Ask A Teamster: Trouble Backing a Team

by Dr. Doug Hammill D.V.M. of Montana

Dear Doc Hammill,

I am in need of professional advice. Recently I had a bad experience with my team as I was backing them away from where I harness on my way to hitch to the forecart. Their back ends got farther and farther apart as they came back and all of a sudden Ben turned inward and came straight at me. The lines became tangled and were pulling on Molly’s mouth. She flew back the other way jerking Ben’s bit and hurting him. My friend got to Molly’s head and I stopped Ben before anything worse happened but they were very upset and almost got away. When I back them up they often spread apart in back but I never lost control before. What can I do to keep this from happening again?

Joe Coswell, Indiana

Your unfortunate experience is an all too common wreck that can easily occur when driving an unhitched team. Without traces hooked to single trees there are no outside boundaries to encourage the horses not to spread their rear ends apart especially when backing up. The lines normally allow us to keep their heads from spreading too far apart or turning inward, but typical harness has no physical barriers near the rear on the sides unless the traces are hooked. If the rear ends of the horses get far enough apart, the lines don’t work properly, or, at some point, not at all. To avoid mishaps and wrecks it is imperative that we keep our horses’ rear ends appropriately close together at all times, but particularly when backing up. There are a number of ways this can be accomplished.

When free to move about on their own, horses seldom back up very far. It is much easier for them to turn and go a different direction than to back up. This natural behavior tells us that horses need consideration and training to assist them with alignment and direction when backing up in harness. Be ever aware that as we back a horse in harness he cannot see where he is going. Therefore, he is uncertain what the footing is like, and is blindly placing his feet. One consideration we can give our horses is to back them only a short distance before stopping to give them a moment to regroup, then continue on back. Another is to have them back slowly and deliberately, giving them time to place their feet, find their balance, and hopefully remain comfortable. Although horses can be trained to back fast and far it is not natural or comfortable for them. And I’m all for comfortable working partners.

To keep a team in alignment and limit the extent to which the rear ends can spread, my first choice is what I refer to, perhaps indelicately, as a “butt rope.” It is simply a rope of proper length with a strong, safe, snap tied on each end. One snap is hooked into the outside, bottom hame ring of the first horse with the snap facing inward so nothing can accidentally become snapped into it (photo #1). The rope is then threaded between the horse and the front hip strap (above the breeching) on the outside of the same horse. Do not go inside the rear hip strap but instead pass the rope under this first horse’s tail (photo #2), over to the other horse and under its tail. Working up the outside of the second horse, pass the rope under the rear hip strap and snap into the outside, bottom hame ring with the snap facing inward.

Proper adjustment of the butt rope length will allow the horses to spread their rear ends only about six inches to a foot more than when they are hitched and working parallel. Once the proper rope length is established, it need not be changed unless used on horses of a significantly different size. For draft horses I use 20 feet of 3/8 or ½ inch soft, braided, poly rope with a total snap-to-snap length of about 16.5 to 17 feet. Smaller horses would require a proportionately shorter working length. In addition to preventing the horses from swinging their rear ends out, it is important that they not be held too close together. They need room to maneuver and work without crowding each other.

Another method of preventing a team from spreading their rear ends apart is tying them together by the inside breeching rings. This can be accomplished with a rope (halter ropes are often used), a chain with snaps on each end, or leather or webbing straps (web straps for tying horses in horse trailers work nicely, they adjust in length and have a quick release panic snap on one end). Again it is important to adjust the length of the tie so the horses stay close enough together, but not too close. Proper adjustment can be a bit tricky since the inside breeching rings will pull away from the horses as slack is taken out of the quarter straps, pole straps, and in some styles of harness, the breast straps, when the horses attempt to spread. While this method certainly works, it pulls on certain parts of the harness in ways and directions not intended in the design of harness. At the same time the horse can be subjected to pressure on inappropriate parts of the body, such as between the front legs and downward on the hips. With a butt rope going from hame to hame around the horses, the force is concentrated on the outside of the horses toward the rear right where it needs to be to set the proper boundary and signal them to keep their rear ends together and stay parallel.

Tying the tails together was a common technique in the past and is still used by some teamsters today. Here again, while it works, I feel the pressure should be directed to a more appropriate area of the body.

I once saw a teamster pull the outside traces around behind a team and connect the end links of the two outside trace chains with a strap behind the horses. This method kept the horses’ rumps together and the boundary was appropriately set on the outer sides near the rear. The thing that concerned the veterinarian part of me was that the trace chains hung dangerously low across behind the rear legs. The thought of a horse kicking into the chains and injuring a leg haunts me (although trace chains are low when horses are hitched to a log or harrow, for example, they are parallel to the horses sides, not running across behind the rear legs).

A common practice when backing an unhitched team is to place the lines on the outside of the horses’ rumps and use the pressure of the lines on the outside of the rear ends to keep the horses’ rumps together. The left line goes on the outside of the left horse’s rump and the right line outside the right horse’s rump. Once again, it will work, but violates some principles I consider important, and can cause problems. The dynamics of the lines are changed when they go out around the horses’ rumps. This causes the horses’ heads to be pulled close together. If we move a horse’s head to the side in one direction it’s natural for the rear end to move over the other direction for balance, body alignment, and comfort. Consequently, when the heads of a team are pulled together by backing them with the lines on the outside their rumps, the rear ends attempt to swing apart exactly the opposite of what we want. Granted the lines can exert pressure on the outside of the rear ends to counteract this natural reaction, but the horses tend to become contorted unnaturally and may become uncomfortable. This can lead to a bad attitude about backing. I also have a problem with the concept of forcing together, or holding together, the rear ends of a couple 1,000 to 2,000 pound animals by pulling on lines that are attached to bits in their mouths. The bottom hame rings and the outside of the rear quarters seem like safer, more humane places to direct what can sometimes be significant forces. This method has another risk associated with the heads being pulled together. I’ve had reports of the center ring on the cross check lines sliding forward and getting caught on both cross checks where they buckle to the bits. This effectively locks the horses heads together by the bits, just inches apart. In some cases the heads were separated without incident but some tragic wrecks and injuries have also resulted. Beware!

An alternative to setting physical boundaries with equipment when backing a team is to simply stop the horses before the two rear ends get apart more than a foot or two beyond normal parallel alignment. Then, go up and get the horse(s) to step over toward the center, and continue backing. Patiently do this as many times as it takes to get them back where you want them without potentially dangerous spreading. The maximum inside distance between the rear ends should not exceed two and a half to three feet. Letting them spread excessively, even a few times, gives them the impression it is acceptable – it is not.

As a training or enforcement technique, a stick can be used to gently touch a horse on the outside of the rear quarter to signal them to move their rear inward. This works when stopped and standing, or when moving forward or backward. Horses should be accustomed to being touched, rubbed, and tapped with the stick, and accepting of it, prior to using it for such training. A stick of appropriate length can be used for both ground driving and driving hitched (See Ask a Teamster, SFJ, Summer 2001, Vol. 25, No. 3).

All this considered I like my “butt rope.” I use it on all horses that I’m training to drive and work in harness as a team. They wear it throughout the training process whether ground driven or hitched. It consistently sets the proper lateral boundaries and the horses become habituated to staying in position whether working or standing. The butt rope automatically keeps the horses in parallel alignment so I can concentrate on other important aspects of training. Eventually, horses learn the boundaries and hardly ever tighten the rope. At some point I coil it up and hang it on a hame where it’s handy if needed as a reminder. However, I don’t hesitate to reintroduce it, even to seasoned horses, if one starts to get careless.

There may be times, even with the most dependable of teams, when “something happens” and the horses uncharacteristically swing their rear ends out. This can occur anywhere on a scale from casual drifting outward to a lightning fast, single jump, reflex reaction. Immediate corrective action is imperative anytime a pair of horses begin to spread apart in the rear. Which course of action we choose to take will depend upon many factors. Below are some options to choose from:

1. If the horses are calm and have not spread very far, you may choose to simply stop them, go up and have them “get over” into position, pause to let them settle a bit, and proceed, preferably with the addition of a “butt rope.”
2. If the spreading is moderate and the horses are responsive and not anxious or upset, you could give the verbal command to go forward and straighten them out during forward motion with appropriate contact and direction via the lines. Sometimes it helps straighten them if we gently and rhythmically flex the heads from side to side as they go forward.
3. Regardless of how far apart the horses have spread, do not hesitate to move up between them to get control of their heads with your hands whenever you feel uncertain about maintaining control and straightening them out with your voice and the lines. As you do so, speak to them softly, slowly, and calmly with confidence, not concern. Becoming upset or too forceful could add to their sense of something amiss and further alarm them. Walk calmly up between them and take a hold of the cross check line near the bit of each horse, ask them to go forward in your usual way, and walk forward with them until they are parallel. Stop them with a “whoa,” or whatever you use, and stay at their heads to comfort them and help them relax. Throughout this process, keep the driving lines in your hands with minimal slack so you can utilize them if necessary.

Whether you use one of these corrective techniques or choose others, please do so sooner rather than later. Better yet, prevention, prevention, prevention!

In closing, I would like to mention a couple of other important considerations with respect to backing up with any horse. When backing horses, it is not uncommon for people to stop backing by simply releasing pressure on the lines and letting the horse stop without a “whoa.” In the interest of safety and to keep things clear and understandable for the horse(s), I recommend using a verbal “whoa” every time to stop a horse we’re backing. In fact, whenever I ask a horse to move in any direction, I try to make it very clear when and where I want them to stop by consistently using “whoa” at the appropriate time. Also, it is very confusing and unfair to horses for a teamster to signal with a pull on the lines when he wants them to stop when backing up. A pull on the lines is typically used with “whoa” for stopping when in forward motion. However, pulling on the lines when backing is generally interpreted by horses as a signal to continue backing and should be discontinued before giving the command to stop. A final pull on the lines in conjunction with “whoa” gives the horse(s) two conflicting messages, “stop” and “back up.” Holding pressure on the lines after asking a backing horse to stop is also contradictory and will likely result in further backing. So release all backward pressure on the lines to signal a stop when backing.