Horse Ground Training
Horse ground training is not only important for young horses; it can also help to safely overcome problems under saddle. As a rule, it’s safer to work with a horse on the ground than it is in the saddle. For this reason, many respect or fear issues can be initially addressed with ground training before the rider returns to the saddle.
It’s interesting how many horses reach adulthood without learning some very basic horse ground training skills; if you’ve ever seen (or owned) a horse who squished people against the stall wall and required a great deal of effort to move away from the wall– and the squished person– then you’ve seen a horse who desperately needed ground training.
At a minimum, a horse should learn how to move backwards away from very light pressure on either the bridge of the nose or the center of the chest, pivot its front end away from light pressure on the shoulder and the side of the neck, and pivot its hind end away from light pressure slightly behind where the rider’s leg would naturally hang.
This isn’t rocket science for ponies, believe me. Very young foals can learn to do this quite easily, though an older, spoiled horse who is accustomed to pushing through pressure may take some persistence to learn to respect light pressure. Watch the one-month-old filly in the video below as she practices the simple horse ground training skills outlined above. Notice that she was able to learn these skills before she ever wore a halter. By understanding these basic yields, she was able to quickly adapt to the concept of yielding to the pressure of the halter without any of the drama (rearing, getting scared, flipping over backwards) which often accompanies foal halter breaking.
Can you see how some of the exercises in the video (leaning over the filly’s back, snugging the rope around her girth) will translate to riding later on? Well, she’s three years old at the time of this article, and let me tell you– they did. No bucking; no fear of the rider; instant steering via hackamore and leg on the first ride.
So, how do you get started? Choose one of the yields. Let’s say you start with backing up from pressure on the chest. Stand in front of and slightly to the side of your horse. Place your finger tips in the center of his chest. Apply the amount of pressure that you eventually want your horse to respond to– that is to say, not very much. Your horse will probably ignore you. Count to ten and then increase the pressure by a few ounces. If your horse continues to ignore you, count to ten again and increase the pressure by another few ounces. Continue this until your horse leans away from the pressure or takes a step backwards, then INSTANTLY release the pressure completely by taking your hand away.
This can take quite a bit of pressure at first. Make your hand into a claw shape if you have to; reinforce with the halter and lead rope if necessary. Just don’t give up. And release IMMEDIATELY, or the horse has no motivation to pay closer attention to your cues the next time. Also– always, always, always start with very light pressure. If you don’t always start lightly, your horse will never learn to respond lightly.
Teach yourself and your horse the basics of horse ground training, and you can eventually progress to some really amazing (and fun!) communication on the ground, like my friend, trainer Melanie Stoltz-Brown, and her horse Brandy. They recently filmed this ten-minute video– in a single take– for accreditation within the Parelli natural horsemanship system. Isn’t it cool?
And if you liked that, here’s a young woman in France who has taken this sort of thing to an amazingly high level. (And no, there’s nothing special about Haflinger horses– the breed in both of these videos– it’s just coincidence!)
If you got through that one without misting up a bit, you’re stronger than I am. Wow.
All of this starts with basic ground training, so what are you waiting for? Get out there and start practicing those basic yields!