Backing

As I sit in the cart, reins in hand, I am reminded of a scene more than a quarter of a century ago. I was 16 and had come to the most dreaded part of the driver's test: backing through cones. Determined to get through it, I backed and stopped and checked my progress, and backed some more and stopped. Each time I stopped, the examiner took another five points off my test. I stopped one too many times and failed the test. Eventually I got better at backing, but never liked it. When I learned to drive a truck and trailer, the backing was and still is my least favorite part. Now, as I practice driving Lily, my Haflinger, the backing, too, is a chore. When I work her, I enjoy working on halts, and walk-trot-halt transitions. I like practicing quarter turns, half turns, 360-degree turns, and figure eights. But, at some point during the session, I know I must practice backing. We've now progressed past backing straight and are working at backing through cones. It's not pretty. I'm sure I would fail the horse driving test. But with practice, I'm sure we'll become adequate backers.