• If done properly groundwork makes a horse safer to ride.
• Groundwork enables you to work, train, develop a horse mentally, emotionally and physically without having to ride a novice horse.
• Groundwork before riding is also a good way of running through some 'pre flight checks' with the horse before mounting. For anything other than accomplished riders this is far safer than mounting the horse only to find that it is not ready to ride. Even accomplished riders often prefer to work a horse on the ground first for this reason, they don't like falling off anymore than anyone else.
• If you ask your horse to do something and the horse refuses (says no) or responds in an unexpected way then you can work on that particular resistance until the horse yields (says yes), only then should you consider mounting.
• In classical dressage, groundwork is seen as a normal part of training and most classical trainers would use groundwork to train and supple a horse every time before mounting.
• If you have stopped riding your horse because he has frightened you, groundwork can get you going with him again. This enables you to continue working the horse and improving his behaviour. Meanwhile you can be improving your riding skills elsewhere if necessary.
• It is possible to replicate almost all of the movements under saddle on the ground first.
• Groundwork develops the trainer in areas such as observance, feel, balance, timing, co-ordination and positioning and leads to an increase in their confidence in their own abilities.
• Groundwork can be used to 'habituate' the horse to objects and noises that the horse may be afraid of. This is generally a safer way to do this than mounted.

in-hand work: this takes various forms from the classical dressage to the 'natural horsemanship' . As the name suggests the trainer is working up close to the horse. It can be carried out either in a headcollar, lunge cavesson, rope halter or bridle. In-hand work is ideal for teaching the horse to yield to pressure and to 'follow a feel'. A well trained relaxed horse will move away from any pressure that is applied to the body, for example when applying a hand to the hip it will move across away from the touch. An untrained horse will lean into the pressure. This is natural in a herd animal that needs to bunch together when in danger. It is only through training that horses learn to yield to pressure cues and this is one of the most important aspects of training a horse. Learning to follow a feel is a continuation of learning to yield to pressure. The horse yields to pressure on the lead rope or the reins and follows that feel wherever it goes, without resistance. This makes the horse far safer to be around and much less likely to injure itself in various situations. It also means that tying up, loading into a float/trailer and various other potentially risky situations are no longer a problem.

By working in close contact with the horse the trainer is able to replicate many of the cues that are given to the horse when being ridden. For example the trainer can teach the horse to yield and be soft in the mouth or to yield the head to the feel of the halter/head collar or cavesson. The trainer can teach the horse to yield to pressure and go forwards or sideways from either fingertip pressure or light taps of the whip in the girth or hip area. This kind of work is ideal for teaching the horse the lateral movements that are so necessary for a horse to be soft, balanced and generally wonderful to ride. This kind of work also sets the horse up for lunging and long reining and aids in the development of the handler so that they develop skills that will be needed when they work the horse further away from them.

In-hand work pays dividends both when starting a young horse under saddle for the first time and when retraining a horse that has become hard and unyielding in order to protect itself from riders with hard and unyielding riding habits.

• The trainer is able to ask the horse to carry out movements without any hindrance from a rider.
• This kind of training is an excellent way of teaching a horse to be soft, supple and yielding before you even ride him for the first time.
• The trainer is improving the skills that are required for riding such as when to apply pressure and most importantly when to release..
• Because the trainer is working in close proximity to the horse they have to be even more careful with regards their positioning. A very green horse can feel cornered if you put too much pressure on too soon so the trainer needs to be able to read the signs that the horse is giving and act accordingly. Take it slowly.

Points to consider

• Lunging is a useful way to exercise a horse if you do not or cannot ride him for some reason.
• If done properly and the duration gradually built up, lunging strengthens a horse's musculature and improves its impulsion, tracking (gaits), bending (flexibility), balance and rhythm.
• It is a good way of teaching a young horse transitions so that it can develop some balance before being asked to do these with a rider.
• You can observe the horse's movement from a distance (i.e. check for stepping short etc.).
• Can be used to work a new and unfamiliar horse before being ridden.
• There is always the risk of the horse getting away with a long rope attached.
• If you stand in the wrong spot you risk being kicked.
• While a bout of lunging may take the edge off a lively horse endless lunging only makes the horse fitter so it is not always a good idea to use it to improve lively behaviour.
• Never allow a lively horse to gallop around and buck as you are then allowing the horse to practice the wrong behaviour.
• Lunging is hard work on the joints if overdone depending on the surface and the time spent lunging.
• If the horse is nervous you are simply chasing him and forcing him to practice his flight response.

long reining: is where the horse is worked with two long reins (lunge lines) rather than just the one lunge line. It takes a lot more skill than lunging as now there are two reins to handle as well as the horse and the lunge whip. It is commonly used when teaching a horse to drive and in this case the trainer walks directly behind the horse as well as circles the horse around them. In classical dressage long reining is often carried out with the trainer much nearer to the horse but this is when the horse and trainer are working at a higher skill level. Long reining should also be carried out in an enclosed area. A horse must be habituated (got used to) the feeling of the rope behind its back legs before long reining. If not the horse can panic and kick out at the feel of the rein.

Points to consider

• Long reining has the same pros and cons of lunging with regards using it for exercising, building up fitness, stress on the joints and suppling etc.
• It is easier to control the direction and speed of the horse because you have two reins.
• It is very easy to get caught up or trip in the reins.
• If the horse gets away it has two reins attached to it.
• Walking directly behind a horse in long reins can result in the trainer being kicked or dragged if the horse takes off. Never take a young horse out on the roads in long reins to get it habituated to traffic, you can end up 'water skiing' down the road behind a galloping horse.

liberty work: is working a horse with you and around you, loose, but not trying to run away. This requires a horse to be educated to a level where he is focussed on the trainer to the extent that outside distractions do not affect him. Obviously this needs to be built up bit by bit. It is the icing on the cake' if you like of training your horse on the ground. This kind of training should not be confused with making a horse work in a roundyard in order to get it to want to stop and follow you. With liberty training it is not the outside of the yard or arena that is keeping the horse from running away but the connection that the horse has with the trainer.

Points to consider

• This is a good test of whether the horse is really listening and is connected to the trainer or whether the horse is simply staying because he is attached to a rope.
• The horse needs to be responsive to the trainer to the extent that he will not run over the top of the trainer.
• Without preparation the horse will either run to the outside of the training area or will not want to move away from the trainer.

habituation

Habituation is a process by which you can teach your horse to accept objects and situations that would normally cause it to startle or behave in a way that makes it dangerous. Some people call this bomb proofing however it can be dangerous to think of a horse as bomb proof. We can only train a horse to override its instincts. Those instincts are still hard wired into the brain and when frightened those instincts may still come to the fore. The more trained the horse is the more chance there is that he will not panic however every horse has a breaking point. Initially horses are afraid of most things because in the wild this is what keeps them alive. However the wild horse also has to be able to 'get used' to sights and sounds that are not followed up with a scary incident otherwise the horse would wear itself out by using too much nervous energy. Horses often become habituated to many common sights and sounds without the owner even realising it for example horses that live in an area next to a busy main road are often habituated to traffic to some extent.

A trainer can make a horse much safer by habituating it to many different stimuli. If this is done with lots of different objects and situations the horse will also start to adopt 'stimulus generalisation'. This means that if the horse is habituated to a whip crack for example it will be less likely to get frightened if a car backfires nearby even though it is not the same thing. If the horse is habituated to being touched by a plastic shopping bag it will be calmer about other flapping objects in the future (however remember what we see as similarities between objects, may not be seen in the same way by a horse). Habituation is used to make the horse much safer but it is important that it is carried our properly otherwise it is possible to actually make a horse more rather than less frightened of a scary things. For example if a horse is allowed to run away from something that it is scared of then it is learning a very dangerous behaviour therefore before a horse is introduced to new sights, sounds and feelings it must be taught to stand still first of all. Having good groundwork skills is imperative before you begin to habituate a horse to scary objects and situations. Once you have control of the horses movements (and can therefore get the horse to stand still) you can start to very gradually habituate the horse to various sights, sounds and feelings.

A horse should eventually accept the sight of things such as: pushers (buggies/prams) still and moving, umbrellas being put up and down, flapping tarps/flags, plastic bags blowing around, dogs and other animals, traffic of all types, children playing/children's toys. A horse should also accept the sound of such things as: motors, so that it is not frightened of the sound of traffic, loud noises, sharp bangs and cracks (whip cracks), hissing sounds such as aerosols, crackling sounds such as tarp and sheets of plastic. A horse should accept the feel of initially being touched all over the body with a hand and then such things a saddle cloth, tarp or plastic, straps and ropes, water etc. In addition a horse should be able to step through tyres, walk on a tarp, walk under streamers, accept water being sprayed on the body. Most of these situations can be set up at home and you can use your imagination to add to this list of objects and situations. Always start in an enclosed area.

The more potentially scary things that a horse is accustomed to the safer it becomes. To habituate a horse to any new sights, sounds or feelings start by introducing it a very low level of pressure to start with and only step up the pressure if the horse has accepted the previous level. If the horse starts to get worried go back a step or two and try again slowly. Never frighten the horse, introduce the new objects at a level that the horse can cope with, it cannot be stressed enough that if the horse is allowed to become frightened you have taught the horse the exact opposite of what you wanted and made the horse less, rather than more, safe.

ridden work

positive reinforcement - clicker training

Positive reinforcement (reward training) can be used to teach everything from basic manners to upper level performance (advanced movements). Clicker training is a form of positive reinforcement training.

You may or may not have heard of clicker training. What is it? Clicker training a development of positive reinforcement (reward) training. Giving a horse a reward when training is not that new - people have been giving rewards to horses when training them for many years, especially when trick training and during in-hand classical dressage training - although most training systems are based on negative reinforcement only (pressure and release). What is new is the application of a bridging signal (secondary reinforcer) to the training process (clicker training).

Clicker training was developed for training marine mammals as a solution to the problem of how to train an animal that is moving around freely and therefore cannot be manually manipulated into responding. With animals such as dolphins a whistle is used to tell the animal that it has made the correct response (done the right thing) and then a fish is thrown into the water. Had the trainer simply thrown the fish in the water as the dolphin did a back flip, for example, by the time the dolphin found the fish it would not connect the back flip with the reward. This has always been the problem with using rewards to train horses, especially when riding them, by the time you give the horse the reward it may have stopped doing the behaviour that you wanted to reward. Then the horse thinks it has been rewarded (and therefore is likely to carry out the behaviour again) for one behaviour when you thought you were rewarding for another. The clicker (or whistle or whatever you decide to use) is merely a tool that enables you to say 'yes that is what I wanted' at the moment it is needed. It is a 'bridging' tool between the correct behaviour and the reward.

The click is always backed up with a reward. As the horse advances you click (and reward) less often until the horse will eventually perform the behaviour on a cue of your choice (such as a voice cue). Remember, the clicker is simply a tool used in positive reinforcement (reward) training. Many people get confused between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement (also called 'pressure and release' in horse training circles). These terms are cropping up more and more in everyday horse talk so it is essential that you become familiar with some of the terminology used when describing behaviour and training.

positive reinforcement: with positive reinforcement a reward is given during or immediately after the correct response. It is called positive because a reward is given as the behaviour occurs. This is where clicker training comes in, as it is generally believed that with horses a delay of more than one second is too long. If the horse has started to do something else it is too late. It is better to wait until the correct response happens again rather than reward the wrong response, otherwise the animal learns the wrong behaviour.

With clicker training the animal is first taught to make a connection between the click and the reward, then when it hears the click it knows that it is about to receive a reward for that particular behaviour. This is usually done by first teaching the horse to touch a target (such as a cone, a plastic bottle, the flat of your hand etc.) and then click/rewarding the horse. The target can then be moved around and the horse has to reach in different directions to touch it and earn a click/reward. Rewarding behaviour makes it more likely that the horse will perform that behaviour again. Rewards need to be something that the horse really likes. Food is a very strong motivator. Patting and verbal praise are not really very good rewards for a horse, as they do not really mean much to them.

Using food as a reward is a contentious subject for many people. Some people feel that rewards are 'bribery' and feel that the horse should do what is asked of it without being bribed. Food is a primary need in all animals and therefore is a very strong motivator. Used properly it is an excellent way of reinforcing desired behaviour. Other people think that food rewards will make the horse pushy and mouthy (i.e. the horse will nip and bite in order to get the handler to give food). This is only correct if food rewards are given inappropriately. As you learn to clicker train you will see that correct training will result in a well-behaved horse that does not bite.

negative reinforcement: this is the most common way of training horses, everything from classical training to natural horsemanship is based on negative reinforcement (it is also used along with positive reinforcement to get the horse to give a behaviour which can then be rewarded). Pressure is applied to the animal, for example you squeeze with your legs, the horse moves, you stop squeezing. It is called negative because the stimulus is taken away as the behaviour occurs. Just like positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement needs very precise timing otherwise the horse gets confused. If you are using negative reinforcement to teach a horse to stand still you might vibrate the lead when the horse is moving but stop when the horse stands still. Through trial and error the horse will try out different responses to get you to stop the annoyance of the vibration. The horse learns that to stop the pressure (vibration in this case) it must stand still.

One way of thinking about the difference between positive and negative reinforcement and their effects is to liken it to how you treat other people. If you praise someone for doing a task, they are more likely to do it again (positive reinforcement). If you nag and nag to get someone to do a task they may do it, just to get you to stop nagging (negative reinforcement). The result in both cases may be that the task gets done however the person who was praised is more likely to want to do it again next time. The person who was nagged with no praise at the end will probably make sure they are not available next time.

Some horse trainers sometimes confuse the issue by saying that when you release the pressure you are giving a reward. This is misleading, as you are not giving anything, just removing pressure. The term negative reinforcement makes some people feel uncomfortable because it sounds bad i.e. negative. In fact without negative reinforcement it would take a very long time to train a horse certain movements. With horses, combining the two works really well, the negative reinforcement gets the horse to do the behaviour, the positive reinforcement speeds up his or her learning and makes it more enjoyable. This is also what makes clicker training really great, you do not have to develop a whole new training system, it piggy backs onto the training system you are already using so whether you are a classical dressage trainer or a natural horsemanship trainer, clicker training can be added to your training method (and is being by many successful trainers).

Horses like to be comfortable and will respond to even small amounts of pressure. Rewarding that response to pressure is the icing on the cake. Negative reinforcement gets the horse to do what you want him to do. The reward makes it more likely that he will do it again willingly.

shaping behaviour: not all behaviours need to be initiated with negative reinforcement. Teaching the horse to target on an object and a trick such as picking up a cone and passing it to you is the result of pure shaping. To teach the horse the later the horse is first clicked/rewarded for targeting on a cone on the ground, then for mouthing the cone, then for picking the cone up, then for passing it to you. Like all training this takes many sessions to achieve depending on how motivated the horse is. The more steps you break a new task down into the easier it is for the horse to learn. What often seems like a logical step to you may not to the horse. Clicker training teaches you the benefits of building many steps into your training sessions and you often learn many surprising things about your horse (and yourself) along the way.

Once you understand how clicker training works you can see how it can be used to enhance all of the training that you are already doing with your horse. It can also be used to speed up learning when habituating the horse to scary objects. By clicking and rewarding the horse for behaving calmly when you are introducing potentially scary objects the horse learns the correct behaviour even more quickly.

Clickers can be purchased at most pet shops (they are used extensively in dog training). The click is a consistent sound that is easily recognised by the horse. You can also make a 'cluck' noise with your mouth if you prefer. This is better when you start to clicker train when riding. A bum bag is useful for storing rewards (I use grain or strips of carrot).

A yard or stable is needed to initially teach a horse the rules of clicker training. The horse needs to be on the other side of a barrier from you. When a horse is first being taught to clicker train it can become fixated on the rewards. The barrier keeps the horse out of reach until it has learned the correct behaviour. If you have a choice of horses to train, choose an older horse in the beginning until you understand what is happening and you develop your co-ordination. Young horses pick clicker training up very easily, often quicker than people, and you have to act quickly in order to keep up with them.

Wear a shirt or jacket especially for the first lessons as the horse can inadvertently nip you as it is learning. Once the horse has been thoroughly clicker trained it will not nip at all. In fact clicker training is an excellent way of teaching a horse that nips or bites to stop this behaviour. Clicker trained horses learn rules about food rewards, they learn that in order to get a click and a reward they must carry out a certain behaviour. They learn that mobbing you (the vending machine) for food will not get a click/reward so they give up trying when they know it does not work.

Always give the food reward between the horses nose and chest so that the horse is not reaching out to you for the food. It is a good idea to train the horse that he or she must keep the head still, straight and not grab with the lips when receiving a reward. Remember any behaviours that you reward are likely to be repeated by the horse whether they are 'good' or 'bad' behaviours.

In order to be a good trainer you must be consistent, observant, focused, and disciplined. This is true for whatever training system you are using. Additionally when clicker training remember the following:-

• Every click must be rewarded. In the beginning the horse is clicked for small steps in the right direction. As training progresses the horse has to try harder in order to get a click.
• Never click without following up with a reward, as you will confuse the horse.
• Never give a food reward for the wrong behaviour. For example if the horse mobs you for food and you relent and give the horse food you have inadvertently taught the horse that mobbing is correct behaviour. The horse soon learns that if it persists in mobbing you for food you will give in.

Clicker training is great fun and quite addictive. Horses also enjoy it to the extent that they begin to want to have a training session and will volunteer to be caught where before they may not have done. This is only a fraction of what there is to know about clicker training. If you want to have a go I recommend that you do lots more reading - there is quite a bit on the Internet and there are some excellent books available on the subject. See the links page for some useful links.

workshops and lessons

I provide workshops and lessons to educate people to become better trainers of their own horses. Workshops and individual lessons can be delivered in any of the above subjects, or indeed many other training areas not covered on this page. See the workshops page for any dates of workshops that may be coming up in your area. I live in SE Queensland, (Tamborine), Australia and travel frequently to other states/countries so why not contact me to discuss the possibility of arranging a talk or workshop in your area. If there is enough interest for a workshop/series of workshops in your area, it may be possible to organise something.

People interested in attending or co-ordinating workshops in their area please contact:

email: jane@equiculture.com.au or phone: 07 55438623

Attention Riding Club Members/ Pony Club Members etc

Workshops and talks on many subjects can be arranged through your club as a social event or even as a fund raiser for your club.