Groundwork, or exercises you do with your horse while on the ground, is one of the most important things you will ever learn or teach a horse. Groundwork is the base where you start training and it is rather easy to do. Other than a halter and lead rope you can use other things like poles, lunge lines and whips. Most of the time you can get away with only using lead ropes and halters but when you need other tools they are available.
When thinking about what to do with groundwork there are lots of opinions but the main or most common ones are in-hand work, lunging, liberty and using poles.
There are many patterns and outlines you can make with poles. Whether your horse is going over, around or through the poles, it helps with muscle and focus. All groundwork helps with focus and muscle but poles are especially a good way to build them.
Groundwork is often used for bringing a lame horse back into work, training a young horse or just having something to do when it is too wet or cold to ride. Horses are more than just for riding and when you take a closer look you can see that most of the trust, skills and training you share with your horse are all built on groundwork.
Groundwork is not just for at-home practice. Showmanship classes in horse shows are built on groundwork and it’s concepts. Showmanship is a pattern performed in front of a judge at a show usually having backs, pivots, and trotting, and they always end with moving boxes or positions around your horse and the judge otherwise known as an inspection from the judge.
The York County Current 