Simple Equestrian Groundwork Exercises
Below is a brief description of just three simple groundwork exercises you can perform with your own horse or a horse you are training. These exercises will allow you and the horse to become familiar with each other and build trust. Future training success is dependant on good groundwork. It is important for your safety that your new ton-sized friend is taught to respect your personal space bubble.
Training your horse will require you to have plenty of patience, persistence and to use lots of positive reinforcement. These three P’s can be applied to all current and future levels of horse training.
1. Groom your horse. This is the perfect first exercise for you and your horse. You’ll get to know each other. Standing beside your horse, brush his back and neck. Don’t be alarmed if your horse comes around with his teeth to give you a love bite as this is quite common. This is natural behaviour between horses, but obviously they cannot do this to humans. Discourage this by simply waving a hand, or by pushing his head back straight. It must be made clear from the beginning that this is not acceptable – particularly as a horse’s teeth are so big. Be calm and patient. He’ll soon understand and cooperate. It will do you no good to panic, stress, smack your horse or get otherwise agitated. That will set your trust level backwards.
2. Lead your horse. Holding the lead rope just below his chin in your right hand, walk beside your horse on his left side. Take a step and walk slowly forward. He should not try to go ahead of you but should remain at your right side. He may try to do this and you should walk around in a circle to your left. Do this as many times as necessary. Be persistent. The circular movement to the left will allow you to stay where you should be – that is, just ahead of the horse. If, on the other hand, your horse doesn’t want to walk with you, stand slightly behind at his shoulder facing the same direction. While holding the rope close to his chin, push forward gently. When he takes a little step, praise and positive reinforcement is in order. Once he begins to walk of his own accord, walk on in a position which is slightly ahead of him. Remember that in order to stay safe, you should never wrap the lead rope around any part of your body. If the horse should suddenly bolt he will drag you along too and you will almost certainly be injured.
3. Lunge your horse.This is a great exercise used by most horse trainers and owners. Lunging will teach many of the skills and commands, or cues, your horse will need to know when you’re ready to work him under saddle.
In a large open area (an arena works, too, if you don’t have a round enclosure) clip your horse to a lunge lead specifically for lungeing. This will be a long rope – about ten metres – much longer than the rope you would use for leading. Clip the lead to the horse’s left halter side and hold the lead in your left hand. Begin by holding the lunge line and facing the horses left side. Hold a lunge whip in your right hand which you’ll use to guide him along. Now step to your right sideways toward the rear of the horse while holding the whip out behind him. The horse’s natural reaction will be to step forward. Let the line out and follow the horse just behind and to the left side and make a kissing sound. He’ll begin to associate that sound with “move forward”. Just hold the whip slightly behind the horse’s hindquarters as you are turning and the horse is moving in a circle around you. You do not use the whip for hitting. You only need to wave it just a little to get his attention.
Now, as he moves forward, you should move yourself slowly backwards, so that you come to the centre of your training circle. Stand in the middle and turn in a circle with the lunge line fully extended and the horse walking around you in a good circle. Watch your horse’s hip area as he’s going round.
This is the perfect time to teach your horse to understand “whoa”. Say the word “whoooaaa” in a low and calm voice. At the same time, step toward your horse’s head and repeat the word. Remember to give him lots of praise along with a bit of a neck rub when he stops. This positive reinforcement will help him to remember what to do next time.
You can now change position so that you are lunging your horse anti-clockwise. This is done simply by swapping the lead over to be clipped onto the right of the halter, and holding the lunge whip in your left hand.
These are just a few basic exercises for you to get started with hands-on horse training. Always remember the size and sheer power of the horse. This alone should be enough to remind you to have adequate horse insurance in place should either you or your equine be injured. Your success with training and all future activities depends both on safety and trust. As well as a loyal friend, your horse is also an investment, so remember to protect that investment against theft, accident or misadventure by making sure you compare horse insurance policies to ensure you are getting the best level of cover for both of your needs.