Interesting article on groundwork

Ample Prosecco

Ample Prosecco

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I’m too broken to do much groundwork but I do ride and lead and this winter they have all had one training week followed by one easy week (couple of gentle hacks, most days off). Every single time they have returned to training after their easy week, they have come back as if they’d been training all week - stronger and with all we did before fully absorbed, already offering me the next step. That time without a rider is so beneficial to their muscles and brains.
 
maya2008 said:
I’m too broken to do much groundwork but I do ride and lead and this winter they have all had one training week followed by one easy week (couple of gentle hacks, most days off). Every single time they have returned to training after their easy week, they have come back as if they’d been training all week - stronger and with all we did before fully absorbed, already offering me the next step. That time without a rider is so beneficial to their muscles and brains.
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I’ve found that too. Like they take that time off to digest and assimilate the lessons.
In the past I’ve asked my YO if she’s worked my horse (she hadn’t) because it seemed like he’d learned despite me doing nothing with him.
 
Ambers Echo said:
I’m not surprised either but it’s quite validating because so many people seem dismissive of it. Though that does seem to have changed a bit in recent years.
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Yes, I think I get looked at being that strange old woman when I do in hand work with mine which is mainly pole work but also halting some turning etc. I think it is good for mind and muscle and the partnership in general.
 
Ambers Echo said:
I’m not surprised either but it’s quite validating because so many people seem dismissive of it. Though that does seem to have changed a bit in recent years.
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People worry it will be too hard, I get a fair bit of eyerolling when I suggest it (and it's in the email everyone gets once they complete my booking form) but it really makes a huge difference. Connection, posture, balance - it affects every other aspect of the horse's life, their wellbeing, not just their active ridden or in hand work. And it's why I'm always on the quest for the best, simplest and easy to understand programmes for beginners, even if they're not perfect (clearly nothing is!).
 
Having come back to horses properly in my 30s the thing I want to learn and absorb most is groundwork all the problems I seem to encounter have all improved with more ground work and the skills I want to gain all seem to involve groundwork 😅 I swear it wasn't a thing a decade ago.
 
Ambers Echo said:
I’m not surprised either but it’s quite validating because so many people seem dismissive of it. Though that does seem to have changed a bit in recent years.
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Cloball said:
I swear it wasn't a thing a decade ago.
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I rest my case!! It's fab that the benefits of groundwork are becoming clearer and its use is now more widespread. 10 years ago any mention of GW often just led to people ranting at you about Parelli!

I think all the reasons given make sense, but the one that really resonates is facilitating communication on the ground, so the task is more easily understood under saddle. Joe sets up groundwork with direct links to ridden work. Everything she will be asked to do with a rider on top, she will already know how to do on the ground with the same cues. She gets so upset when she does not understand something, and can then throw shapes. On the ground that's fine. Once she stops, I am still there patiently asking her to think about it and work it out. And eventually she does and calms down. Missing out that 'teaching on the ground' step seems like a very bad idea with a horse as sensitive as her. But increased clarity benefits any horse.
 
There's an interesting discussion between Richard Davidson and Ben Atkinson on the latest shut up and ride podcast. I think more people do it than they realize, but primarily those who've grown up in old fashioned horse families where lunging and long lining are taught properly from a young age. I grew up in a riding school, had loans and did pony club in my teens and nothing was taught from the ground, not even basic lunging, so now I'm re-learning it all in my 30s!
 
Oh wow. That was a great read. My first horse was a 2 year old. I was 16. I introduced everything on the ground first including jumping.

I started her myself and while she was a difficult horse to ride because of her personality she was amazing. I always thought it was because I taught her to think about the question. The only thing I insisted upon was forward.

That little mare would bale a rider out no matter how bad the circumstances.

Amazing when your intuition gets put into words.
 
I did groundwork with my youngster over 60 years ago when long reining was something that everyone did so when I backed my horse she knew all movements forwards , backwards and sideways and responded to my voice.. the old fashioned ways seem to die out but now seems to have come back which is a good thing
 
I was listening to a podcast recently on training medieval warhorses and there is some evidence that they might have been using long reining with them. It's not direct evidence but the list of equipment bought includes items that can be used for long reining.
 
I wonder if the heart rate on those horses was lower if the groundwork trainer was different from the rider (ie it was the groundwork that made the difference) or if the groundwork trainer / rider were the same person - in which case it might have been the familiarity that led to the better heart rate rather than ground work per se.

I think a lot of people have lost the idea of early years training on the long reins. About 12 years ago I was having a lesson with a BHS fellow who had been teaching at Hartpury and she was bemoaning that H&S meant that they'd stopped her bringing in 3yo to show college students how to start the basics on long reining and then moving onto lunging with 2 reins. It was now schooled horses only. No idea if that is still the case but watching experienced people work with youngsters is invaluable IMO.

I'd also say a lot of people are quite lazy and would prefer to be in the saddle than on 2 legs!! I have set some pretty basic exercises before from a bodywork perspective and had clients not bother because the horse felt better so they wanted to just get on and ride. One had a quite significantly under muscled mare (vet involved) and I said at least 6 weeks of walk work in hand - she was sending my in the saddle videos at trot just 3 weeks later asking what I thought. Not much really, especially as I was hoping 6 weeks of walking in hand might have made the human lose a few KG too :-(
 
Ambers Echo said:
I rest my case!! It's fab that the benefits of groundwork are becoming clearer and its use is now more widespread. 10 years ago any mention of GW often just led to people ranting at you about Parelli!

I think all the reasons given make sense, but the one that really resonates is facilitating communication on the ground, so the task is more easily understood under saddle. Joe sets up groundwork with direct links to ridden work. Everything she will be asked to do with a rider on top, she will already know how to do on the ground with the same cues. She gets so upset when she does not understand something, and can then throw shapes. On the ground that's fine. Once she stops, I am still there patiently asking her to think about it and work it out. And eventually she does and calms down. Missing out that 'teaching on the ground' step seems like a very bad idea with a horse as sensitive as her. But increased clarity benefits any horse.
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I also found out that Enormosaurus can get explosive if frustrated and confused. I'm not entirely sure how she was backed, but I heard it wasn't all good. I'm trying to slowly get her to accept lateral movement from the ground (which to be fair is starting to come along), I just wish she wasn't about 17.2 while I'm vertically challenged. It doesn't make ground work easy for me!
Ground work plus introduction of positive reinforcement (carrots!) have worked wonders with her attitude and cooperation with me. I was avoiding food rewards before because they set her off windsucking, but she actually doesn't really windsuck after a treat if she is kept occupied.
 
This doesnt sound right to me. A lot of publicity was given to Monty Roberts when he visited the late Queen following which Kelly Marks wrote booklets including one showing RS beginners like me how it was possible to use that approach within a loose box.
I spectated a demo by Monty Roberts from which I learned little but then in 2002 Kelly Marks wrote a whole book
Marks, Perfect Manners: How You Should Behave so Your Horse Does Too. and I was on my way.
I confess I never read it from end to end but it tied in with the Behaviourism with which I was already familiar because a friend thought might help with my children - She had spent time in Chicago with her husband and applied it to social work.

Next came the trainers who felt that too much behaviourism was bad for children as it robbed them of the opportunity to take their own decisions and make their own mistakes. An idea which again was explored by horsemen like Mark Rashid
 
Skib said:
This doesnt sound right to me. A lot of publicity was given to Monty Roberts when he visited the late Queen following which Kelly Marks wrote booklets including one showing RS beginners like me how it was possible to use that approach within a loose box.
I spectated a demo by Monty Roberts from which I learned little but then in 2002 Kelly Marks wrote a whole book
Marks, Perfect Manners: How You Should Behave so Your Horse Does Too. and I was on my way.
I confess I never read it from end to end but it tied in with the Behaviourism with which I was already familiar because a friend thought might help with my children - She had spent time in Chicago with her husband and applied it to social work.

Next came the trainers who felt that too much behaviourism was bad for children as it robbed them of the opportunity to take their own decisions and make their own mistakes. An idea which again was explored by horsemen like Mark Rashid
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Which part are you referring to that doesn't sound right?
 
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