Horse Groundwork Exercises for Beginners w/FREE Training Log
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As a beginner, there are few basic groundwork exercises that you should consistently work on until you have mastered them with your horse. These basic exercises will give you a foundation of on the ground skills that will set the stage of respect and understanding between you and your horse.
These exercises are also great for any equestrian, even experienced horse owners, to practice with any new horse entering the barn. In working on these groundwork steps, you will learn how to get in tune with your horse and how to communicate with both pressure and body language.
Bonding with a New Horse
The foundation of any horse/human relationship has to be built on trust and understanding. These basic exercises can help you set that foundation with your horse. These are merely a set of starting blocks on which your entire relationship can be built upon.
Walk Forward / Leading
Walking forward, or leading, is a behavior that many horse owners may skip over as a checklist point. In fact, I would guess that most horse owners just assume a horse either leads or it doesn’t lead and that is the end of that.
Backup is the next logical item on our checklist. It is amazing to me how many domestic riding horses can lead, load into a trailer and tie but don’t understand how to backup.