Getting Your Horse's Attention Part 2 - The Backup

The backup is a continuation of the previous exercise of lowering your horse's head. We all want our horses to be able to back up softly whenever we wish, for numerous reasons. Not only can it help with basic groundwork exercises, trailer loading/unloading etc it also improves your horse's backup under saddle.

Now, there are several areas you can put pressure on to teach your horse to back up, however we will focus mainly on the noseband area of your horse's face. Later on you can also teach your horse to back up off of pressure to his shoulder/chest, but it is best not to begin with that. If you start to teach your horse to back up off of pressure to his chest and he resists, you will need to increase the pressure (eg. tag him with the end of your rope) which may result in him striking out with his front feet.

So, backing your horse up off of pressure to his nose:

•  Lower your horse's head using the steps in the previous article (stand by your horse's head facing towards his rear, holding the halter just under his chin with your thumb downwards etc).

•  Use your body to indicate to your horse that you would like him to move away (backwards) from you – take one step towards him.

•  Put light pressure on the noseband of the halter indicating you would like your horse to move backwards. If your horse offers to take a step backwards, release the pressure & reward him. If your horse does not, increase the pressure until you get a result & reward the proper response.

•  Keep practicing until you can get your horse to back up several steps lightly (either off of light pressure on the halter or just off of your body language).

•  Next if you would like you can teach your horse to back up off of direct pressure to his nose using your hand. Stand just off to the side, place your hand on his nose & follow the same steps as above

From here you can begin making things a little more exciting by doing things such as: ask your horse to back up over a pole, ask your horse to back into his stall, ask your horse to back through gates – you get the picture! Be creative and have fun!!

**As always, it is a good idea to have a professional with you when teaching your horse new ground exercises, especially if your horse is resistant. The steps listed above are simpy general guidelines.