Teaching Your Horse to Back Up
By Tommy Garland
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The first thing that your horse must have is lateral softness. This means that when you take your horse’s head to the side of his body, he will give to you lightly on both sides. If he does not do this, then you need to take the time to teach him how to be soft on both sides.
To get your horse to back up, you first need to ask him to move forward a step or two. As he is moving forward, apply pressure to the bit by pulling back gently on the reins. Your horse should soften at the poll and flex over the bridle. He will stop moving forward and start to move backwards. While you are doing this, apply leg pressure gently with both legs as a signal to move. You do not want to just pull back on the reins without any forward impulsion as this may cause him to brace against the bit and toss his head into the air.
Tips:
- Offset your hands as you ask the horse to back up as it will make it harder for the horse to push against the bit and resist your signal.
- Use leg pressure when asking for the back up. This will keep the horse from just standing still and tossing his head into the air.
Solutions for the non-backing horse:
Ride your horse into a corner and keep asking him to move forward into the corner. Obviously he will only be able to go so far. His only way out will be to take a few steps backwards. As he is backing, apply offset pressure with the reins as well as leg pressure. Praise him and repeat the process.
Tommy Garland owns and operates Garlands Ltd. in Powhatan, Virginia. To learn more about Tommy and his TV show on RFD-TV, please visit www.tommygarland.com
