Backing Up

Backing up is an unnatural gait for the horse because they naturally want to move in a forward motion. Some horses learn how to back faster than others, so you must be very patient when teaching your horse how to back up. Horses that are particularly heavy on the bridle and are not soft or giving can be especially hard to teach. These horses might also have little lateral flexion and barely any vertical flexion.

The first step to teaching your horse to back up is taught on the ground. Get a halter and put it on your horse. Gently pull back on the halter while clucking. If your horse does not take a step back, get a bat or crop and tap on his chest with constant pressure. As soon as he takes one step back, immediately release the pressure and praise him. Keep repeating this until he can easily take five or six steps backwards. Pretty soon, when he feels your hand move to pull his halter backward, he will anticipate what you want and start to back up.

A trick that works well with difficult horses is adding a chain. Make sure that you are applying constant pressure with the chain. Constant pressure, however, does not mean harder. Keep the pressure soft and gentle, but make sure that it is steady. Some horses have cold personalities and do not react as well as others. A chain may help to get a better response out of this type of horse.

After you get your horse to back up on the ground, it is time to move into the saddle. While sitting in the saddle, ask your horse to back up with your hands offset. This means you will hold one hand back further than the other and then add pressure with the other hand. This will prevent your horse from bracing against the bit. If you pull back equally with both reins, you give your horse the opportunity to take the bit and push against it. While one rein is held back further and the other is pulling backwards and releasing, the bit is offset in his mouth. When you are asking him with the reins, also ask him by clucking. Remember that each time he takes a step back, release the pressure and give him praise.

Once he understands that you want him to back up, you can add leg pressure. Similar to how you use leg pressure when you want forward motion, you will squeeze with both legs. Each time you cluck while asking him to back, you will squeeze with your legs. When you start clucking and adding backward pressure, you will let him back off of the pressure of both your hands and your legs. You want to take that forward energy while he is walking forward and when you stop him, transfer that energy and use it for your back-up. He will want to move off the bit after you stop him and continue using backward pressure in his mouth and leg pressure on his sides.

Taking your horse into a corner can also teach him to back up. Horses will naturally back out of a corner, but may try to escape to the right or left. When you walk him into a corner, whether it is a corner in your barn aisle or the corner of an arena, you can ask him to back out. This is a trick that may help horses learn to back, but remember not to let him escape by turning to the right or left.

Additional ground work may be necessary if your horse is still having difficulty learning to back up. If he is used to a long line, you can drive him forward and cluck to him while adding pressure to the bit. After he stops, keep adding pressure and cluck to get him to back up. Another thing you can do is verbally ask him to “back.”

Some horses might rear up or fight for their head in response to backward pressure in their mouth. Don’t just pull back harder in response to their fighting the bit. If you give and take with the pressure, you will get a better response and possibly prevent a wreck.

Translating the experience of a 30 year training career into his universal CPR (Confidence, Patience, Respect) Horsemanship methods, Garland offers horse owners unique and innovative training techniques. For more information, visit tommygarland.com

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