Teaching the Horse to Rollback

     The are two elements to the rollback: the stop and the turn on the hindquarters. The elements come together with the correct application of the indirect rein of opposition.

          A horse rolls back in one motion…the horse begins the stop, but never actually completes it before beginning to turn over her hip and strike off in the opposite direction.   The horse always exits the rollback at the same gait as she entered.

          The indirect rein of opposition requires the rider to move the rein backward to set a barrier to forward movement and at the same time apply an indirect rein to turn the horse. In this video the rider moves his hand upward (taking the slack from the rein) to establish the direction rein of opposition and toward his left to establish the indirect rein.

          The rollback is to the left. The horse is moving to the right as the rider begins the cue to rollback by lifting his hand and establishing a bit barrier while at the same time moving his hand to the left to apply indirect right rein pressure.

          The rider applies right heel pressure to both hold the left hind pivot foot and to push the horse’s forehand left as a compliment to the indirect right rein pressure.

          The horse moves her left hind foot up under her body to make the pivot over the left hip and exits the rollback at the jog.

          Rollbacks are one of the exercises taught in the online study course:

Training Performance Horses