 Being able to back your horse up might seem like an elementary movement but backing a horse of any age can present challenges. Brian Newbird offers some suggestions on how to prepare and back a horse with little experience under the saddle and also a horse with more experience. He discusses different approaches for both stages of horse that can help you and your horse be successful. I wanted to visit a little about backing and just got this horse in last night really because the new Emily was coming but started him last summer and I didn't count but probably a dozen rides maybe and very short ones so he is real green, he's real gentle and I've never asked him to back and I could have alright and I used to when I start one back him very early and well when I worked for Ray Hunt we backed everything on the first ride and then later spent some time with another fellow that Tom Dorrance and I noticed that he didn't back his horses up sometimes for well one time we were riding together and I said I don't believe I ever saw you back that horse up and he said that's probably because I never have and I said well you got like 20 rides on him and you've never backed him up and he said Brian you can teach one to back anytime like it's so much more important to help him learn to go through troubling places and all that and I've done a little bit on this guy actually this is the first time I've ever been on him in a smaller pen but he's real gentle I could have but I just put little five minute rides on him at times and just tried to get him a couple of them started traps when he soon as he turns loose with that hind quarters it's important that I turn loose with my hand so he thinks that what he's doing got him released it's not after he tries it's as he tries it's not like a reward it's like he's rewarding himself seems to me that it's a little easier to help one learn to back or get soft in here if their neck is bent just a little bit like this because it's almost like what I did with one rain and it seems to me that it's a little harder for him to stay rigid if his neck is bent let's see if I want to lean back here and kind of exaggerate it here not a big deal now what's very important here see I'll just wait right here he hung there I turn it loose right there it's very very important that I recognize his efforts and ease off it's very easy to get greedy right here and say well boy you back to step can you back two or three and I'll just lean back here and see he's he doesn't know what to do good I'll take it now in the in the in the he gave me one that I didn't ask for in the coming rides I might back quite a few times but not quite a few steps like it's really important that I ease off when he's trying not waiting for him to die out good give him a lick here there he gave me another step I didn't ask for he's getting proud of himself if he doesn't get soft then I might ask him to get soft and don't even worry about backing maybe I'll step up here a few times up and back I can feel him thinking about it wanting to stop her back again he's like the kid with a new toy now what I could do is give him a little break ride him around and test him again but you can see he's kind of trying he's thinking about this so while he's thinking about it it seems like I want to go do something else show you a little something here before I quit on this horse you could on the ground I mean if I was going to be asking him to back up I might do a little of this every time I saddle up an unsaddle just take him right here and come soft and just ask him to tease him just like I did when I was on his back put some pressure here and just wait for him to find his way off he said I don't know how to do this on the ground from this other side but I just wait on him when he does that give him a lick and start over that was much better he's going to catch up quick don't nearly need very many steps but the one thing I'm concentrating on is quitting whatever however I'm going about this when he's trying don't get greedy let's see what he's got here I want him to be responsive also would want him to be soft in the bridle also would want cadence in the feet also would want him straight also eventually want him to have some speed in there if he has those other things the speed is going to be given anyway it's not a big deal and I want to see if I can get him to get freer, lighter on my hands here that felt better that didn't feel too bad only he had a lower in his steps I want to make sure he's free like I went too far not too bad right there very very very important that I quit when he is putting out some effort that's the difference between a drilling process and a learning process I mentioned cadence in the feet and a lot of horses you see don't have why would I want cadence in the feet well if you ever get a chance to see a horse back on his own which you don't too often but if he's maybe he's with some other horses and going to back out to go get a drink or maybe he's backing up to kick another horse or a lot of horses you see come flying out of the trailer and they're kind of really taking over but if you'll notice they'll be backing just like they trot with two feet on the ground two feet off the ground and the reason I would want that cadence is because it's the best chance to imitate nature like the creator of horses put that in there that's the way they do when they're on their own so that's what I want to imitate maybe I'll visit first about straightness like it seems to me that if they back crooked which like I mentioned on my first timer I don't really care he can do it my thing his way I won't be too critical if he's trying to get off my hands good enough for me but a lot of times horses will back crooked if they back crooked they're probably going to stop crooked if they stop crooked they're not going to stop very good like they can cease forward motion but for a horse to really get stopped they got to be balanced good enough here if I good enough that's feeling a lot better I don't need to back up halfway across the arena here when he's putting out that kind of effort I want to let him know you got it here drag around now hold up let's see how little I can do here as this comes up here if he doesn't start helping good okay he's had this before and like on a first timer on this when I was mentioning that I'm not going to ask him to back it wouldn't bother me if there are a minute or two around here and I'm doing it on one side and the other before they even get the thought to back up but if I feel the thought to back up I'm giving them total relief I mean if they even shift their weight I'm giving it relief I use another little thing here that's been a big help to me and actually a fellow named Ray Hunt showed me this I've never seen him help anybody with it at the clinics in that little quick review off my hands soft in the bridle which those two are connected pretty much cadence in the feet the way God intended straightness very important and speed but you get those others going speeds easy where I have in the past and I know other people do if I have started asking for more speed than what they're ready for a little too early like I don't even worry about that so anyway that's good enough for this guy