BACKING — BACK BLOOD 



Backing. — {a) Every horse should be taught to back. 

 If he is not, his course of schooling is incomplete. Nothing 

 looks worse than to see an animal backing in zigzag fashion, 

 and even if the movement is accomplished in this style, its 

 object may be defeated by the horse or vehicle coming into 

 collision with something behind it. Most horses can easily 

 be schooled to back, the way to proceed being to let the 

 horse stand with the reins fairly tight. Then the reins 

 should be very gently tightened, the movement being 

 accompanied by commands to " back," delivered in gentle, 

 persuasive tones. The ordinary horse will soon associate 

 the tightening of the reins with the driver's words, and after 

 a few lessons will be perfect ; but he should not be allowed 

 to forget what he has learned, and hence should be practised 

 at backing, and after he has backed a few steps his head 

 may be loosed and the lesson repeated. In the case of 

 saddle horses, the pressure of the rider's legs will assist in 

 keeping him straight. 



{b) A young horse is said to have been backed when he 

 has been mounted a few times. 



Back at the Knees. — A term used to describe a horse 

 who stands with his knees bent more or less backwards, 

 instead of his forelegs being in a straight line. (See Calf 

 Knees, Knees ^ 



Back Band is the leather strap which runs through the 

 pad of a single horse's harness, and buckles over the belly 

 band. Its use is to support the shafts, and for this purpose 

 there are loops called tugs on each side through which the 

 shafts run, the back band being kept from going too far back 

 by the tugs being kept in position by the stops. (See 

 Harness, Stops, Tugs.) 



Back Blood is the term applied to the hereditary trait 

 in any particular family of horses which is liable to influ- 



i8 



