or say Back off boogyman! Hooray ! It takes time and you will succeed :)
I found the Farrier Join-Up helpful for learning to back the horse with the Dually Halter. In that series Monty steps in to School the horse. He is working the horse and getting its attention. So Monty is in a serious working mode not a teach a video mode. I think it is the 3rd lesson in the series. It is very revealing.