HORSE GUARD FENCE Topic of the Month

History of the canter backward :

Marquis de la Bigne, commandant of the first riding school under Louis XVI, is the first rider known to have executed a backward canter: he took one hour to cross the hundred-meter long paved Place d' Armes of the Château de Versailles practically cantering on the spot.

François Baucher claimed to have "invented" the canter backward, which he describes in 1842 in his "méthode d'équitation" (horseriding Manual)
The explanation corresponds more to the two-time canter "terre à terre" than to the three-time plus suspension canter.
This new gait was adopted by some of Baucher's followers : Raabe, Gerhardt, Saint Phalle and on, Fillis. Strangely, his favorite pupils, General Lhotte and General Faverot, who practiced the highest level of dressage, never expressed themselves on this subject.

More recently, Vasconcellos, master horseman at Barnum's in the 1960's, presented a horse at the canter backward and several Spanish and Portuguese bullfighting horses executed it more or less successfully. One of them (Bartabas with Zingaro) recently took part in a French equestrian exhibition in New York. The master Oliveira has also practiced this gait, merely as an experiment.

We consider the canter backward as extravagant and shall leave the conclusion to the highly qualified Théodore Pellier, whose father was no less than Baucher's friend and associate.
In his book "Le Langage Equestre " (Equestrian Language) Pellier wrote in 1889 :- " The new gaits which the horsemen of our country (19th) claim to have invented do not seem to serve any other purpose than to amuse the spectators of circuses and race-tracks shows."

The Canter backwards : description and definition :
The canter backward is a gait toward the rear with three hoof-beats plus a moment of suspension. The horse's hooves touch ground in the same order as in a forward canter - except that the horse moves backwards instead of projecting himself forwards.
In the forward movement, the horse's hooves touch ground one ahead of the other; in the canter backward, they will touch ground one farther back than the other.

As an example, in the right canter backward, the sequence of steps will be as follows:
1 - Left hindleg (first beat)
2 - Left diagonal (right hind hoof farther back than the left hind hoof - second beat)
3 - Right foreleg, farther back than the left foreleg (third beat)
4 - Suspension

It is during the period of suspension of a canter on the spot that the canter backward can be asked, solely by a slight motion of the loins and seat toward the hindquarters, and without any strong action on the reins, which would block the horse's hips and hamper his backward movement.

Preparing for the canter backward :

The canter backward derives essentially from a canter on the spot itself proceeding from a more and more collected slow-down canter.
This progression corresponds to the length of time necessary to lead a horse from basic training to the highest level of dressage - which means five to eight years.
Mastering this showy gait requires an exceptionally talented trainer and a horse blessed with a sensitivity, a flexibility and a strength out of the ordinary.
When the horse can easily achieve a very active collected canter, the rider must ask for a slower and slower pace without any loss of impulsion. The horse, then, shortens his stride to reach the canter on the spot : only when he can execute this movement with ease and lightness and resume a forward movement just as easily, can the canter backward can be attempted.
The rider must then reinforce the impulsion and with a subtle move of his seat toward the hindquarters and delicate indications of the fingers on loosely tightened reins, he must shift the center of gravity of the horse toward the hindquarters, thus provoking the first interval of suspension in which the four members of the horse are off the ground to start cantering backwards.

Usefulness and merits of the canter backward :

As we have said above, if executed without coercion and in the condition we have described, this fancy step demonstrates the exceptional aptitude of the horse to collect himself and the finesse of the rider.
At best, it will not add anything to the talent and natural gifts of the haute-école horse, but more often, it will disturb or even destroy the natural quality of his canter before the rider realizes that neither himself nor the horse are capable of obtaining the backward canter.

The extremely slowed-down canter required for a pirouette on the spot is a useful but seldom perfectly achieved exploit. Its preparation, although necessary at a high level of dressage, alters or destroys the canter of many horses. What then can be said of the canter backward, other than one has to be absolutely convinced of his own exceptional talent as a trainer and of the excellence of his horse to undertake this type of unnecessary and dangerous training
Michel Henriquet.
Versailles, France, December 1998

Backward Canter