Correct western rollback

Question

Im working my barrel horse with alot of rollbacks to help strengthen his hindend. My question is when you stop do you pivot on the haunches or on the hand? And when you turn does it matter which way you turn? Do you turn them so they turn on the outside (head towards the wall) or inside (head towards the center) and what are some other excersices I can do with him to build muscle in his hind end and his chest?

Answer 1

When you're working on rollbacks (Turning on the haunches for you who ride English), the rail's there to HELP you get the horse to do so correctly. So, get your horse parallel with the rail and then back your horse a couple of steps to get your horse on his haunches then turn him/her AWAY from the rail...

Answer 2

First, be sure you have skid boots on the rear and splint boots on the front when you train rollbacks. Next, you say you are doing a lot of roll backs...just want to say , it's not good to do too many. If he gives you a good one, I'd quit there every time. Overdoing the training is a common mistake, and there is no reward when he does it right....he'll notice that and get sloppy.

Rollbacks are pivoted off the hindquarter. If you pivot left, the left hind is the pivot foot. If you pivot right, the right hind is the pivot foot.

At a hand gallop, when the front legs are both off the ground, a sharp one rein turn into the rail is executed....if he is capable of the full pivot at this time, bring him all the way around to the opposite direction. So, if you are along the rail on the left lead, for a pivot toward the rail, when his front legs are in the air, pull him into the rail with your right rein. He will "slide" his hind legs under himself and set up to pivot around to the right on the right hind foot. The rail will stop any forward movement, so he will either stop there or come all the way around. Be sure you are far enough off the rail to give him room for the pivot.

I am assuming that you have already trained him to turn and move off leg pressure, and are riding on either a bosal or light snaffle when you do this. Again, when he gets it right, quit and praise him. It takes months to teach rollbacks.

Some barrel racers don't roll back around the barrels, but do forehand pivots instead, which is a different method.

Answer 3

use skid boots if you don't already. rollbacks are on the haunches. it doesn't matter which way you turn unless doing texas rollback! lol. an exercise a couple trainers told me to do was to got by the wall (the long side one, either one), stop, and do a rollback going into the wall. your horse doesn't have to come to a dead stop before you turn. just say whoa then turn him. you have to give your horse a little bit of space, so don't be right on the wall. practice at w/t/l. it's probably easiest for him at a lope or gallop though. other exercise his end is to jump and go up hills.

Answer 4

Teach him correct roll backs on the fence. Go down the fence, stop, pick up on the reins and turn into the fence, literally, and he will soon learn that he had to get back on his haunches to do the roll back, it feels good under you to have him do it correctly. Now, that is to teach him the correct way, when you are in a pattern, it will show you which way you are to roll back, depending on the judge...usually you rollback into the direction that the judge is standing from you, so if you look at the pattern and don't understand it, the people who are taking your entries can probably answer you, if nothing else, ask the judge prior to the class. Don't guess, it isn't always the same way. Exercises? Rollbacks in deep sand and don't even think about doing them without skid boots...once they burn themselves, they scotch up on you and don't try their best after that.

Answer 5

Hi there, Rollbacks should always be 'into' the wall. That keeps them shorter and more on their haunches/hind legs.



Also--Are you using skid boots? If he gets sore, he may not want to put weight on those skinned places.



Another couple things that really strengthen the hind quarters and will help chest/brisket area, too, are:

1-work in deep, soft dirt - 20-30 min at a jog trot and about 10 min at a slow canter - if circling split time so you are going both ways equally

.

2-back him up - when working him in an arena, stop every 1/4 round or so and back 15-20 feet. Backing will also keep his head lower so he more balanced for athletic work.



3-Work him in figure 8s, both at a jog trot and at a canter. If he doesn't do flying changes, either work on that or pull him up to get correct lead.



Flying changes can be accomplished with a hard shift of weight to the direction you want to go in and of course, reining him that way at the same time. (You probably already do flying changes just wanted to make sure you knew what I was talking about)



Also make sure you are doing equal turns on your roll backs or one side will develop better than the other.



Also on a barrel horse make sure he learns to walk the course, jog trot it and slow canter it to practice on the 'correct' angle he needs to come in for the hard turn around the barrel.



If you have any problems with his head coming too far up when working, I would work him in draw reins - reins attached to cinch ring and ran up through the round hole in the bit. A western snaffle with a 6" shank is good for this. This is something you can do as you notice him flipping nose or throwing head to far up to turn well.



Sometimes just a good longe line with the draw reins tied and dropped over the saddle horn works for this, too. Just longe him for 10 min each way. Do give him enough slack to work - just not enough to flip his nose or throw head up.



Another thing to remember - if he gets sour ears or switchy tailed he may be sore. . or he may be bored.. so you always want to do a bit of outside trail riding or pleasure riding to keep his mind fresh.



Hope this helps! Good luck!

Answer 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2EEcJ48Xjc



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkbLXzSCq7o&feature=related



A rodeo barrel racers video.... too many turns with forehand involvement before she finally gets to a haunch involved turn...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTnAIOz43LM



A link to a video of Todd Bergen...a top ten trainer of working cow horses and reiners....wait and watch for his rollbacks.....off the haunches. His colts begin training learning haunch turns...he'll then turn them into the wall if they're not wanting to compress themselves into the turn .....colts need to learn to work off their haunches if they're headed for the working cow horse pen or reiner pen.



Once these colts understand haunch turns he'll lope them aways in the pen, stop and ask them to come around over their haunches for a slow speed roll back....the older these colts get, the better they can do this...muscles over their gaskins, rump and back all have to be developed to be able to carry their weight plus a riders around over their hocks particularly at speed.



None of your training should be done without protective gear on your horse. Splint boots, bell boots in front and skid boots behind. Burn your horse's fetlocks on a stop or turn and it'll be heck and a day before you can get him to do it again.



I would also caution you about working in deep soft sand or dirt..if your horse isn't properly prepared for this, exercises to tone up those tendons and ligaments...you're guaranteed a nasty sprain or tear of soft tissues. There is a point while working in the deep stuff that it goes against what you're trying to accomplish getting these horses fitted up. You'll overload those soft tissues...too easy to do.



Draw reins are a crutch for a horse that hasn't been properly bitted up and schooled through the bitting up process. Horses will learn to evade your hand once drawreins have been removed. Use them judiciously!



A trick from a top halter showman to aid in developing your horse's backend...gaskins, glut muscles, back your horse from the ground for a good twenty to thirty feet before you put him away. Do this EVERY day.



The thing most noticeable about barrel racers is that they do NOT have control on all four corners of their horse....speed and a lack of truly being broke interferes with control....they'll jump to monster bits to make up for the deficit....jaw crushers.