BACKING
Motion backwards is not a gait, but merely one of the three movements which the horse executes by carrying rearward its center of gravity, and consequently a part of its weight.
The movement has given rise, among methodists, to a great diversity of theories, more or less impractical and absurd. Some writers recommend having two men to teach the action, one in the saddle, who pulls alternately on the reins, the other on foot, who touches chest or knees with a whip. Others advocate having the rider dismount, and, facing the horse's head, take one rein in each hand, and push backward, first on one and then on the other. If the horse does not then back, the trainer steps on the horse's fore feet as he gives the tug at the reins. What confusion! There is no real principle. How can one write concerning an art without greater knowledge of it!
It must be evident that, in order to make the horse back, the rider must carry backwards the center of gravity. Then, whenever a hind leg leaves the ground, it must go to the rear to receive the weight, which otherwise tends to fall backwards. If, at the same time, the rider's hand indicates to the horse that it cannot go forward, a front leg must follow the hind leg in diagonal. This makes the first step. To repeat the same effects of hand and legs obtains the second step.
147
