Honda Rancher ATV won't go into neutral to start

I figured I would toss this up to the Internet just in case anyone that reads this ever encounters this problem. I took my ATV up to the post office today and checked the mail. When I came back out I got on it and went to make sure it was down in neutral as I got ready to start it. Turned on key - no neutral. Odd. I went over everything and made sure I had it in neutral - no light. The third time I called my brother and he said "just push it back and forth, it'll go in." Okay, I got off and got behind it and started pulling it back and trying to push it forward. It pulled back okay, but would not go back forward. This frustrated me for a while and I still wasn't getting it into reverse and was frustrated damn near to tears at my new bike being broken. An old fellow in a car next to me got out and said "Won't go into neutral?" I nodded and explained trouble. He explained that pushing it back and forth was the way to go, but I should also be pushing the shifter down as I'm doing it - said the best way was to just stay on bike and use my body to rock bike back and forth slightly where it sits. And here I'd been trying to move it several feet. ::shaking head::

Long story short it went straight into neutral, neutral light came on and I got it started and headed home.

So if you have an ATV and it won't go into neutral, just give it a good shake as you shift into neutral, it'll get there.