Day 3: Ground Work and Grooming
Day 3 of becoming a better rider, and we are finally going to be working with our horses! Day 3 is ground work and grooming. To become a better rider, you need to be good with your horse on the ground first. By focusing on the ground work, you will know how your horse reacts. And it’s a lot safer to learn his reactions from the ground instead of just jumping on his back and hoping for the best.
Tools You Will Need For Today:
- Clinician style rope halter
- Clinician style stick and string
- 14 foot lead rope
- Grooming tote with curry comb, fly spray, stiff brush and hoof pick
- Squirt bottle filled with water
But before we jump into day 3, how was yesterday? Were you able to get all your tack and equipment organized and ready to use? If you did it, great job! If you didn’t, take a few minutes today before you go get your horse. You will need your grooming box today so having everything in it and ready to go will make today that much more enjoyable.
Grooming Part One
The grooming will be in 2 parts. Go get your horse, and tie him up to a hitching post, trailer or wherever you tie him to get ready to ride.
If you don’t have a place to tie your horse, or your horse doesn’t like being tied up, you can work on that today in the ground work portion of your training session. I have a blocker tie ring that I can move from place to place which is what I use to tie up my horses. The blocker tie ring allows you to run your lead rope through the ring, and if your horse pulls back, he won’t panic. It gives resistance until he relaxes. Once he stops struggling against being tied, he gets an immediate release. This will teach your horse the principle of pressure, and release. So if you don’t have a blocker tie ring, try to find one. It will make your time with your horse even more enjoyable.
Ok, enough about tying up your horse.
First Steps Next
Now that he is caught and tied, begin to groom him. This is just a general grooming to get him to work. Start by picking out his feet. If he doesn’t like to pick up his feet, work on this today in your ground work. But pick up those feet! By doing this repetitively, he will get used to it, I promise! But you must do it. No cheating. Because if you don’t make him pick up his feet, you are training him to get away with not doing something when he doesn’t feel like it. So make him do it.
Once his feet are picked out, grab a curry comb and curry his coat all over. Then grab a stiff brush, and whisk away the dirt you just loosened up. Hold your curry in the other hand and occasionally run the stiff brush over the curry comb to get the dirt out, and continue to brush your horse all over. You can also use the stiff brush to run over his mane and tail. The stiff brush is gentler than a mane and tail brush, and won’t pull out the hairs of his mane and tail.
Now For The Fly Spray
Now that he had a basic grooming, if you use a fly spray give him a coat of this too. Again, if your horse doesn’t like to stand still when you apply fly spray, he needs to get used to it. What I like to do is take an empty spray bottle and fill it up with water. I then take my horse to my riding area (or arena if you have one) and I spray him all over with the squirt bottle. When he starts dancing around and moving away from me, I just follow him. I continue to spray him until he stops moving. When he stops and stands still for 10 seconds, or shows signs of relaxing I reward him by stopping the spraying.
If you do this repeatedly for a week or so, he will learn to just stand there while you spray him.
Ground Work
If you have a skittish horse and started your ground work with getting him used to the spray bottle, you have already started your ground work. If your horse is good with spray bottles, now you will begin your ground work.
I like to use a rope halter, 15 foot lead rope, and a clinician style stick and string for ground work. The rope halter has knots that apply pressure to sensitive areas of your horse’s face. This is a fantastic halter to use because when you apply pressure, the horse will react.
When you release the pressure, your horse gets a reward, get it? Pressure and release. This has been the best method I have found to get my horses to do what I ask, and it isn’t mean or harsh.
Take your horse to a separate area and be sure to bring your stick and string. If you don’t have a stick and string, you can use a lunge whip, but I would encourage you to get a stick and string because it is a very useful tool.
Now that we are in our “work” area, it’s time to work!
To begin, when you are doing any of these exercises, be sure to stand at a 45 degree angle from your horses shoulder. You want to be out of the way of his feet, and head because if he moves forward, you don’t want to have him running over you. Remember, safety first.
Getting Your Horse Used To Your Tools
First work and getting your horse used to your tools. Starting on his lower legs, gently fling the end of your lead around his legs. Do this gently, but you want to fling the rope toward his legs. If he starts dancing around and moving, follow him. When he stops dancing around, reward him with removing the pressure, and stop flinging the rope, and rub him to let him know he did good.
You can do the same thing with your stick and string. Get him used to it. And when he stops dancing around and just stands there, reward him with removing the pressure.
If you want a visual of how to do this, go over to my YouTube channel, and click on the 31 days playlist. I have a video under day 3 showing you how to do this exercise, visually.
This may take 5 minutes, or it could take an hour. It depends on your horse. The point of this exercise is for your horse to get used to your tools, and learn that it means less work if he stands still.
Bending
Another good ground exercise is to get your horse to bend his neck.
Standing at his back, pull the lead rope to the side, and get him to give his head. You want his nose to touch his rib cage. You apply pressure until his nose bends around and he touches his side. Once he does it, release the lead rope, to give him a release from the pressure. Do this 5 times on each side, and then 3 sessions of 5 times. Once you are done, be sure to rub him and tell him how good he is.
It is important to do it on both sides of your horse. Horse’s have almost 2 brains it seems. Each side is a new experience for him, so it is important to do these exercises on both sides.
When you begin the bending exercise, your horse may be stiffer on one side. With repeated sessions of bending he will become softer and more flexible. Doing this exercise will help to supple your horse, and is very helpful once you get up on his back.
If you are doing well with these exercises, you can continue. Or if this has taken an hour to get through the bending, it’s probably a good point to stop. If you are going to continue, work on getting your horse to back up, or lead. Work on stopping, and turning. See if you can get him to disengage his hindquarters and walk.
Grooming Time Part 2
Once you have completed your ground work session, now it is time to thoroughly groom your horse. If he got himself in a tizzy and is dripping with sweat, you may want to walk him a bit to cool him out. And if it is warm enough, rinse him off with a hose. If he doesn’t like the hose, this will be a continuation of your ground work.
When he is cooled out and dry, begin to groom him deeply. You should be able to groom him well now because his skin will be warm. Really get in deep and curry him. I like to use the Hands-On grooming gloves. They are gentle, and it is like I am giving my horse a massage. Once he has been curried, I use a stiff brush, and then a short-bristled brush to get the dirt and loose hair off his body. I run the brush over a curry every few brush strokes to keep my brush clean.
Pick out his hooves one more time and apply a hoof conditioner if his hooves are dry. I like to use coconut oil. It is cheap, and will not make my horses hooves to soft. The coconut oil also has antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Now if you want to, apply a detangler to his mane and tail and run a brush through it.
Wipe off his face, his nose and his eyes and give him a big hug for a job well done!
After you have finished your grooming, you can put your horse away or turn him out. But I like to keep him tied while I clean everything up. This helps to get him used to being tied up. He doesn’t need to go back into his stall right away, he can stand there, and he will be fine.
Day 3 Is Complete!
Once all of my stuff has been put away, where it belongs, then I put my horse into his stall.
Well that is it for day 3. How did you do? If it wasn’t a smooth day, that’s ok. Each day it will get easier and easier, especially the more you work with your horse. If there are some areas your horse isn’t great at, keep working with him every day for a few minutes until he gets used to his new routine. He will settle in, I promise!
Once you have completed day 3, grab your red marker and draw a big “x” on day 3. You did it!
