Last month I wrote an article about Starting Groundwork to improve your communication with your horse and help to gymnastise his body by using basic leading exercises. This month I want to take you a step further in your amazing journey of using groundwork exercises.
If you tried the exercises mentioned in the previous article you will have found that both you and your horse have an “energy bubble”. This bubble pretty much defines your personal space. Push on the bubble and you (or your horse) will either move away or react (possibly aggressively). As you progress with these exercises you need to learn not to push against each other, and to learn just how much space you each need so that you can keep the appropriate distance from each other, where you are both comfortable. You need to be able to walk in balance next to each other, to stop and start as one. When all this is in place it will feel as though you have a joint bubble, one in which both you and your horse are comfortable.
Once the basic leading exercises are reasonable well established you can move on to the continuation exercises defined here, learning how to refine your body language and speed up the reactions of your horse. This is when you start to “dance” together as you move your joint bubble forwards, backwards and sideways.
Probably one of the most important things to remember about groundwork is that your body is your primary aid. The rein, the stick, and your voice are all secondary aids. Basically primary aids cannot be taken away (unless you remove yourself from your horse’s presence), secondary aids can be taken away or not used. In an ideal world your horse responds to the primary aid and the secondary aid is only used if further explanation or refining is required.
Using your primary aid you can start to ask for more engagement in your transitions. When you ask for a stop, try tilting your pelvis by “tucking your tail between your legs” to prepare your horse for collection. Then ask for just one step forward, stop and then one step backwards with your bod by taking your weight slightly forward and then backwards, only supporting with your stick if necessary. Remember if you want engagement you need to engage your body too! When this is going well, you and your horse can start “rocking” together. Whilst in a halt see if you can move the weight of both you and the horse forward and then backwards, so that you slowly start swinging front, rear, front, rear.
Now start playing with extension and speed. Can you increase the pace a little and lengthen your stride and get your horse to emulate you? Can you reduce the speed and have your horse slow down too? Try this using only your primary aid (body language) and variations of your energy level. Try walking slowly for a couple of steps, then stop, go forward a step, stop, back up five steps, stop, stride forward, slow right down etc. etc. Can you and the horse walk at the same pace? Your left leg is equivalent to the horse’s left hind leg and your right leg is equivalent to the horse’s right hind leg. How big or small do your steps need to be to match your horse, and once you can match him, can he match you?
Once all this is going well you can start to ask your horse for correct shape which means introducing stelling and bending. It is normally easier to start this exercise on a small circle – something like a 10m volte. You will need to be on the inside of your horse, so that you are on the smaller circle and your horse on the outside. As always we need to explain to the horse what we want with our primary aid, our body. So if we want our horse to bend, then we need to bend in our own body and if we want our horse to soften and give us stelling, then we need to be relaxed in our own neck and jaw line.
Standing beside your horse try relaxing your neck and flexing your head slightly to the inside, can you transfer this movement to your horse? Probably not to start with; but if you can’t, don’t worry. Support the stelling of your neck and jawline by touching the back of your outside hand at the girth and then, if you still need to clarify things a little further to your horse, do so by briefly closing the fingers of your inside hand on the rein (small impulse). The moment that your horse softens and flexes at his throatlash – reward him. Repeat this exercise at a standstill until your horse relaxes and softens and offers stelling easily and willingly.
Now turn your shoulders slightly towards the middle of the circle, to show your horse the right bending with your body and start walking. Remember you need to keep a small stelling in your own neck. As you walk on the circle you can ask for the inside hind leg to step forward and under the point of mass with your stick. Once the exercise is easy on one rein, change the rein and try it the other way, and then add in transitions.
Then when all the above leading exercises work well in a walk, try them all in a trot.
Collect by “tucking your tail between your legs” in your own body.
Rock together, forwards and backwards.
Vary the speed, even in trot.
Ask for stelling and bending in your horse by finding bending and relaxation in your own body.