Backing up?

Unless its absolutely necessary for you to put her in facing out, I'd just walk her in. It seems to me it would be safer having her butt on the butt chain and head toward the wall. If she kicked she wouldn't be going through Plexiglas or metal.
It just seems unsafe to have her facing out to me.
We have a wash rack that is similar and we walk them in and back out.
If you have to do this, try walking her in and backing out over and over, then turn her around and go the other way.

You need to teach her to back up without the stall first...then start backing her through and around and between things to get her used to doing so; I am guessing she just doesn't have enough respect for you to trust you to back her into a small enclosed space like that.

I also agree with incorporating work into helping her get the idea that the stall is a 'good' place to be; working her outside of it, and then asking her to back in and only allowing her to rest there...if she refuses to back, then you take her away and continue working.

That place looks really wierd to me. Do you mean that YOU then go into that narrow place with her and put her saddle on there? I think that is far more dangerous. If something upset her , she could squish you against those bars and you have nowhere to go. She could easily put a foot over that lower bar, try to jump over that low chain. I dunno, it's pretty wierd to me.

She probably now knows that going into that slot means work. So af you implement some of the good advice given by the others, you might want to put her in, and then take her out pretty soon, so it isn't always a "go in and stand a long time, get tacked and work" feeling . I would not look forward to that either.

Sarah, other members have suggested some methods of teaching a horse to back up. They are good ideas to try.

Personally I sense another issue. You are prepared to force a horse, sometimes with the help of other handlers, to back up when all that should be necessary is a pointed finger to the chest and the words "Back up, horse".

You like the 'stall' system, your horse doesn't. You are irritable that the horse won't do as it is told. You think the horse is a cussed. You get angry. Next you'll think of using a whip.
But you are creating resistance in the horse not compliance.

Now if the horse won't back into that confined space, and my own horse might understand why, then it the animal is fearful probably from a bad memory. You are trying to contain it in a small space with no grass, no hay and no water. It will feel it is in a concrete cage. It will try to escape.

I wonder:
How do you get on loading into a horse box?
How do you get on backing up straight under saddle?
Have you ever done any backing up round poles laid on the ground? As in Le Trec?
How does the horse take to the farrier?

If you persistently force a horse to do something which it is constantly fearful of you create a problem for yourself and the horse will start to mistrust you.

Try persuading the horse, one to one, to back up into a much larger space - say through the door of a stable where you have put in a haynet. Leave the horse to eat a mouthful of the hay, then 5 minutes of so later bring it out. Walk it around in hand and do it again. ANd again And again - three times at least.

Try grooming the horse cross tied ie one lead off the left side of the halter, one off the right side, each lead attached to a hook preferably above the horse's head.

My point is that in the end no single human has the power to force a horse to do anything , the aim of the game is always to ask it so that the horse understands and then obeys in order to please its handler.
When this starts to happen, the handler must never force a horse to do what is finds fearful - the handler should persuade it. Usually the problem is one of communication.

Remember all you should need to make a horse back up - is a pointed finger.

And tell the kids that it is dangerous to walk around the back of any horse - if they don't know already. A stable yard should be a quiet calm environment at all times with at most some light classical music.

I backed her into the bigger on today and she did it ok. She was a bit pushy at first but then she backed in fine. I did that twice. I will try her with the smaller ones tomorrow

I would actually keep doing it in the bigger one until she is no longer resistent to your cues (like Barry said, all you should have to do is pick up your finger, or wiggle your lead). You don't get her used to confined spaces in one or two sessions...it usually takes a little longer than that to retrain her mind that a smaller space is OK! Don't rush it...work where she is comfortable and progressively work from there, and always have the goal of having to use as little pressure as you have to to get her to do what you are asking

That gave me a chuckle! The number of barns in California that are in need of your taste, sir, what with their blaring Mexican muzak all day long!

There is water in the stalls. And she gets fed in them after work

How do you get on loading into a horse box? She loads in and out of a horse box just perfect. And since most horse boxes have a lot less space and are definitely not as open as the stalls I would expect her to be able to go into them.

How do you get on backing up straight under saddle? Again she does that fine.
Have you ever done any backing up round poles laid on the ground? As in Le Trec? Nope never done that before.
How does the horse take to the farrier? Other than the fact that she leans back when the farrier is hammering nails into her hooves she is very quiet.

Ok Northern
for California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas I'll relent

For "classical music" read 'one seven string Spanish guitar playing solo'

Otherwise maybe those Spanish Americans would play: "the 1912"

Oops, not 1912 - finger slip - of course the 1812 would be a bit 'over the top'.