Pick a pair of shoes that protects your feet and legs from injury. They should come up over your ankle so there is no risk that low laces or tongues will get caught in the stirrups. Look for shoes with a strong shank that support your ankles. It is a good idea to invest in some short riding boots, which are less expensive than tall ones and have hard toes to protect your feet from hooves. Saxon is a good brand. If you are just starting then get a low pair instead of a tall pair just to make sure you like riding before you spend a lot of money on tall boots. A shoe with a small heel will keep your feet from slipping out of the stirrups. English or western boots is your best option in lieu of official riding shoes. Look for shoes with a medium tread to provide the appropriate level of traction. Cowboy boots with a smooth leather sole will be too slippery and put your feet at risk of sliding out of the stirrups. On the other end of the spectrum, shoes with heavy waffle tread may be dangerous if you fall. Tread that is too heavy can cause your shoe to jam in the stirrup. The soles of English boots have small grooves in them, as should your shoes. Protect your lower leg and support your ankle as you become a more advanced rider. Look for relatively affordable, standard leather riding boots or riding sneakers that offer the necessary arch support. They usually start at $100. If you're riding English-style, invest in a pair of paddock boots.
++++++++++
One-sentence summary -- Wear a pair of sturdy supportive shoes. Choose shoes with a 1.5 inch, or 3.8 centimeter, heel. Look for shoes with proper traction. Invest in official riding shoes.


There are four main kinds of backing up maneuvers you might come across in your large vehicle driving: straight back, offset back, alley dock, and parallel parking. Each of these can be identified by the following characteristics:   Straight back spots are usually located in a grid and form a perpendicular (L-shaped) angle with the traffic passage that vehicles pass through to go deeper into or exit from the parking area.  Offset back spaces are usually arranged in an offset grid. These meet the traffic passage vehicles use to enter into or exit the parking area at a diagonal angle.  Alley dock spaces are almost always for semi-trucks. These require you to move straight back through a narrow passage and then turn sharply to maneuver the trailer to meet a loading/unloading dock, which is usually at a right angle (L-shape) to the passage.  Parallel parking spaces are on the side of the road, with either traffic, obstacles, or empty spaces before or after the spot. These require you to back your vehicle in, and can be especially challenging. New drivers may want to avoid these if at all possible. This is going to be slightly different for semi-trucks/vehicles with a trailer versus large, normal trucks that have a bed attached to the cab. While large, attached-bed trucks will turn similarly to smaller vehicles you may be used to driving, these will require plenty of extra room to complete the turn. Semi-trucks/vehicles with trailers will turn backwards opposite the direction you turn your wheel.  Getting the hang of backing up a semi-truck/vehicle with a trailer requires time and practice. You should consider finding an empty parking area and executing reverse maneuvers to get a feel for how your trailer responds to turning. If you are are prepping for a driving test or expect to have to reverse your large vehicle into a space, you should purchase some traffic cones from your local hardware store or set out some obstacles, like a cheap folding chair, in an empty parking area. This way you can practice avoiding and guiding your trailer/rear end around obstacles. You'll want to pull several feet ahead of your parking spot to make sure your turn doesn't cut too sharp and hit parked vehicles in the near-side spot, or swing wide and hit vehicles parked in the far-side spot. The more distance between your large vehicle and the parked cars means you will have more distance to straighten your rear-end before approaching the parked vehicles. This extra room can be the difference between scraping up another car and sliding into your spot without incident.  Roll down your mirrors on both the driver and passenger side of your vehicle. You want as clear and as unobstructed a view as possible of your mirrors. Do this especially it it's raining, as raindrops can negatively impact your perspective or obstruct your view. Ask any passengers to step out of the vehicle. Even well-behaved passengers can be difficult to see around while backing up. A clear line of sight will help you prevent potential damage to your vehicle or others. Your mirrors should give you a general sense of the dimensions of the area you will be parking in. However, mirrors can sometimes distort distance or miss important features, like thin metal signs, posts, and so on. Take note of the surroundings in your mirrors and step outside of your vehicle. Then:  Compare your walk-around evaluation of the parking area to your mirror view. Note any inconsistencies, difficult to see obstacles, or missed obstacles. Evaluate the size of the parking spot. If you feel that the spot might not be a good fit, or if you are nervous in your ability to park, you are probably better off finding another parking spot. Adjust your mirrors upon returning to your vehicle. Now that you have a more complete idea of the area in which you are parking, you can adjust your mirrors to give you a better perspective of the surrounding area you will be turning into. Your mirrors will normally be situated for straight-traffic driving, so adjusting these for a better parking view can help immensely. For attached-bed trucks as well, but especially for semi-trucks/vehicles with a trailer, you should swing your front-end in an outward arc away from your parking spot by cutting your wheel in the direction of the parking spot. This will allow the rear-end of your vehicle to cut sharply in the direction of the space you are attempting to park in. Once your rear-end is angled diagonally into the spot, straighten it by turning your wheel ¼ turn or less in the direction away from the spot.  The more space between you and the already parked vehicles/obstacles surrounding the spot in which you are attempting to park, the more time you'll have to align your rear end with the parking spot. This will give you more space to make small adjustments and guide your rear-end into the spot. Outside of your initial hard cut in the direction of the parking spot, which began the hard turn of your rear-end toward the spot, you should only make slight adjustments while backing up. Large adjustments will likely result in over- or under-steering. If you feel your angle of approach too far off, you should pull out and start again. You should keep a close eye on the front- and rear-end of your vehicle during these maneuvers. While swinging out wide with your cab to angle your rear-end into the spot, it's easy to swing out into cars parked in spots across from the one you are backing into. Once your rear end is aligned with the spot, your cab will likely still be at an angle to it. Allow your rear end to travel a few more feet into the spot, then turn your wheel in the direction you made your first hard cut - in the direction of the spot. This should begin straightening your cab without changing the angle of your rear-end. Use gentle steering corrections at this point; oversteering could result in the angle of your trailer/rear-end changing significantly.  Some spots are too narrow or are at too sharp of an angle for you to back into in one attempt. Even experienced large vehicle drivers sometimes need several tries before their vehicle is in the right position when backing into a spot. Adjust your vehicle as necessary. You may need to pull out of your spot, straighten your vehicle one more time, and reverse back into it, nice and even. When pulling out, be careful your rear-end does not cut short or wide into surrounding vehicles.
++++++++++
One-sentence summary --
Identify your backing up maneuver. Understand the mechanics of backing up. Pull ahead of your spot. Check your mirrors and do a walk-around. Swing out wide with your cab. Straighten out your cab.