Groundwork 101

[Rabid_Raccoon]

Hey everybody.

I’ve been wanting to do some more ground work with Gizzy, and I was wondering where we should start.

It’s spring so he’s pretending that he forgot everything over winter, as usual. :rolleyes: I don’t get to ride him as much as I’d like because of the rain drenching the arena, and the fact that I have to find someone to go out with me to ride (usually my husband, and since we both work and go to school it can be hard to find openings in our schedule), but I can usually at least get out to do lunging/ground work.

Gizzy had already been trained, and then sat in a pasture for a few years before I started riding him so we only did basic “refresher” work and some basic showmanship. Now I think I want to take a few steps back and really work on getting a more solid foundation.

I’ve done some research on groundwork, of course, and I know some about it from being in the horse world for the past dozen years, but when I sat down and tried to think about where to start from, I drew a blank :p I've never specifically worked on groundwork before, so I'm a little lost.

So could anyone give me some basics to work on/think about, or some good general tips?

Anything is great, although I am specifically trying to get him to respect me (he tries to be dominant and “bully” me sometimes), and to get him to move away from pressure better under saddle.

I have a surcingle and side reins that I sometimes use for lunging, but no long lines. If anyone here is selling an inexpensive pair of long lines, you should PM me ;)

I know this is a pretty broad question, so throw whatever you have at me. Thanks guys! :D

[natisha]

Two lunge lines can be used for long lining.

[Remali]

Ground driving. One of the best things you can do with your horse. You can use two long longe lines if you don't have anything else, they do the trick just fine. :)

[CaddoCinnamon]

That is what I use for ground driving.

[JackieB]

I needed a specific training syllabus since I didn't know where to begin, either. I used CA's "Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground Series 1".

-Backing is great for respect. That's where Buster and I had our "Come to you know who." moment and then he came around for the rest of his life. The Tea Party types would like Clinton's comments because he said the horse will "Throw in its union card right away." :p

But I will admit that it got pretty intense before Buster finally decided to concede his authority and follow me. I had both CA's advice, and other experienced horse people encouraging me. I also used the long stick so that if Buster decided to try to strike, he wouldn't hit me. I didn't enjoy what had to be done, but it allowed us to make a breakthrough that has endured beautifully for years since.

Anyway, a horse that will back up instantly, indefinitely (like for a hundred yard or more if you wish), and with a nice spring in its step, respects a person.

-Disengaging forequarters and hindquarters (from the ground) is excellent for moving away from pressure under saddle. It's just a small step in training from there to sidepassing since that's disengaging front and rear simultaneously.

-I'm convinced that Lateral flexion helps with moving away from pressure under saddle too, because it helps soften the horse so much laterally. Expecially those exercises at the walk where the horse bends right around your leg in the shape of the letter "C" or reverse of it. This requires the horse to give to the pressure but still move forward.

-Leading on the line. A disrespectful horse crowds a person or gets ahead or behind when leading. I had my more experienced friends teach me how to deal with this issue. Buster already was good, but I needed to learn how to handle other horses at the farm that aren't so compliant.

So those are (at least) five areas that I would work on if I was trying to accomplish what you are suggesting, but I wouldn't do it unless I had a carefully-developed plan of what I needed to do for each exercise, felt like I could do everything safely, and had expertise to call upon for troubleshooting.

I'm not much of a fan of "I think I saw that done once...I'll give it a try". Not just because it can be dangerous, but because it's got to be confusing as heck to the horse when we don't have a solid understanding of what we need to do. Probably like we feel when someone is trying to teach something to us, but is a really poor teacher. They miss so many steps that we can't follow along.

[zoel_222]

What he said ^

I'd also do lungeing with frequent gait transitions and direction changes.

[Petra]

I'm sure others will give you a ton off suggestions on what to do. I can give you a tip.

When someone brings me a horse that hasn't been ridden for few years or has issues, I treat him as a completely unbroke horse that knows nothing. I start with the most basic things. (Haltering, standing still, tying, picking up feet, respecting my space, leading, lunging, bridling, saddling, flexing and of course a ton of desensitizing.) If he does good I go on to the next thing, if I'm not happy with certain things I keep repeating until I'm satisfied.
Not sure if it would be any help to you, but I have some videos of some horses I started, and some desensitizing too on youtube and One True Media.
If you'd like, I'll send you links to my accounts. Just let me know.

[Vegashorselady]

My favorite groundwork for respect is getting the horse to back up and moving the hindquarters away from you. Some horses are stubborn about moving off the pressure at first, but if you take the pressure off the second they move they figure it out pretty quick. I don't need a lunge whip anymore to move my horses, I just give them the "you better move your butt away from me now" look and they do it, lol! It definitely translates to riding too, once your horse is moving to light pressure on the ground, you'll notice a huge difference in how they respond to your leg while riding.

[madelequestrian]

If you need videos check out Chris Cox's line. He has a good pretty much "gimmick free" (aka you won't have to buy a $200 stick, the $150 halter, etc. do do the training) program that is great for leadership building and respect. Do tons of yielding his hindquarters. Once my horses understand how to lunge and change direction both by yielding the shoulder or the hindquarters I will get them working and randomly switch between yielding the shoulders (by stepping in front and blocking the way of movement) or by yielding the hindquarters until my horse is completely tuned into me and not paying attention to anything else. Usually makes for a much better ride!

[Rabid_Raccoon]

Two lunge lines can be used for long lining.

Ground driving. One of the best things you can do with your horse. You can use two long longe lines if you don't have anything else, they do the trick just fine. :)

That is what I use for ground driving.

I didn't know that :P I will have to try it, since we do have 2 lunge lines.

My favorite groundwork for respect is getting the horse to back up and moving the hindquarters away from you. Some horses are stubborn about moving off the pressure at first, but if you take the pressure off the second they move they figure it out pretty quick. I don't need a lunge whip anymore to move my horses, I just give them the "you better move your butt away from me now" look and they do it, lol! It definitely translates to riding too, once your horse is moving to light pressure on the ground, you'll notice a huge difference in how they respond to your leg while riding.

I needed a specific training syllabus since I didn't know where to begin, either. I used CA's "Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground Series 1".

-Backing is great for respect. That's where Buster and I had our "Come to you know who." moment and then he came around for the rest of his life. The Tea Party types would like Clinton's comments because he said the horse will "Throw in its union card right away." :p

But I will admit that it got pretty intense before Buster finally decided to concede his authority and follow me. I had both CA's advice, and other experienced horse people encouraging me. I also used the long stick so that if Buster decided to try to strike, he wouldn't hit me. I didn't enjoy what had to be done, but it allowed us to make a breakthrough that has endured beautifully for years since.

Anyway, a horse that will back up instantly, indefinitely (like for a hundred yard or more if you wish), and with a nice spring in its step, respects a person.

-Disengaging forequarters and hindquarters (from the ground) is excellent for moving away from pressure under saddle. It's just a small step in training from there to sidepassing since that's disengaging front and rear simultaneously.

-I'm convinced that Lateral flexion helps with moving away from pressure under saddle too, because it helps soften the horse so much laterally. Expecially those exercises at the walk where the horse bends right around your leg in the shape of the letter "C" or reverse of it. This requires the horse to give to the pressure but still move forward.

-Leading on the line. A disrespectful horse crowds a person or gets ahead or behind when leading. I had my more experienced friends teach me how to deal with this issue. Buster already was good, but I needed to learn how to handle other horses at the farm that aren't so compliant.

So those are (at least) five areas that I would work on if I was trying to accomplish what you are suggesting, but I wouldn't do it unless I had a carefully-developed plan of what I needed to do for each exercise, felt like I could do everything safely, and had expertise to call upon for troubleshooting.

I'm not much of a fan of "I think I saw that done once...I'll give it a try". Not just because it can be dangerous, but because it's got to be confusing as heck to the horse when we don't have a solid understanding of what we need to do. Probably like we feel when someone is trying to teach something to us, but is a really poor teacher. They miss so many steps that we can't follow along.

Thanks for the advice! We will definitely work on backing, as well as basic manners when leading. He can get a little ahead of me sometimes, and lately has started breaking into the trot when I am leading him and he starts to get excited. I've been lazy about correcting it, so we're going to take a few steps back and work with that.
Now when you two talk about disengaging the hindquarters and forequarters, or getting him to move my hindquarters away from me, etc, is that just that when a horse is standing and you walk purposefully towards their hind end, then should move it away from you, and the same with the shoulders? (I can't think of a better way to describe it) because he actually does that really well, and has since I started working with him... I think his old trainer must have really drilled that into his head. Is there anything more to it, though? Based on the times I've watched other people do it, I think that he does it pretty well, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

What he said ^

I'd also do lungeing with frequent gait transitions and direction changes.

Sometimes it's too muddy to lunge :) But I will try to start working with more transitions when we can.

I'm sure others will give you a ton off suggestions on what to do. I can give you a tip.

When someone brings me a horse that hasn't been ridden for few years or has issues, I treat him as a completely unbroke horse that knows nothing. I start with the most basic things. (Haltering, standing still, tying, picking up feet, respecting my space, leading, lunging, bridling, saddling, flexing and of course a ton of desensitizing.) If he does good I go on to the next thing, if I'm not happy with certain things I keep repeating until I'm satisfied.
Not sure if it would be any help to you, but I have some videos of some horses I started, and some desensitizing too on youtube and One True Media.
If you'd like, I'll send you links to my accounts. Just let me know.

Sure, if you wouldn't mind sending me those links, that would be great :)


If you need videos check out Chris Cox's line. He has a good pretty much "gimmick free" (aka you won't have to buy a $200 stick, the $150 halter, etc. do do the training) program that is great for leadership building and respect. Do tons of yielding his hindquarters. Once my horses understand how to lunge and change direction both by yielding the shoulder or the hindquarters I will get them working and randomly switch between yielding the shoulders (by stepping in front and blocking the way of movement) or by yielding the hindquarters until my horse is completely tuned into me and not paying attention to anything else. Usually makes for a much better ride!

You do still have to buy the videos though, right? :p I have actually always like him the best out of all of the high-profile trainers out there, from the little I've seen.

Sorry it took me a few days to respond, but thanks for all of the advice, guys! I know I still have a lot to learn about groundwork. I've spend most of my time with horses just in riding lessons, where I dind't learn anything about it. So as far as groundwork goes, I'm going to have to kind of learn it on my own, and with the help of you guys :) . I was able to ground dive for a lesson once, though, so I think that has helped me a lot.