Ground work! You could say its a hot topic for some and a dreaded topic for others. For me personally it’s a good way to check in with your horse to see where they are coming from, evaluate for any potential lameness, and warm them up so when your riding begins you can shine.

I like to start my ground work and riding with an evaluation. With all of the horses I ride it is very important not to get to thinking you know everything and pushing your expectations, first you must observe the horse. See how they move. Do they seem tight, loose, light, heavy, scared, complacent, accurate, with good expression or poor? Once you observe where the horse is and start to feel how they feel on the lead rope you can then start to manipulate the horse’s body via the lead rope. I must press how important it is to check in first, if you just jump in and think the horse is going to be where he was mentally a week ago or even yesterday you may be mistaken and the horse will also know this and treat you as such. So really observe and during that observation process you will see what needs work and even more so what you work on will actually be pertinent to the horse. It will be what they need help with, and that will get them to want to be with you. With those ideas aside I hope this gives some more perspective on ground work and a basic vocabulary of which to communicate to your friends and whoever you ride with. Remember expression is everything and have fun!