The Action of a Horse, when he goes backward, is to have always one of his hinder Legs under his Belly, to push his Croupe backward, to bend his Haunches, and to rest and ballance himself, one time on one Leg, one on the other; this Lesson is very efficacious to lighten a Horse, to settle him in the Hand, to make him ready to advance and go forward, and to prepare him to put himself together, and sit down upon his Haunches.

It should not however be practised, till the Horse has been well laid out and worked in the Trot, and his Limbs are become supple; because, till he is arrived to this Point, you should not begin to unite or put him together: Care must be taken, that this Action of going backward be just, and that in performing it, the Horse keeps his Head steady, fixt, and in a right Place; that his Body be trussed or gathered up, as it were, under him; that his Feet be even; that he be not upon his Shoulders, but on the contrary, on his Haunches; for if he should be false as to any of these Particulars, this Lesson, very far from putting him together, would have the contrary Effect, and dis-unite him.

In order that a Horse may be able to execute what is required of him, he must first comprehend what it is that is asked of him, and for this Purpose the Horseman should make his Lessons short, and demand but little at a Time; begin then to make him go backward, when he is arrived far enough to understand what you expect him to do; but at first be contented with a little, it is sufficient if he understands what you want.

There are Horses, who can go backward, not only with great Ease, but do it even with the Exactness of Horses that are perfectly drest; if you examine these Horses, you will find that all the Parts of their Body are exactly proportioned; they have Strength, and Nature herself has taught them to unite themselves; but there are others, who can't go backwards without great Difficulty; these are weak in the Back, or otherwise imperfect in their Make; don't demand too much of these, work them with caution, for Rigour with such Horses, is never successful.

There are another sort of Horses, who never can be reconciled to Subjection; whenever you try to make them go backward, they fix their fore Feet fast upon the Ground, and arm themselves; in this Case you must endeavour to win them, as it were insensibly, and by degrees. For this Purpose, raise your hand a little, remove it from your Body, at the same time shake your Reins, and you will find that by degrees you will accustom your Horse to obey; but remember at the same time, that you would have a less share of Reason, than the Animal you undertake to dress, were you to expect to reduce him to Obedience all at once; your Horse answering to the Reins which you shake, will move perhaps only one of his fore Feet, leaving the other advanced; this Posture without doubt is defective, because he is dis-united; but as Perfection can't be gained at once, Patience and gentle Usage are the only certain Methods of bringing your Horse to perform what you want. There are others, who when they go backward, do it with Fury and Impatience; these you should correct, briskly, and support lightly with your Legs, while they go backward. There are another sort, who work their lower Jaw about as if they wanted to catch hold of the Bit, who bear upon the Hand, and endeavour to force it; to such Horses you must keep your Hand extremely low, and your Reins exactly even, distribute equally the Power of each, by rounding your Wrist, and keeping your Nails exactly opposite your Body.

After having made your Horse go backward, let him advance two or three Steps, if he obeys the Hand readily.—This will take off any Dislike or Fear, he may entertain from the Constraint of going backward; if he forces the Hand in going backward, these three Steps forward will contribute to bring him into it again; and lastly, they prevent any Vice, that this Lesson might otherwise produce.

After having advanced three Steps, let him stop, and turn him; you will by these means support him, and take him off from any ill Designs, which the Treatment you are obliged to observe towards him, in order to make him stop and go backward with Precision and Order, might otherwise give rise to.—After having turned him, make him go backward, you will prevent his having too great Desire of going too soon from the Place where he stopp'd, as well as from that to which he turned.

The Moment the Stop is made, give him his Bridle; by stopping you have augmented the Degree of the Apuy in the Horse's Mouth; you must increase it still more, in order to make him go backwards; hence a hard Hand and bad Mouth.

This Reasoning is plain, and these Principles are true; notwithstanding which, there are few Horsemen who attend to it, either because they never think and reflect, or else that the Force of bad Habits overcomes them.

This Lesson, if well weigh'd and given properly, is a necessary and certain Method of teaching Horses to make a good Stop, of rendering them light and obedient when they pull or are beyond the Degree of what is call'd full in the Hand.—But if given improperly, or if too often repeated, it then grows to be a Habit, and a Habit is no Correction. Never practise it long with Horses who are hot, and who have hard Mouths, their Impatience and Heat, join'd to Habit and Custom, would prevent them from knowing the Cause, and feeling the Effects. It is the same with those who have short Fore-hands; for as they are generally thick-shoulder'd and heavy, the Difficulty they feel to collect themselves upon their Haunches, naturally disposes them to press the Branches of the Bit against their Chest, by which means this Lesson becomes quite ineffectual.