I have seen students get VERY frustrated trying to back their horses into a stall, or over a pole, or between barrels. Horses can be very claustrophobic and protective of their rear ends, as predators will hamstring a horse and cripple it. It develops a lot of respect and trust between horse and human when they trust us enough to back into, over and through scary objects. It’s a valuable exercise.

When a student is trying to back over a pole, for example, often the horse will step over with the hind legs to miss the pole. The student then yields the hindquarters, and the horse goes too far and misses the pole on the other side. And repeat. This can go on for a long time, with frustrating results. It’s very hard to control how far the hind end steps over when you disengage it.

If you will steer the front end instead, you can be very precise in controlling the hindquarters. It’s like pushing a shopping cart backwards. Get a backwards motion first, then gradually step left, drawing the front end with you, if you want the hindquarters to go to the right. Yes, step the opposite direction. Slowly. The horse’s body should stay lined up with you. Keep the horse’s nose pointed towards your belly button. If the horse is going to go the wrong way, the first thing that will happen is his nose will start leaving you. If he swings his head to the left, he will swing his hind quarters to the right.

Come to one of my clinics, and I will show you how to take this to a high level, and end your frustrations! You will make huge progress. Hope to see you soon!