diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index c78b4e01f2..8764bddc03 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 Changes with Apache 2.3.0
 [ When backported to 2.2.x, remove entry from this file ]
 
+  *) mod_proxy_http: Introduce environment variable proxy-initial-not-pooled to
+     avoid reusing pooled connections if the client connection is an initial
+     connection. PR 37770. [Ruediger Pluem]
+
   *) mod_proxy: Add connectiontimeout parameter for proxy workers in order to
      be able to set the timeout for connecting to the backend separately.
      PR 45445. [Ruediger Pluem, rahul <rahul sun.com>]
diff --git a/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_http.c b/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_http.c
index c7be88ff71..4b99128442 100644
--- a/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_http.c
+++ b/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_http.c
@@ -1927,6 +1927,19 @@ static int proxy_http_handler(request_rec *r, proxy_worker *worker,
         ap_proxy_ssl_connection_cleanup(backend, r);
     }
 
+    /*
+     * In the case that we are handling a reverse proxy connection and this
+     * is not a request that is coming over an already kept alive connection
+     * with the client, do NOT reuse the connection to the backend, because
+     * we cannot forward a failure to the client in this case as the client
+     * does NOT expects this in this situation.
+     * Yes, this creates a performance penalty.
+     */
+    if ((r->proxyreq == PROXYREQ_REVERSE) && (!c->keepalives)
+        && (apr_table_get(r->subprocess_env, "proxy-initial-not-pooled"))) {
+        backend->close = 1;
+    }
+
     /* Step One: Determine Who To Connect To */
     if ((status = ap_proxy_determine_connection(p, r, conf, worker, backend,
                                                 uri, &url, proxyname,
diff --git a/modules/proxy/proxy_util.c b/modules/proxy/proxy_util.c
index 2a55c5bcac..fd46206ebe 100644
--- a/modules/proxy/proxy_util.c
+++ b/modules/proxy/proxy_util.c
@@ -2167,6 +2167,11 @@ ap_proxy_determine_connection(apr_pool_t *p, request_rec *r,
     else {
         conn->addr = worker->cp->addr;
     }
+    /* Close a possible existing socket if we are told to do so */
+    if (conn->close) {
+        socket_cleanup(conn);
+        conn->close = 0;
+    }
 
     if (err != APR_SUCCESS) {
         return ap_proxyerror(r, HTTP_BAD_GATEWAY,