Backing Up Your Horse in Hand

A horse that confidently and obediently backs up on command is a joy to have around. Whether you’re maneuvering to close a gate, positioning your horse for farrier work, or just need to take a couple steps back to reach the bottle of fly spray, backing is an all-important skill for convenience.

It’s also a safety benefit while working in the barn. When other people and horses are coming in and out of stalls, the wash rack, or aisle, it’s important to be able to move your horse wherever you need to—including in reverse.

The good news is you can use simple ground training to teach your horse to back up. While a young green horse will clearly benefit from this type of training, older horses may also lack solid backing skills, or they may have become lazy about the process.

In either case, teaching or reteaching the skill is straightforward.

There are different methods for teaching a horse to back up from the ground, and individual horses may benefit from different techniques; what works for one may not work as well for another.

The pressure-and-release technique for backing up your horse in hand described below is simple, safe, and easy for both horse and handler to understand.

1. Turn to Face Your Horse

Begin in the normal position that you would use to lead your horse: on his near side, next to his shoulder.

The first step to backing is to turn and face your horse so that you’re looking in the direction you want him to back. Try to visualize exactly where you want your horse’s feet to go; this can help you assist him in backing as straight as possible. It may also help to work next to an arena rail or wall to aid him in backing straight while he’s learning.

2. Add a Tiny Amount of Pressure

Next, give your horse a tiny cue that he should move backward. Start with a small amount of pressure on the front of his chest by his near shoulder. You can use your hand to gently apply a bit of pressure, but it may be easier to use the tip of a short riding crop.

At the same time, take just a half step toward your horse. This may eventually be quite beneficial, as he will begin to predict what you want when he sees you take a step.

Also, a vocal cue or clicker can be used in combination with the pressure cue to help him understand that you’d like him to do something.

3. Increase Pressure As Needed

If your horse is completely green to this process, odds are you won’t get much of a response, if any. That’s OK! Starting out slow is fine.

The next step is to incrementally add more pressure until your horse performs the desired behavior. If steady pressure isn’t working, you can always change to a light repetitive tapping.

If there’s still no response, continue to incrementally make the cue stronger, all while moving toward your horse slightly.

4. Stop and Reward

As the cue increases in strength, most horses will naturally take a step back and yield to your prompting. As soon as that happens, stop applying pressure—this is your horse’s reward for yielding. You can add vocal praise as well.

The benefit of slowly adding additional pressure and then releasing ensures that you’re never over-cueing your horse. Repeat steps 2 to 4 a couple of times, and then let your horse take a break until the next day’s lesson.

5. Use Repetition

As with any type of horse training, short sessions that repeat the same steps reinforce the concept to your horse quickly. It’s amazing how quickly a horse can learn a skill if you do it every day.

You can certainly do this type of groundwork in a formal training setting like a round pen or indoor arena, but a couple of minutes while your horse is on his way to daily turnout can work as well. It’s simply backing up, so it doesn’t need to be elaborate.

6. Watch Him Improve

Eventually, your horse will understand the very first moments of your cue. In time, he should start to back up when he feels even the slightest bit of pressure or tapping on his shoulder.

Ideally, you’ll even get to the point where you can back your horse without touching him at all—he’ll just be attuned to your movements and start to back up as soon as you turn around and begin to walk toward him.

Congratulations! You have a horse that is well-trained to back up and easy to work with.

This article about backing up your horse in hand appeared in the April 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!