There is a great deal of training that can be accomplished with a riding horse, or potential riding horse, from the ground.

Most people are familiar with ground work in the form of basic handling of young horses (grooming, leading, loading, clipping, and so on), and with longeing, in one form or another. However there is a vast amount of useful training, both simple and sophisticated, that can fill many needs: 1) Make babies easier to handle; 2) Prepare the horse for breaking in; 3) Get a head start on the early stages of training under saddle; 4) Discipline (establishing and improving the horse-rider relationship, establishing the pecking order; 5) Correctionsattitude and discipline issues and former training issues (horses that have been abused or have problems from former trainingsuch as draw reining, head-setting, anxiety issues, and so on); 6) Advancing the training at all levels; 7) Keeping a horse "in training" that cannot be ridden or worked; 8) Showing horses in hand.

Ground work, or non-riding training, can contribute to every level of training from baby behavior to Grand Prix. It encompasses basic handling (babies), lateral training, "pre-longing", longeing, and long reining.

Most people who have the time for extensive ground work don't have the knowledge and expertise, and many people who have reached a high level of expertise don't have the time, and too often have never learned ground training technique on their way up the training ladder.

Handling babies

Early and correct handling of babies can begin immediately after birth. Once confidence has been gained, and the simple lessons of management for trimming, worming, medicating, etc. have been established, more specific lessons can be commenced after a few months, so that the youngster will be easy to manage after weaning.

There is always the danger that the handler may be inclined to make too much of a pet of the young horse, without control and respect and socialization. Many "hand raised" youngsters become pushy horrors in the process of becoming calm and friendly. Proper ground training all along the way will prevent this spoiled syndrome.

After the foal is weaned, simple lessons can be taught which already prepare the youngster for it's role in life as a riding horse: 1. Submission and moveability of the head and neck - both laterally and longitudinally; 2. Moving away from pressure - specific to the forehand and hindquarters, and for moving backward and forward.

These lessons already prepare the ground for submission to the hand and to the leg and whip for later work under saddle, even addressing the lateral work.

This early work in hand, however, is not limited to babies. Many are the "riding horses" that need the very same lessons at a more advanced age - as "re-schooling".

Further work

If the youngster is sufficiently schooled (not just befriended) on the ground, it should be possible to ameliorate the task of breaking to an enormous extent. In fact, by the time the youngster is ready for breaking in, it should do turn on forehand, displacement of the forehand, backing, marching forward, and leg yielding.

If "familiarization" is carried to a considerable degree, the horse should also already have been exposed to the saddlery, the whip, the lines, the shafts (for driving horse prospects). A less elegant term, but nonetheless useful, is "sacking out".

Acceptance of the bit can be addressed before the horse is ever backed, using the longeing and long-reining techniques.

A very experienced trainer can also have the horse doing shoulder-in, renvers, and travers, as well as leg-yielding, before the horse is broke to ride.

Besides preparation for ongoing training, correct ground work can also be a lifesaver when dealing with a horse which may be unsubmissive - even to the point of being aggressively dangerous. Knowledgeable "pre-longeing", and long reining has cured many a balker and rearer - at every age.

Correct ground training can also help to break the pattern of pull-and-push, which often leads to abusive use of the aids, by reestablishing and crystallizing the learning and experimental process in horses.

Advancement of training - especially in terms of lateral responsiveness and lightness - can be both remedial and proactive, in the hands of a knowledgeable trainer.

Soundness issues are not to be overlooked either. Correct preparation can avoid the kind of "longeing" that lets the horse careen madly about with twisted and wrenching action on the legs. How many of us have been told to longe the horse quietly after a month in the stall, and found ourselves clinging to a maniac which undoes any advantage of all the days of stall rest in a couple of turns around the circle while we whimper "easy, easy". Longeing young horses has its risks to the horse's legs unless the discipline level insures that the horse is vertical over its legs and moving quietly and straight without twisting and wrenching.

Specialized training for showing sport or breeding horses in hand is based on the same work as is appropriate for pre-training of riding horses. For coverage of this topic, the USDF tape "Showing Your Sport Horse in Hand" is recommended.