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The Rider |
Groundwork - Leading |
            
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Ground work and in particular that most basic aspect of
ground work, leading, is the most under-rated and ignored part of horse
training. People spend hours training their horse to perform a
square halt and years in dressage or jumping training only to have their
competition hopes dashed and their patience tested when the horse
refuses to board the float or truck to the show. Yet loading a
horse on a float is simply leading a horse. Where you choose to
lead your horse to is almost irrelevant if the horse is well trained and
confident that you will not lead him\her astray.
What can groundwork do for you?
What if my horse already has good
manners?
It doesn't matter whether your horse is young or old, has
good manners or bad. Spending time on basic ground training is
good for you and your horse. If you are a new owner, it will give
you a start on training your horse in an area that is simple to
understand and where you have clear objectives and some sort of control
already. There is no special gear required, nor any time or
training area constraints. Every time you take your horse out of
or back to the paddock you can train. If he has good manners,
check them and be honest about how good they are. Add additional
skills, ask him to be more focussed rather than being on auto-pilot, or
use this as a bonding exercise.
This page will show you the type of exercises I perform with my horse every time I see him and give you some ideas on what you can do with your horse.
Traditional Leading Position
First lets look at the 'traditional' leading techniques.
Let me say that if you are happy and secure with leading your horse from
this position please continue, you can continue to use this position and
still use some of the ideas here to improve your leading control and
communication.
Most of the traditional (pony club\BHS) books and
instructors will tell you that you should hold the lead rope or reins a
few inches from the halter and lead your horse by walking beside his
head or perhaps somewhere between his head and shoulder.
This is fine but has a number of drawbacks. For a
start if you think that hanging on to the horse's head gives you control
- think again! Worse in my view is that few people bother to train
their horses to lead by this method anyway - as they think they
are doing the right thing and the horse will automatically be 'good' and
safe. Generally, the horse will be given corrections by yanking on
the lead rope if the horse barges past but often people just accept this
and bemoan the fact that "their horse has bad manners".
What's 'wrong' with the traditional
leading position?
1. Placing yourself in the area between the horse's head
and his hip puts you in the position of 'sub-ordinate' horse. When
you are in front of the horse he will automatically regard you more
respectfully and likewise when you are behind the horse's hip level
 you
can 'drive' the horse like a superior horse would. So just using
this traditional position immediately puts you at a disadvantage.
2. You can't see some of what's going on.
3. You are so close to the horse that if he jumps even a
just little, because he gets a fright, he could squash you.
4. If the horse is aggressive or very disrespectful you
are in easy striking distance with little chance to correct the horse
without losing your 'control' over his head. Even just being
mischievous he can squash you against walls, fences or hedges and
pretend to be quite innocent.
5. Try backing up - you'll end up having to turn around
or using pressure on the halter to 'haul' your horse back and now you
can't see much at all (photo right)
What about an alternative?
How about training your horse to follow your
instructions? Leading is ground work and there is no reason that
you cannot use the same rules and principles in your leading as you do
in your groundwork sessions. In fact its the easiest practical use
of the time you spend with your horse when you are going from place a to
place b.
About the photographs - Before
continuing please realise that the photos show the results of
training. I did not start with this horse on a loose rope without
keeping an eye on him. Each horse will be different and you must
proceed with safety in mind but these are results you can achieve.
 Stop!
When I stop, you stop. This is the first lesson you can practice
in your lead training. I'm at the end on the lead line, its
totally slack and I've just stopped. My horse has too and he's
concentrating on me waiting to find out what we're doing next.
This is the first game because it makes your horse concentrate on you.When you first begin this game have a set of rules in your mind. Mine were - your head must not pass my shoulder and you must not touch me, you may have as much lead rope as you like but you cannot make me pull you along (it must be slack) If you are performing lead training in the traditional position you will have to think of new rules as your horse's head will be past your shoulder already. The important thing is to be clear on your rules and stick to them. Now, do it! If he keeps going, bumps into you or infringes on the rules of the game then correct him. Corrections should be used in an escalating order each time, just like your riding aids. Mine were; the stop itself, look over your shoulder at the horse (see next photo), use your voice to warn him, stamp your foot, raise the hand with the lead rope, wave the lead rope at him and finally use the halter and lead rope to back him off or use the lead rope to drive him back (I use the latter once he knows the game rather than ever using halter pressure to haul him back). You'll find he'll pick it up quickly if you're consistent. At first you may have to turn around or be quite 'loud' with your gestures but soon you'll move onto not turning around at all. You can still wave your lead rope without turning. Use your peripheral vision as much as possible. Praise Often! No matter how basic the exercise, praise and more praise when he gets it right, even if he's a little slow at first. (Using the 'come to me' exercise is good here as you can turn around and call him to you to get a nice scratch and it eases any anxiety he has after you've just been waving a rope at him) Some people are concerned that when leading from in front like this you cannot see the horse, I've not found this a problem as I can tell what my horse is doing through listening to him, the tension and activity of the lead line and using my peripheral vision and of course if I'm really curious, I just turn my head. Be aware that constantly turning around to supervise your horse does not give them the impression you are the leader and expect them to follow, instead you seem uncertain and this doesn't give your horse confidence. When he has the basics add a back-up. Simply stop and then back toward your horse, if he doesn't move use the same pressure as you used for stop, stamp your foot, tell him to backup, wave your lead rope at him and finally use pressure on the halter (his nose) to physically move him out of your space. Once you have these two basics down, practice them every time you lead your horse. Stop as often as you like when you are leading, make it a game and try to catch your horse out. Stop suddenly and then back up as quickly as you can to get him thinking and moving out of your way. If he gets caught out or distracted and ends up in front of you. Stop and give him the opportunity to work out his mistake. I've had my horse try all sorts of novel solutions to being caught out - if you have to, 'lunge' him around behind you again and then set off again. The photo on the right shows you how its done, by now we both have the game down pat - he raises his head to ensure I don't bump into him and we reverse in sync as soon as my shoulder is level with his head (remember our rules? He does) In truth all these 'lessons' can be started at the same time, its up to you. 'Come to me' is useful to ensure that your horse isn't scared by either the backup or stop training (when you're waving your lead rope to make him respect your space). Come to me is simply turning to your horse and inviting him toward you with a friendly gesture and perhaps a slight tug on the lead rope. When he arrives you give him a nice rub on the head and praise. With these three components you can now have some real fun - you can create 'see-saws' of activity by running, stopping and asking for come-to-me then backup or any combination of activity that you want when your horse is sure of the fundamentals. If your horse is prone to spooking, you'll notice a huge decrease because he's now so busy watching you he hasn't got time to gawp around. But my horse won't walk forward! Ok, so your problem isn't that your horse runs over the top of you (or maybe he does that too!) but he won't walk along with you, stops to munch the grass whenever he pleases or generally speaking you end up lugging your horse around. Stop! Never pull your horse's leadrope again, instead learn to drive your horse as if you are the lead horse. You may need either a long leadrope or dressage whip at first. Once your horse learns the rules you can use simple body language to get your point across. The technique to get your horse moving when you ask is like lunging (or roundpen if you are familiar with that). Instead of pulling on the leadrope, anytime your horse does not respond to your requests to follow you are going to drive him. This means turning toward him and walking purposely toward his hip, use verbal cues (clucking) or signals (use your leadrope or whip to make him move) to make him lunge around you. Don't let him just wander - make him walk or even trot purposely - when he has done a couple of laps and is starting to go in the direction you want - you also start to move off in front of him. You are now leading, with him following and may play any of the games above. Any undesired stops and you must immediately drive him again (make the gesture quite aggressive - bend your body toward him) Try never to tug on the leadrope, if your horse dawdles instead of walking at your speed - encourage him on, if he fails to respond - turn on him and drive him forward, he'll soon understand that the leadrope must be slack (and that you are a leader to be respected). More Leading - the long line, Leading from Behind and Move Over
But you should use whatever you feel comfortable and safe with and of course, we started out with a traditional length rope. In addition to leading we've also done a lot of training with lunging, free work and even trained for when the rope is trailing him or wrapped around his legs. I would suggest that you do this too to ensure your safety and to desensitise your horse to the rope in case of accidents. I use a soft heavy cotton rope so that it drops and drags rather than flapping and tangling like a 'normal' lunge line. Your horse has responsibilities too! He can have a job to do on the ground as well as under saddle. When leading, it is his job to ensure that the line is slack, I don't have any desire to lug him around! The longer the line the bigger the test of our communication. I also use much longer ropes to perform some training, lunging across obstacles and terrain alternately leading or driving. In Natural Horsemanship terms this is called 'lateral lunging' I just think of it as leading.
This is something that we're starting to work on more these days. Driving, or leading from behind, is very useful when going through gates or confined spaces. Here the long rope allows me to direct my horse forward while I hang onto the gate. As you can imagine this is very helpful when you have to deal with several horses in the paddock and get your own out or in. This is not the same as long-lining since it is without a bridle.
Yet another handy tool in the manners toolbox. Move
over. At first you will need to apply some pressure to the horse's
flanks, then later you can simply point at the horse's hip to have him
move laterally. The key to this exercise is pressure and release.
Apply only as much pressure as is required, but as much as is needed for
the horse to begin to move sideways. There is a very sensitive area at
the end of the horse's ribs that is excellent for asking the horse to
step over.
Its most important to immediately release the pressure
when the horse makes any attempt to move as directed. Let him
think about it a little, then ask again and repeat until he has moved as
much as you want. Each time you should have to use less pressure
and eventually you will simply need to ask by pointing in the direction
of his hip and asking him to move over.
Here I apply a little pressure to the halter to ensure
that he moves laterally rather than forward, as we have been doing more
driving lately. You can see his ear firmly fixed on me and the
hind leg moving over (highlighted in the photo) even though my finger is a good foot away from his
side.
Leading is so
useful,
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The Stop Game Back-Up Come to Me Leading - Forward! Long Lead Rope Driving Move Over |
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