Groundwork is important for many reasons but listed below are
the three most important reasons that horses should have a good
foundation in groundwork, with a reputable trainer.
First, improve and build upon your relationship with your
horse through grooming.
Grooming simulates what the horses naturally do in herds. Horses
will stand facing each other's hind end, shoulder to shoulder,
and facing opposite directions. This allows them to "scratch"
each other's shoulders, where they normally would not be able
to reach. Horses tend to exhibit this behavior when they have
similar ranking within the herd and have close relationships.
You generally will not see horses that are at opposite ends of
the pecking order exhibiting this behavior. Grooming also helps
to establish "boundaries" for your horse. For example
if you are brushing your horse, and he tries to reach around and
give you a friendly nibble (return grooming), it gives you an
opportunity to let your horse know that "friendly" nibbles
are inappropriate. You can do this by pushing his/ her head back
to face forward. You can also use your hand in a waving type motion
which will "create" a wall that the horse understands.
Now this doesn't mean to go crazy with your hands and start swatting
all over. That would be an incorrect way to "wave" your
hands. You want to be calm and relaxed around your horse. And
your "waving" type motion should also be calm and relaxed.
If you allow yourself to get worked up over anything this can
create nervous energy in your horse. Your horse can perceive this
as threatening and be intimidated by it, which can hinder the
building of a close relationship with your horse.
Second, proper groundwork will give your horse a very
solid foundation for
more advanced training.
Lunging and under-saddle work is an important aspect of groundwork
that is often overlooked. It is very common for average horse
owners to discredit the importance of groundwork and just focus
on under-saddle or mounted work. For example they won't teach
their horse to "whoa" during groundwork. Then when they
are in the saddle the horse doesn't understand "whoa".
When the horse doesn't understand the "whoa", it is
now the horses fault. If the trainer had taught the horse to "whoa"
while doing groundwork, the concept of "whoa" would
have carried over to the under-saddle work. This makes it much
easier for the horse to understand "whoa" while under-saddle.
Just
like a home has a solid foundation, groundwork is a horse's solid
foundation for training. Without a solid foundation everything
will begin to crumble, and in a horse's case it will have various
training issues that develop. Almost every single issue that occurs
under-saddle, can be attributed in some way to poor ground training.
You should allow the ground training to be nice and relaxed. The
goal of ground training is to build a better relationship with
your horse, and also to establish a good training system that
the horse understands. This will then be built upon through the
horse's career no matter which direction the horse takes.
Third, ground work is also very important for the safety
of handler and horse.
If your horse does not have solid ground training it can become
a chore just to lead your horse out of his stall, and tack him/
her up. From there it can escalate until you have a safety issue
that not only affects you , but now affects others around you.
Solid ground work starts by teaching a horse its personal space
"bubble". Teaching a horse where it's ""bubble"
is also allows the handler to direct where a horse places its
body. By teaching a horse where to place different parts of his
body you have much more control on the ground. This type of training
is especially handy for when your horse has farrier or vet appointments.
If you have this type of "control" on the ground it
will make it easier for your farrier and vet. You will be able
to tell the horse where to put his/ her body, and do it without
shanking or jerking on your horses halter. Having this type of
communication with your horse is a very rewarding relationship.
It will allow you and your horse to have an enjoyable and rewarding
relationship no matter which discipline you are in.
Learn something new every month from Horse Logic. A new article
will be featured every month in From the Horses Mouth by Sara
McKiness from Horse Logic.
Horse Logic © 2007
Sara Mckiness, Certified Horse Trainer & Instructor
Horse Logic
St. Charles, IL
630-631-2746
www.horselogic.net
sara@horselogic.net
