Why do some horses walk backwards?

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Marty

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I was at my friend's mini farm the other day and noticed a couple of her foals actually walking backwards all by themsleves. They were just walking around one minute and the next I watched them walk backwards. Several steps. Just one over here and another one way out in the field. In quite a nice straight line by the way. She said they just all do this from time to time. What's up with that?

I ask Timmy if he could and he said not yet, he just goes ZOOMMMMMMMM forwards.
 
Sounds like a transmission problem to me. LOL

Fran
 
[SIZE=14pt]Marty,[/SIZE]

We have a mare that was trained to hand signals by a young girl to do everything! If I scratch my head the wrong way she will start walking backwards then she will side step and start dancing!
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She so funny because I never know what she will do next!
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One day I was tieing my shoe and raised up and stretched my arms and she took off around the pasture high stepping and looking around as if to say, Look at me! She's quite the clown!
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Bill
 
I just wanted to relate two stories about a Hackney mare we had for many years. This was my special pet. She would follow me without a halter or lead. stand for long periods of time while I worked in the shop or on any project outdoors. Stood while I cut firewood, painted virtually anything I did "Tea" would be there beside or behind me. She would drive anyplace with slack lines and responded to voice commands to walk, trot, extended trot, easy (to slow down) stand, stretch up Gee, and Haw she did it all without a flick of the reins. Until my wife harnessed her up. When my wife tried to get in the cart she would step forward, side step whatever she could to unnerve her. then she would back up and not stop until she heard whoa. Cluck to her and back some more. My wife was never able to get that mare to go forward a single step. I drove her in many shows and took several reserve champion trophy's and boxes of ribbons before we retired her. This horse was like a dog rather than a horse but not for my wife. My oldest daughter got along great with her also. There was an instance during a snow storm. It was snowing one morning with a large accumulation already overnight. To our surprise schools were not closed so the girls got on the bus. The girls at the time were seven and nine years old. My wife and I both managed to leave for work in one vehicle (our only 4WD). All through the day it snowed more and more and by the time to go home the roads were impassable to all but 4WD trucks with good ground clearance. We made it home a bit late but safe. NO Kids, we were concerned about them being alone with no heat (we heated with a wood stove) and no close neighbors. We phoned the school principal at home and asked what was going on. School had been let out at 10:00 AM because of the inclement weather. We phoned the driver he had dropped them of because the car was in the drive and the driver assumed someone was home and had no idea of where they were. Near a state of panic we phoned the kids friends up top of the hill and they had not seen them. The girls knew they could not stay home alone since they were not allowed to take care of the fire and not capable of cooking much beyond a bowl of cereal or the equivalent. My oldest had gone out to the barn and got "Tea" out and put the harness on her, hooked her to the sleigh and the two girls drove down the road to the next farm where they were both comfortably watching television and eating brownies. Tea was in the barn in a calf pen eating some of the neighbors alfalfa. This is the same animal who would do nothing but back up for my wife.
 
Sounds like a transmission problem to me. LOL
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Always heard growing up that horses don"t back naturally, it has to be taught. Experience has shown otherwise - some of them are just backing fools LOL.

Jan
 
Our very first mini was a yearling filly. And we were instructed by a long time horse person to discipline her when she was bad by making her "BACK UP" .

She went through that nippy stage, and using the "five second rule", we did make her back -- back -- back immediately!

Our mare is 14 years old now, and to this day, if she misbehaves and I tell her QUIT, the next thing I know, she's doing the back -- back -- back thing ALL ON HER OWN.
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MA
 
A couple of years back, when we still lived in town, Mingus and Thelonius like to crowd the gate at feeding times, so I clicker-trained them to back away before they got their meal. Back up and you not only get a click, you get to eat.

Since our corral was a dry lot, I frequently let them out into the fenced back yard to graze...out the gate, down the garden path and onto the lawn. To put them back in the corral at dinner time, I would get their buckets ready and they would follow me into the corral .

I knew that Mingus had really learned his backing lesson one evening when I started for the corral with the buckets. Mingus raced ahead of me to the path, turned around to face me, and backed all the way into the corral!
 

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