Ox Power Handbook by Paramananda das

Lesson 3: Teaching The Command "Back!"

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The command for backing up is simply "Back!" plus the ox's name - "Back, Buck, Back!" The physical action you perform indicate this command will depend on your ox. Here's what I do.

With one hand I hold the ox by his halter from underneath his chin and push him backward, and with the other hand I take the butt of the lash and tap him on the forehead and say, "Back, Buck, Back!" Generally the ox will take a step or two backwards, which is all he needs to do. But remember, the tapping with the butt of the lash may have to be quite sharp. Now stop and let the ox gather his wits, and repeat the procedure.

You have to be careful not to let the ox bump into anything when backing up. Otherwise he won't trust you, because he can't see behind himself. If by your instruction he bumps into something, he will become fearful and hesitant to follow you. To obey you, especially with this command, he must trust you. Later on, when you have your ox hooked up to some implement or wagon and he has to back up - a very awkward and uncomfortable task - he will have to have been carefully and patiently trained, and he must trust you.

So this method of tapping the ox on the forehead and pushing him back with the halter is good initial training. But later, when you're working the ox, to get into the ideal position every time you want him to back up may be difficult, so you'll have to use the lash more. But that comes later. For now, concentrate on teaching you ox to back up as I described above. He can be in the ring or out, but he shouldn't be hooked up to any wagon or load - not yet.

Once your ox begins to associate the word "Back!" with the idea of walking backwards, try hitting him with the lash across the front of his legs instead of the front of his forehead. You should find that after a while you don't have to hit him at all; just hitting the round in front of him as though threatening to hit him on the legs should be sufficient. Ideally, however, an ox should respond to just a spoken command: "Back, Buck, Back!" That comes with practice.

Techniques for Backing Up Straight
It's important that the ox learn to back up straight. In an attempt to get away from you or to try and see where he's going, he'll tend to turn one way or the other as he's backing up. That is bad. Turning while backing up requires a different command - one he should learn later - but on the command, "Back!" he should just go straight backwards. If he's not trained to do this properly from the beginning, you'll have a difficult time getting him to back up a big wagon load of wood or hay. His tendency will always be to back up in circles, which isn't very useful. Unless you tell him otherwise, he should back up straight.

I've found a helpful technique for teaching this to an ox who's having trouble understanding the commands. Stand him beside a wooden fence of any kind of straight fence. You stand on one side of the ox with the fence on the other side and tell him, "Back!" If he tries to turn one way, he bumps into the fence, and if he tries to turn the other way, you're standing there with the lash. So he has to go straight back.

Some oxen may not require this; they might understand right from the beginning that you want them to go straight back. In general, it requires practice and good training. If you give an ox a good foundation of consistent, patient training in the beginning, the later training is easier.

You'll find that when you take the ox out of the ring, hook him up to something, and put him to work, it's like starting the training over again, because he's in a new situation. He has to learn everything again in a new working situation. He may have learned "Back!" but once he has a big load to push backward, he's not going to be sure what you mean. He's going to think, "This is something different and new. I never did this before."