“It’s super beneficial to expose a horse to any sort of obstacle you can get your hands on because it creates better communication and trust between handler and horse,” says Camille White, who operates Camille’s Mustangs out of Bryan, Texas. White is also the 2022 Fort Worth Extreme Mustang Makeover Champion.

Preparation

Before you begin introducing a bridge or step-over to your horse, White advises preparing him by making sure he has a few prerequisites down pat.

Can Stand Still: A horse that knows how to stand still shows that he is capable of down-regulating his nervous system and accessing the thinking side of his brain, according to White. During obstacle training, she rewards the horse by releasing all pressure and allowing the horse to stand still and relax.

Legs Are Desensitized: When working with obstacles like bridges or step-overs, there is a good chance the obstacle will touch the horse’s legs. White prepares the horse for this sensation by introducing him to the feeling of having his legs touched by various objects before starting obstacle training.

Has a Good Follow: Before she starts obstacle work, White wants the horse to know how to track her when being led. She calls this “having a good follow.” In addition to tracking her, she wants the horse to know how to maintain a respectful distance from her.

Can Isolate Body Parts: White wants the horse to know how to move specific body parts when asked so she can position him to approach the obstacle. This includes the ability to move his shoulders and hindquarters from both sides. Once finished, she wants to see the horse return to a neutral, relaxed state.

Understands Halter Pressure: White teaches a horse how to respond correctly to halter pressure before starting obstacle training. When she picks up on the lead rope and the halter tightens across the horse’s poll, she wants him to smoothly and willingly move forward with her.

Ground Obstacle #1: Bridges

Bridges can show up in the show ring and on the trail. But White explains that learning how to step onto a bridge can also teach a horse how to step onto other strange surfaces, such as loading into a trailer. Groundwork is the key to introducing bridges and other novel surfaces.

Step 1: Begin by confidently approaching the bridge and ask your horse to follow. Don’t stop or hesitate when walking toward the obstacle, as this may communicate to the horse that it’s unsafe to move forward. If he hesitates, reinforce your ask by continuing to move forward and creating gentle pressure across the horse’s poll with the halter.

Step 2: Reward effort. Watch for the horse to commit to following you across the bridge. As soon as he commits, release all pressure. Try to time the release of pressure with the horse crossing the bridge to associate it with the obstacle. You may have to reward many small steps (such as sniffing the bridge or taking a single step toward it) before the horse commits to crossing the obstacle.

Step 3: Once he is comfortable calmly crossing the bridge, have the horse cross it again, but ask him to stop in the middle. When he stops, release all pressure and allow him to relax on the bridge. This helps the horse associate relaxation with the obstacle. If your timing is well-placed during step 2, this step will come naturally to most horses.

Be ready to troubleshoot the top three most common challenges when it comes to introducing a bridge crossing from the ground.

Refusal to Move: If the horse refuses to move during your approach, yield his hindquarters and shoulders to unlock his feet, then approach the bridge again. If he still refuses, create pressure at the hindquarters to encourage forward movement. Begin by simply looking at his hindquarters. If there is no response, increase pressure by using an extension of your arm, such as a training flag, to tap the horse’s hindquarters until he moves forward. Reward the smallest effort by removing all pressure.

Moving Backward: If the horse moves backward, move with him without releasing the tension on the lead rope. Continue to ask him to take one step forward in the right direction. Reward effort, which may be as small as the horse leaning toward the bridge.

Rushing the Bridge: The first time the horse crosses the bridge, he may rush over it. If he rushes through the obstacle, immediately turn around and cross the obstacle again. Repeat until he slows down and becomes intentional about where he places his feet.

Ground Obstacle #2: Step-Overs

Step-overs appear in the form of ground poles, cavalletti poles, logs, branches and even puddles of water. A horse that knows how to step over an obstacle can successfully navigate many different situations. White shares the following steps for teaching a horse how to step over obstacles from the ground.

Step 1: Start with an easy item to step over, such as a ground pole. Confidently approach the step-over and ask the horse to follow. Don’t stop or hesitate when walking toward the obstacle, as this may communicate to the horse that it’s unsafe to move forward. If he hesitates, reinforce your ask by continuing to move forward and creating gentle pressure across his poll with the halter.

Step 2: Reward effort. Watch for the horse to commit to following you across the pole. As soon as he commits, release all pressure. Try to time the release of pressure with him crossing the bridge to associate it with the obstacle. You may have to reward many small steps (such as sniffing the pole or taking a single step toward it) before the horse commits to crossing the obstacle.

Step 3: Once the horse is comfortable stepping over a single ground pole, increase the challenge by adding more ground poles in a row and eventually increasing the height of the step-over. Follow steps 1 and 2 until he can calmly cross the obstacle.

Again, there are some common issues you should be ready to troubleshoot from the get-go when it comes to step-overs.

Avoiding the Obstacle: If the horse tries to sidestep or go around the obstacle, isolate his shoulder and ask him to return to a straight position before asking him to move forward toward the obstacle again.

Reacting to the Obstacle Touching His Legs: If the horse reacts poorly to the obstacle touching his legs, return to the prerequisite of familiarizing him with foreign objects touching his legs before trying the obstacle again.

Rushing the Step-Over: Adding height to the step-over may cause the horse to rush or jump over it. If that happens, immediately turn around and cross the obstacle again. Repeat until he slows down and becomes intentional about where he places his feet.

“Preparedness is always going to be your best friend when working with horses,” says White.

She encourages you to prepare your horse for situations that require him to cross obstacles before the need to cross an obstacle arises. Teaching your horse how to become comfortable with obstacles takes time, but it’s time worth investing.

More Groundwork Articles

◆ Groundwork for When You Can’t Ride
◆ Five Groundwork Exercises for Your Horse
◆ Groundwork Exercises to Improve Communication
◆ Groundwork with a Purpose
◆ How to Start Training a Horse for Liberty

This article about ground obstacles appeared in the September 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Try These Two Ground Obstacles appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Moving Goals Forward with Groundwork

Nicolet frequently sees equestrians using groundwork to get energy out of their horse, but groundwork is much more than that. She explains that both groundwork and mounted work should help move forward the mental, physical and emotional fitness of a horse.

“Everything you do in the saddle you can replicate on the ground and teach the horse to do in a way that allows him to balance his own body before putting your weight on top,” she says.

Nicolet uses the following exercises to physically, mentally and emotionally engage her horses from the ground. Once the horse understands the exercise, you should reward correct movements and good efforts by pausing and allowing the horse to relax.

The Four-Leaf Clover

Nicolet recommends this exercise to help a horse stay fit for mounted work. The pattern requires your horse to bend his body, rebalance it, and then straighten it.

Physically, the exercise helps the horse build muscle, gain body control and learn to balance properly. Mentally, it teaches him to think through how to keep himself balanced during the pattern. Emotionally, it encourages him to focus on you instead of outside stimulus.

To perform the exercise:

1. Use four cones to make a square. Each cone represents a corner of the square. Pace out 8-9 strides in between cones. (Distance can vary.)

2. Before starting the pattern, walk to the first cone and ask your horse to circle around himself and the cone at a walk. (For this example, the horse will circle each cone to the left and you and your horse will move from cone to cone clockwise.)

3. To begin the pattern, ask your horse to walk ¾ of a circle to the left around the first cone. (The horse should end the ¾ circle positioned to walk through the middle of the square.)

4. At a walk, send the horse through the middle of the square to the opposite side of the square. During the transition, stay next to the horse.

5. Once through the middle of the square, ask the horse to walk ¾ of a circle to the left around the second cone, repeating what you did at the first cone, before once again sending the horse through the middle of the square to the opposite side.

6. Continue moving yourself and your horse from cone to cone in this fashion until you have completed a cloverleaf pattern.

NOTE: Nicolet says it’s important for the horse to always turn in the same direction around all four cones and always cut through the middle of the square as soon as he has completed ¾ of a circle around a cone. While the example is done at a walk, once learned, the exercise can be done at a trot or canter.

The Leg-Yield

A leg-yield is a lateral exercise frequently done from the saddle, but it can also be accomplished on the ground. Nicolet explains that it requires the horse to travel forward on a diagonal path.

“It asks the horse to cross his front legs and then his hind legs as he moves forward and sideways,” she says.

Nicolet adds that physically, the exercise stretches and contracts the horse’s muscles by moving the joints of his shoulder and hind from side to side. Mentally, it encourages him to pay attention to your cues. Emotionally, it teaches him to calmly respond to pressure.

To perform the exercise (in this example, you will stand next to the left shoulder):

1. Begin by standing at your horse’s shoulder, facing him, with the lead rope in your left hand and a stick or crop in your right hand.

2. Next, use your right hand to slowly lift the stick, asking the horse to move his hind away from you.

3. As the horse’s hind end moves, walk forward at a diagonal toward the horse’s shoulder, causing it to move away from you.

4. Once your horse understands steps 2 and 3, ask him to move forward at a walk while alternating asking for his hind end and shoulder to move away from you. With practice, the horse will understand the cues as a request to travel forward on a diagonal path.

5. When the horse understands the movement, you can drop the stick and place your hand on the horse’s barrel, just behind the girth. Apply pressure with your hand to ask his hind to move.

NOTE: The final step begins to teach the horse the cue for the movement under saddle.

Key Takeaway

When you can’t ride, it doesn’t mean under-saddle goals need to stop. Groundwork provides ample opportunities for you and your horse to not only strengthen your partnership, but also move closer to your riding goals.

This article about groundwork for when you can’t ride appeared in the March 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Groundwork for When You Can’t Ride appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Here are a few reasons we do groundwork with our horses; perhaps you can see why personal groundwork could be beneficial for humans as well.

◆ Promotes circulation

◆ Loosens and relaxes stiff or tense muscles

◆ Helps alleviate soreness and decreases the chance of injury

◆ Develops the trust necessary for safe, effective collaboration

◆ Builds a foundation of fitness and confidence

◆ Improves communication between horse and human

◆ Increases focus

◆ Collects the physical body and mind

“Groundwork for the human” is a phrase I coined while working with equestrians on the yoga mat and on the meditation cushion through my Body, Mind, Equine programs. This concept might sound a bit puzzling at first, so let me break down what groundwork for the human looks like.

The yoga mat and the meditation cushion can be great places to practice personal groundwork for the body and mind. Yoga offers an opportunity to focus on overall awareness, body alignment, placement, and orientation—all beneficial skills to have when we’re around or riding horses.

Groundwork for the Human Body

Through yoga, you can work on body mechanics, fine-tuning, focus, discipline, moving through challenges, and observing inner energy and breathing. Treat the mat as a training ground to develop effective, efficient use of your body. As you become more body-aware, these lessons begin to trickle over into your riding and other physical activities.

Often on the mat and in riding, you think you’re aligned or symmetrical, but that’s not always the case. For example, when in a tabletop position on the yoga mat (on hands and knees), it may feel like your weight is placed equally on each hand and knee. But sometimes, upon checking, you look at your knees and they are together, rather than hip-width apart, or when you take a glance at your wrists, they are not aligned under your shoulders as you think they might be.

How this might look in the saddle is that you may think your weight is even in each stirrup, or that your shoulders are relaxed down away from your ears. But upon checking, you notice you are not physically as collected or as aligned as you thought.

When you’re not physically collected, your horse will not be either, as tensions and misalignments in your body can restrict your horse’s movement.

The yoga mat is a great place to learn bodily self-correction. Once this skill is honed on the mat, it begins to naturally translate to self-correction when riding or even in your body language while training or interacting with horses.

Exercise 1: T-Pose Symmetry

◆ While mounted (saddled or bareback), bring your arms to what you think is a T-position with palms facing downward.                                     

◆ Look out at each arm or have someone else look or take a photo to see if your arms are at shoulder height. Notice if your arms are coming directly out from your shoulders, or if they are above or below shoulder height, or if they are lopsided.

◆ If doing this exercise while saddled, it’s also a good opportunity to check and see if your weight is placed evenly in each stirrup.

Note: It’s a good idea to have someone hold your horse so you can solely focus on the exercise.

Pictured above are two riders doing this exercise. One has her arms in an aligned T-pose and the other thinks hers are, but they are not.

This and other simple, similar exercises can be practiced on the yoga mat or while mounted as a form of physical groundwork for the human.

Groundwork for the Human Mind

Then there’s the aspect of mental groundwork. When your mind is all over the place and unfocused, your energy becomes less clear and more fragmented, which of course your horse detects and responds to, often mirroring back distracted or uninterested energy.

Through yoga or meditation practice, you’ll notice when your mind wanders to a thought or to a distraction so that you can gently rein it back in to the breath, the bodily sensations, and the present moment—where life is happening.

Mental groundwork is a most valuable tool for training the “mental muscle,” much like developing your other muscles. Without focus, it can be hard to complete a task, whether at your desk or working with horses—not to mention the excess energy it takes to be scattered.

In deep meditation, you are fully integrated and focused, without attention wavering. Ultimately, you can learn to carry that focus with you beyond the sitting meditation.

Training the body can seem easy compared to training the unfocused “monkey mind” (for more, read “Harness Your Monkey Mind,” pg. 18, Horse Illustrated January/February 2024). The good news is, you can learn to collect your mind through meditation techniques.

One effective method is directing attention to your breath. It’s simple yet powerful, and can be done virtually anywhere.

Exercise 2: Watching and Counting Your Thought Stream

◆ Set a timer for one to five minutes.

◆ Close your eyes.

◆ See your thought stream (the succession of thoughts).

◆ Notice that each individual thought arises, is present, and then disappears.

◆ See if your attention can remain on the succession of thoughts. See each individual thought, one after another.

◆ Count the number of individual thoughts you see in a row.

◆ Attention will move somewhere else. When that occurs, let your attention return to the thought stream and resume counting.

◆ With practice, the count will increase as your ability to direct your attention strengthens.

This is one mental groundwork exercise to gather the mind, improve focus, and help you become more aware of the workings of your mind. This practice also allows you to feel less controlled by your thoughts as you notice how they arise, come, and go while you build your power to observe and direct your mental attention.

Key Takeaway

When your body and mind are integrated—working as a team—your life and your relationship with your horse is enhanced. Personal groundwork helps you show up as more centered and grounded rather than scattered.

Physically and mentally, you become a better companion for your equine partner. I hope that you enjoy and consider this new way of viewing groundwork beyond the horse.

This article about groundwork for the human appeared in the March 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Groundwork for the Human appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Q: I have a 7-year-old pony named Timmy. One problem I often face is not having enough time for riding some days, so I longe Timmy a lot. He does very well on a longeline, but it can get kind of boring. What other things can you do with your horse when you aren’t riding?

A: Here are some ground work exercises from Young Rider that you can do when you aren’t riding.

Longeing is the first form of ground work that Young Rider recommends a lot of people do when they don’t have enough time to ride. It is a great way to give your horse some exercise when you can’t ride, but going around in circles does get boring for both of you. If Timmy has been standing in a stall or small corral for a while when you get out to the barn, you can let him walk and jog on the longeline to get warmed up, then move on to some other activities that will engage his brain.

Practicing showmanship patterns is another ground work exercise that Young Rider recommends that can challenge yourself and your horse while improving your communication. You can find plenty of practice patterns online, or work on the individual elements. This includes turns and pivots in place, asking your horse to walk, jog, halt, and back readily, and to stand square until you give him the cue to move off. The goal is precision. You want to be able to ask Timmy to back exactly four steps or turn 90 degrees to the left, for example, and have him respond quietly to your cue and halt immediately when you ask. It’s harder than it sounds!

You can use cones to mark the spot where you’re going to turn, halt or change gaits, but one of the great things about showmanship patterns is that they don’t require any extra equipment. You can even make up straight-line patterns to do in the barn aisle if you don’t have an arena available.

Another option for ground work that Young Rider recommends is to practice in-hand trail obstacles. Set up some ground poles in the shape of an L and lead your horse forward and backward through them. Have him sidepass over the same obstacle, keeping his front feet on one side of the poles and his hind feet on the other. Practice walking him over a tarp and having him stand calmly while you drape a raincoat over his back. Set up cones to weave through in a serpentine pattern at a walk and jog.

These obstacles do take a bit more time to set up, but you can also use them to practice the same exercises under saddle on days when you have time to tack up and ride.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2018 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Horse and Pony Questions: Great Groundwork appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.