Cunningham Article Page 1

The Back-Up
Article by Jody Cunningham
Photos by Susan Cunningham

Maneuver 10 of the Cunningham Foundation test. Reverse is not a gear you see a horse use much on his own. Out in the wild about the only time you see a horse going backward is when he thinks something has taken hold of him and he is pulling back to get free and escape. Stop and think for just a second. Can you recall ever having seen a horse casually backing around the pasture? No? Well me either. There was one time. An old mare of mine once got a belly full of loco weed one spring and behaved strangely for the rest of her life. My point is backing up is not something any horse is going to do much of on his own. It is a very necessary skill for any horse that is going to be handled or ridden by humans.
I won’t belabor this point but I do want to make it clear again, that if your horse backs well from the ground then you have at least a reasonable expectation of things going well when you step up onto his back. If not, well I think you get it.
Just some quick facts about backing up. A horse can’t move a foot that he is standing on, or that is weighted. He is always going to move the foot that is free. The one furthest forward. Horses move their feet backward just like they do when they trot going forward. The back up is a 2 beat diagonal gait. Diagonal pairs moving backward. For instance, the right front and the left rear will move in unison, followed by the left front then the right rear. I like to think of it like this. My horses right front and left hind are controlled by my right hand and leg. His left front and right hind are controlled by my left hand and leg. Remember that you can direct a horses’ foot only when it is in the flight phase of his stride. Again, you cannot direct a foot he is standing on.
I like to be able to break any move I want my horse to make all the way down into its simplest elements. My back up gets broken down into one step. Photo 1 shows Strawberry under light contact from my reins (the soft feel) with just an ounce or two more pressure on my right rein as that is the foot I wanted to move. Note that his right front and left hind are in flight. As these feet were just starting to leave the ground, I softened the pressure of my right hand slightly to reward him for the yield. I stop there. If you think that your horse is really soft and responsive see if you can take one step back then stop. Most horses are used to being drug backward and once they start to move they just go. What I am looking for is precise controlled movement, one soft, fluid, deliberate response built upon another. What you cannot see in the photo is the almost imperceptible move I make with my seat and legs. With my hands and reins I am only shaping my horse. My aide. The cue to go on and move comes from my seat. I put my seat in reverse by just getting short in my saddle. I don’t lean back because I don’t want to stick his hindquarters to the ground. I just settle down in my seat and take both legs out of him thereby opening the back door and he steps through it. If I wanted to speed him up I would just fan him slightly with my legs to bring the life up in his feet. All I have to do to stop is let the life out of my seat and go still. Stop riding. Photo 2 is the opposite of photo 1, left front and right hind.