Ground work with a 5 year old?

[Chicos_Mummy]

So.....I have just bought a 5 year old, 16.2hh coloured cob gelding off a friend - he is an absolute little star, spooks at nothing and loves people!
His previous owner has not done much ground work with him and I was wondering if there was anything i could do with him in the school that could not only strengthen our bond, but make him a bit more confident in himself, and have a bit more respect for me - As being a huge cob, they can be quite bolshy!!

 

[Chicos_Mummy]

anyone?

 

[Daisy11]

Lots of de-sensitizing so bags , umbrella , balloons , pram etc etc
And longreining etc Is brilliant for making horse more confident and
Lessons on respect for space etc

 

[LiveryList]

If it were me i would do lungeing, long reining, loose jumping or a bit of basic pirelli work. My mare had done nothing when i bought her (she is nearly 4) and she was really spooky and nervous and basically detested people and the entire world. We have built up a fab relationship in the last 12 months where i've been building up to backing her (which we did at the end of last year) and with her its not even necessarily stuff i do with her in the school but i can tell she just enjoys it if i give her a bit of a fuss in the stable spending time poshing her up! So i;d just try to sped as much time with him as possible and if you take him in the school from the ground do lots of fun things like jumping over small obstacles, pole work etc to make it fun as well

 

[Perce]

As well as the more obvious lunging, longreining, etc....

...you could have a look at the Horse Agility website for some ideas.

I do TREC and several trec obstacles are led so something else to give your horse something to think about.
...and good fun too.