Picture the wreck about to happen. The horse with his feet planted and wide eyes, breathing a little fast while the human carries on in oblivion, leaving the safety of the ground, swinging a leg over the cantle with blind hope. The slight pause and then the wreck. “Out of nowhere,” the horse just takes off bucking; the half-seated rider doesn’t stand a chance. Or, maybe the version you’re more familiar with is the hop-along-Cassidy situation where the horse can’t stand still and the rider is pulling on the reins while still on the ground, hopping along with one foot in the stirrup until they can defy gravity and make the awkward lunge up into the saddle, still scrambling for control.
Debunking the myth of “saddle that horse up and just get on” is as much about safety as it is about setting you up for success. Please accept some second-hand gold from a cowboy who spent 14 years on the rodeo circuit as a professional bronc rider—and has spent 45 more teaching people a better way. This isn’t about being tough or brave or going with the flow of what everyone else is doing. This myth is antiquated, and it’s time to let it go.
Each day, before every ride, we should look to see how our horse is feeling. What side of the corral did he wake up on? Just like you have good days and bad days, so does your horse. Make no assumptions that because your horse felt fine and you had a good ride yesterday, all will be well today.
Let’s borrow an analogy from aviation. Every time before a pilot takes off in a plane, they conduct pre-flight checks. And we’re so grateful they do! Could you imagine being buckled into your commercial flight and having the pilot come over the loudspeaker: “Sure seems like everything’s OK up here. The plane flew just fine yesterday, so let’s save some time and just hope this goes well.” Envision all the passengers now making a mad dash to the exit! No one would buy into that, and we shouldn’t believe the myth in our horsemanship, either.
If you haven’t started this practice already, I encourage you to begin groundwork with your horse today. Here at Parelli Natural Horsemanship, we play with our horses on the ground prior to saddling, and then again after saddling, before we get on. Even a few minutes of groundwork can prevent dangerous surprises in the saddle. Your horse may feel fresh and just need to move. He could have tweaked his back and the saddle is just not comfortable. Or maybe there is something unsettling at the barn that keeps taking his attention away, leaving him distracted and tense. In each of these scenarios, asking your horse to move forward and back up, sending him up into a trot and back down to a halt, or adding in a little lateral maneuver will give you time to diagnose how safe and successful your ride is likely to be. Groundwork places you in the pilot seat equipped with knowledge rather than hanging on to blind hope as the unwitting passenger.
As you realize the valuable communication and connection that builds naturally while playing bonding and yielding exercises (simple movements that build trust and respect) with your horse on the ground, this practice transitions into more than just a warmup. Your horse will want to be with you. He will start to look to you as a natural herd leader. He will begin asking questions about where to go next and when to stop. You will reap the benefits of leadership transferring into the saddle as partnership behavior unlocks the door to riding success like never before. And it all starts on the ground.
At Parelli, our goal is to teach you how to safely and effectively train your horse at home so that both you and your horse can have more fun and achieve excellence together, creating a true partnership based on trust and mutual understanding.
Learn more about our digital home-study curriculum, the Levels Program, at Parelli.com.
This article appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!
