I have been riding for over 35 years and I have never paid as much attention as I did this past year to the rein back or teaching a horse to back up. I feel like I have discovered a magic wand, crystal ball, and enchanted book all wrapped up into one movement. What I mean is that I never knew that so many answers could be found in the success or failure of teaching of one activity on a horse.
The Foundation in a Philosophy
I came across the idea of "Natural Horsemanship" a number of years ago when my mom became interested in Pat Parelli as a way to address her and my sister's handling of the high energy thoroughbreds we all rode. At the time I was a distant observer, curious but skeptical of all of the lingo and tools in Parelli's way of instruction. The one thing that engaged me was the idea of breaking down the relationship between rider and horse. The "proof was in the pudding" I decided as I watched my little sister, who was at the time around 11 years old, develop a relationship with a thoroughbred that had repeatedly bucked my mom and myself off (one broken finger and I was done with the horse). My sister had taken the training to heart to the point of my sister being able to ride him bareback, bridle-less and jumping barrels.
My mom pursued her interest in Parelli and I took bits and pieces along the way and tried them on my off-the-track-thoroughbreds. My success was mixed given my luke-warm involvement in any particular "philosophy" of natural horsemanship, but I listened and observed and experimented. Eventually my mom's search for the sources of "horse whispering" brought her to the teachings of Tom Dorrence, Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman. When she sent her 3 year old PMU filly to be started by a young woman, Susannah Fay, we learned more about Buck Brannaman. Susannah had been starting colts in Wyoming and had discovered Buck after an accident nearly sidelined her horse career. As I watched her work with my mom's filly, I could see how successful her methods were. I started listening a little closer. Eventually I asked Susannah to help me learn the groundwork and start several young horses. Buck Brannaman's no-nonsense approach with particular attention to the suppleness and balance of the horse appealed to me and my background in dressage. After Susannah's introduction and with my mother's encouragement, I attended several clinics and continued to educate myself on the Vaquero tradition. Even though the Vaquero tradition of horsemanship is rooted in ranch working horses, I have found that the focus on agility and responsiveness to light aids or signals translates well to the world of dressage and jumping.
The Rein Back in Simple Terms
I recently watched a video by Paul Dietz on Vaquero Horsemanship. I met Paul when he was assisting Buck at a recent clinic I attended. On his video he breaks down that the rider needs a horse to have six basic movements- forward, back, front feet to the right, front feet to the left, hind feet to the right, hind feet to the left. All movements whether it be a half pass in dressage, or a spin in reining, or a rollback over the hocks to cut cows, are based on the horse understanding how clearly to respond to the rider asking for one of these six movements. When starting a horse, the primary goal is to have the horse understanding the signals that the rider gives to do one of these six movements. The Vaquero tradition focuses on teaching this from the ground and then translating the signals to the back of the horse. Light pressure is always employed to "ask" for the movement and if the horse does not respond, the pressure is increased. Therefore teaching the reinback starts from the ground at any age teaching the horse to move backwards from light pressure on the lead and later from the snaffle bit.
The reinback begins with the horse shifting its weight from the forehand which is where the majority weight of the horse is carried, to the hindquarters and then stepping backwards. This rolling of balance to the hindquarters is the fundamental purpose of the half-halt in English riding. When a horse is taught to gently roll their weight back onto the hindquarters from a light pressure on the bit (and change of seat position of the rider when you become more finessed), then you have the balance and power needed to achieve expression of movement for dressage or scope over fences.
Exercises Using the Rein Back
I started off 2013 with one goal in mind for my horses- improve their "push" from behind, self-carriage and engagement. With my jumpers my goal is to get them all stronger and more adjustable so that when I push them forward to increase their stride, I don't have them flatten out. And in dressage, my goals center around improving their balance for better self-carriage on the 10 meter circles, and maintaining their balance in lengthening. I pay attention at each of the gaits for the moment when the horse's balance falls forward. Gently I bring the horse down to the halt and then rein back. I have to be sensitive to when the horse starts anticipating the rein back rather than waiting for my asking. Since most of my horses will compete at dressage at some point in their lives, I do not want to have them backing when I actually want a halt.
I also include the rein back between fences when I feel the horse falling forward. With a horse that anticipates or rushes fences, I try to use the rein back intermittently with halts and downward transitions so that the horse learns to wait for my aids rather than guess what I want. I will roll the horse over a shoulder in the rein back changing where the horse is headed so that I can present the horse to another fence that they were not previously anticipating. I always do this exercise over small fences or cavaletti since the goal is to increase the horse's response to the aids, not jump higher.
As the horse rebalances onto their hind end, they begin to feel very light and maneuverable. The test of their strength is to do the 10 m circles at the canter and see if they respond by staying more balanced and upright. Also as the jumps get larger, test whether the horses regains their balance between and after the fences with the slightest aids. In this way you will see that including the rein back throughout your work routine improves the overall balnce and responsiveness of the horse
