Ground Work is the Key to the Perfect Saddle Horse

     Some people believe that horses are born knowing how to be ridden. Hate to burst your bubble, but that is 100% false. Trust me, I've worked with several youngsters, and when they hit they ground, all they know is that they have to get up, and figure out how to nurse. Everything else has to be taught to them. Horse people refer to this as ground work, and without it, that horse would never let you ride it. Ground work covers a wide variety of skills from simply how to lead a horse, to teaching it tricks, to lunging and respect games. No matter what the exercise, the purpose of ground work should be to strengthen the bond between horse and rider. The better the bond, the more respectful the horse is, and the better behaved it will be under-saddle.

     My favorite ground exercises are: 

1) Desensitizing- it's not really a single exercise, but really just getting your horse used to anything that may scare it. My favorite scary things are inner tubes, tarps, anything that makes a crinkly/popping noise, a platform/teeter-totter, and flags. The more often you "scare" your horse with new things, the less he will freak out about them because to him it's just another crazy thing that his owner is doing. I'm constantly trying to scare Drover, and every time I come in with a new object he just gives me the "Really? What are you going to make me do nooww?" Look, and stands there like a trooper. Nothing fazes him! 

Playing on the platform with Drover

2) Trick Teaching- It may just be the kid in me, but I love to teach horses how to do cute tricks!! Drover's owner is opposed to most of my ideas, so I've only been allowed to teach him the Spanish walk (I'll post a video as soon as he's doing it well), but I have a friend with plenty of minis who I can teach as many tricks to as I'd like! The best part of trick training is that you will never teach two horses how to do the same trick the same way because not all horses learn the same way. Just like people, they learn at different speeds, and have different strengths and weaknesses. So it's a fun challenge, lets you learn how your horse learns, and you get to show off the adorable trick to your friends! It's a win-win situation! My favorite tricks are the Spanish walk, bow, and smile. 

     Riding is fun, but don't forget to spend time on the ground too. There is so much more to working with a horse than riding!

When you're on the same wavelength as your horse, everything runs smoother! This is what we look like after a session on the ground!

The Importance of Trust

       A wise man once told me "It is not important that you trust the horse, but that the horse trusts you". That wise guy happened to be a great thoroughbred trainer buddy of mine, and "once" was yesterday, but that's not the point. The point is that the single most important thing to ANY relationship, whether it's a human-human or human-animal, is trust. Without trust, your relationship will never, ever succeed. It's as simple as that.
     The best way to earn your horse's trust is by being a good leader. Stay confident, even when you're scared to death. I know, that sounds a little impossible, but you have to keep in mind that your horse can sense how you are feeling. If you are tense and scared, he'll be tense and scared. If you're relaxed, he'll know that he can relax. You can't "ride scared" and expect for your horse to be cool calm and collected.
     It may just be the crazy teenager in me, but very few things scare me. "My" horse, Drover, knows that, and that's why we work so well together. He has absolute faith that if something pops out in front of him on the trail, and I don't freak out about it then there's no reason for him to freak out about it.
     The younger you start working with a horse, the better your relationship will be. The perfect example of this is my friend's Rocky Mountain filly. By the time she was 5 minutes old, we had already had our hands all over her. This is a picture of the same filly at four months old.

There is nothing more beautiful than a horse that will let you enter her stall while she's napping, and just let you lay down beside her. The only thing more amazing than this is her allowing someone to actually sit on her. 

When your horses trust you, there is nothing that you can't do with them.