Step-By-Step Guide to Essential Groundwork Exercises

Equestrians do more than ride horses; they care for them, handle them, and train them. They must also learn many other skills to safely navigate a horse’s prey and flight instincts. Groundwork can help equestrians connect with their horses in a way the horse understands: through body language and face-to-face. I will share the most essential groundwork exercises every equestrian should know in this article.

What groundwork exercises should every horseback rider know? There are a few groundwork exercises that can be very effective when practiced consistently:

• Lowering the horse’s head
• Backing the horse up
• Disengaging the hindquarters
• Yielding the shoulders
• Picking up the feet

If a horse has developed a problem under saddle, chances are it first manifested in handling the horse on the ground. If you can use groundwork to correct certain behaviors first on the ground, it will solve many problems in the saddle. Keep reading to get a complete breakdown of these essential groundwork exercises!

Essential Groundwork Exercise #1: Lowering the Horse’s Head

This exercise refers to the ability to pull down on the lead rope or push down on top of the horse’s head, causing the horse to lower its head. While simple, this exercise is crucial to the safety of your horse and the horse becoming supple under saddle.

When to Use This Exercise:

I included this exercise as the first on my list because it can aid your horse in numerous ways. As prey animals, a horse’s natural inclination is to fight and escape from any pressure trying to contain it, like standing tied, getting their head stuck in a fence, or asking to turn their head right or left. Your horse can develop into a much quieter ride by teaching them not to panic in these instances and to yield to the pressure by lowering their head. This exercise can also be very beneficial in aiding your horse under saddle. Here are a few instances where this groundwork exercise can come in handy:

• Teaching a horse not to pull back when tied.
• Lowering the horse’s head when putting on a halter or bridle.
• Enabling the horse to stay calm and still if its head is caught in the fence or under the lead rope.
• Teaching a horse to go on the bit by yielding to pressure and becoming supple through the neck.
• Building muscle in horses to carry their heads at a lower headset. This is good for horses that tend to invert when riding.

Just the other day, I witnessed an instant where this exercise came in handy. I had my 2-year-old colt tied in the barn. He scratched his head on the wall he was tied to and somehow got his head under the lead rope. Since the lead rope was still tied to the wall, it was tight over his neck, trapping his head down.

For a moment, he panicked, but then I saw his thinking cap come on as he applied this groundwork exercise we have worked on many times. He dropped his head, slowly back up, and got his head out from under the lead rope. While he handled the situation well, it could have easily been worse, and he could have gotten seriously injured. We all know horses are accident-prone troublemakers. I can’t watch my horses 24/7. Doing exercises like this one with them can give them the knowledge needed to not escalate potentially dangerous situations.

How to Do This Exercise:

If you are new to groundwork, this is one of the easiest exercises to start with. There’s nothing technical about it, and you can do it at a standstill. Follow these steps to teach your horse to lower its head:

1. Stand next to your horse’s head as if you were going to lead them forward.
2. Take your hand closest to the horse and gently tug the lead rope straight down.
3. If the horse doesn’t respond to a light tug, gradually increase the pressure to a medium and then a harder tug.
4. Hold the pressure until you see the horse’s head dip toward the pressure.
5. As soon as the horse’s head lowers, immediately let go of the lead rope so they know they responded correctly.
6. Gradually ask the horse to lower its head closer to the ground and hold its head down for longer periods.
7. You should also teach the horse to lower its head by pressing on the top of its poll or right behind its ears.
8. Start with a light pressure on top of their head. If they don’t respond, increase to medium and hard pressure.
9. If the horse tries to fight the pressure, hold the pressure steady.
10. As soon as the horse dips its head, move your hand away from their head.

This is one of the first groundwork exercises I do with any horse, as it immediately gets them thinking rather than instinctively reacting by fighting the pressure.

Essential Groundwork Exercise #2: Backing the Horse Up

Backing your horse up on the ground is helpful in many situations. From teaching your horse boundaries to helping them build muscle, I recommend all equestrians know numerous ways to ask a horse to back up.

When to Use This Exercise:

Backing up your horse can be used to correct certain behaviors and build muscle and confidence. Here is a list of ways you can use this exercise:

• Telling a horse to get out of your space
• Asserting a horse slow down while you lead them
• Moving your horse away from you if they bite or nip
• Maneuvering your horse in tight or small spaces, like a trailer
• Building back, oblique, and quarter muscles by backing over poles or up an incline
• Reiterating backing up under saddle

If you have a horse that constantly walks into you, steps on your feet, or drags you as you lead it, backing your horse on the ground is useful for correcting these problems. If you have a pushy horse, doing a five-minute session every day of backing your horse up in different ways and then leading them forward can drastically improve their awareness around you.

How to Do This Exercise:

I want to back my horses up on the ground in three primary ways: by touching them and pushing them away, wiggling my lead rope, and moving my hand. Each of these aspects can be used in different environments. For example, I may lay my hand on my horse in a tight space and gently push to get them to move away from me. When I want to back up my horse, but they are further away on a lead, I can wiggle my rope and have them do it. Lastly, being able to wave my hand back and forth and have my horses back up at liberty is the ultimate goal.

To back a horse up by touch, follow these steps:

1. Lay your hand on the horse’s chest, neck, or nose.
2. Gently push against them, visualizing them moving back.
3. If they ignore the pressure, increase it to medium and hard pressure. You may have to poke more with your finger to initially get them to respond.
4. As soon as the horse steps back, immediately remove your hand from them. This will let them know they responded correctly.

To back up a horse by wiggling your lead rope, follow these steps:

1. Stand a few feet in front of your horse and off to the side.
2. Start by gently wiggling the lead rope back and forth by moving your wrist.
3. If the horse doesn’t respond, increase the pressure by waving the rope by movement from your elbow. If the horse doesn’t respond to that, increase by waving the rope from the movement of your arm. Initially, the first time you ask the horse to back up, it may resist or not understand. You may need to take a step towards the horse as you wave the rope to get them to understand.
4. As soon as the horse steps back, stop wiggling the rope.

To back up a horse by using body language, follow these steps:

1. Start by standing a few feet in front of your horse and off to the side.
2. Put up one hand, point your finger, then wag your finger as if you’re getting after a kid in class.
3. If the horse doesn’t respond, increase the pressure of the body language by flapping your hand in the air. If that doesn’t work, wave your arms back and forth as if signaling a plane. You may also need to step toward your horse to help them understand what you want.
4. As soon as the horse steps back, put your arms back to your side.

Almost all horses will initially resist backing up when they first learn this groundwork exercise. If you can get them to take even the slightest step back to where you can release the pressure, it should get easier from there.

Essential Groundwork Exercise #3: Disengaging the Hindquarters

Disengaging the hindquarters is also known as yielding the hindquarters. The exercise aims to get the horse’s hind legs to move away from you by crossing one leg in front of the other to step away.

When to Use This Exercise:

Disengaging the hindquarters is essential for controlling your horse and is also useful in more advanced horse training. This exercise can be used in many instances.

• Moving the horse over as they stand tied
• Turning your horse around to shut a gate
• Getting your horse to stop and come in while lunging
• Teaching your horse boundaries and personal space
• Teaching turn on the forehand
• Moving the horse over to the mounting block
• Stopping a bolting horse
• Stopping a rearing or bucking horse
• Encouraging a horse to carry itself correctly
• Teaching a horse to leg yield or side pass

A horse’s power comes from their hindquarters; this part of the body propels them into motion. If you can control the hindquarters, you can control the horse’s power and how it’s channeled. The starting place is to be able to disengage and move the hindquarters away from you. The end goal that advanced equestrians have mastered is how to channel the energy from the hindquarters. For the sake of simplicity, I will address the beginning stage in this article.

How to Do This Exercise:

Before you try to do this exercise, you must be able to recognize when a horse is correctly disengaging its hindquarters. A horse that correctly disengages its hindquarters will:

• Cross one back leg in front of the other, causing them to pivot on their front legs.
• Their front legs will not step forward.
• Their head will stay stationary.
• The hindquarters should move directly away from you.

If you have never done this exercise with your horse before, it can be difficult to understand the movement you are looking for from your horse. Most riders disengage the horse’s hindquarters when they walk a horse through a gate and then turn around to shut it. The horse may naturally swing its hindquarters out of the way as the rider approaches the gate again. You can also think of it like moving your horse over to brush them if you’re tied. The horses have to use the same movement to move themselves and make room for you.

If you or your horse has ever done this exercise, I have devised a simple method for starting. The first step is to stand facing your horse next to their withers. With the hand closest to your horse’s head, reach down the lead rope and bring your hand out and back toward the withers. At the same time, take a step toward the horse’s hind leg, swinging the end of your lead rope in the direction of the hind leg.

If your horse has never done this exercise, their first inclination may be to back up. If that is the case, keep holding the lead rope at the horse’s withers as you take another step toward the horse’s hind end. The horse will eventually swing its hindquarters out of the way to make room for you.

As soon as the horse swings their hindquarters away by stepping one back leg in front of the other, release all pressure to let them know they responded correctly.

Essential Groundwork Exercise #4: Yielding the Shoulders

Yielding the shoulders is similar to yielding the hindquarters; you just change the end you’re working with! The goal of yielding the shoulders of the horse is to get the horse to move their shoulders away from you by stepping one front leg over the other and pivoting on their hind legs.

When to Use This Exercise:

Yielding the shoulders is a valuable tool in horse training and safety. A horse travels in the direction its shoulders point; if you can control your horse’s shoulders, you can control their direction. Here are some instances where this exercise can come in handy:

• Moving the horse over as they stand tied
• Teaching your horse boundaries and personal space
• Teaching a horse to leg yield or side pass
• Teaching turn on the haunches
• Getting the horse to change direction when lunging
• Self-loading a horse onto a trailer
• Opening and closing a gate from on a horse
• Navigating through narrow turns and obstacles
• Leading the horse

Overall, yielding the shoulders is most useful in setting boundaries with a horse. Clear boundaries with your horse can enable you to maneuver your horse on the ground over obstacles and in the saddle through technical paths. This exercise will get your horse thinking and focusing.

How to Do This Exercise:

Like disengaging the hindquarters, yielding the shoulders consists of nuanced movements you must be able to recognize to determine if your horse is doing it correctly. Here are signs to look for:

• Cross one front leg in front of the other, causing them to pivot on their hind legs.
• No stepping forward, just stepping over

There can be many places for human error when doing this exercise, so I will walk you through it step-by-step. Yielding the shoulders may be more difficult for your horse to understand, so you must incorporate diligent, consistent queues to help them. First, stand beside your horse’s head, facing them. Bring your hand up to the horse’s eye. Your hand will create a fake “wall,” closing closer to your horse and encouraging them to move over. With your hand, make a pushing motion toward your horse’s eye. When you do this, your horse should naturally move its head away, trying to avoid your hand.

Next, step toward your horse’s head and push with your hand. The pushing motion towards the eye and your body movements should encourage the horse to step over and out of the way. Initially, you may step and run into your horse. That is alright; it will help the horse understand what you want. As soon as the horse steps out of your way by stepping one front leg before the other, release all pressure.

There are a few areas where people make mistakes, and their horses won’t respond. A lot of people tell me their horse won’t step out of the way even though they are making the pushing motion towards the eye. They forget to step towards the horse. Stepping is a big part of the exercise as you use body language to communicate with your horse.

Other people say their horse sticks its head up and backs up. This will be the initial reaction of most horses who haven’t done the exercise before. To fix this problem, stand next to the horse’s head and move toward them perpendicularly. Usually, if a horse backs up, the handler subconsciously tells it to do so by staying to the side and pushing towards the eye from the front.

Yielding the shoulders will start out awkward…for you and the horse! As you learn, it will become easier and more graceful. Practice will make perfect!

Essential Groundwork Exercise #5: Picking up the Feet

This last exercise may seem simpler, yet many people have problems and fears when doing it. The reality is that if you know how to pick up a horse’s feet and stay safe, you will be able to do it with any horse. Don’t believe me? Ask a farrier!

When to Use This Exercise:

Contrary to popular belief, many other instances of picking up a horse’s feet can come in handy besides cleaning or trimming the hoof. Take a look:

• Picking out the hoof
• Trimming or shoeing
• Hobble training
• Remaining calm if stuck
• Teaching a horse to lie down
• Teaching the Spanish Walk
• Encouraging a horse to step onto an object
• Treating an injury or abscess

Like any other exercise, for your horse to truly get comfortable picking up their feet, you must do it with them consistently. When I got my now two-year-old colt, he had never had his feet touched. I worked with him daily on touching his feet and picking them up for a year. A year later, he is like a seasoned horse, even letting me trim his feet myself while he stands tied.

How to Do This Exercise:

I will take the approach of a horse that has never had its feet handled. Before working with the horse, solidify how you will ask it to pick up its feet. Remember, you must be consistent with this and use the same method whenever you want it to work. You can ask a horse to pick up its hoof by squeezing the chestnut on the inside of its leg, tugging on the fetlock feathers, or gently pinching the tendons on the back of the foreleg. You will use the concept of starting with a light pressure and gradually increasing the pressure if the horse doesn’t respond.

Ask the horse to pick up its feet. For the initial reaction, as soon as the horse shifts its weight to the other leg in preparation to pick up its hoof, release the pressure. By doing this, you tell the horse they are thinking in the right direction.

From there, gradually ask for more. Next, you’ll ask the horse to bring its hoof off the ground. As soon as they do, release the pressure and let them put their foot back down. Once the horse is comfortable, you will ask them to hold their hooves up for a few seconds.

Some important things to note when working with a horse’s feet: do your best not to let the horse yank its foot away from you. If horses realize they can do this, they may develop a habit. You can hold the toe of your horse’s front feet and point it toward their stomach to keep them from pulling their hooves out of your hands. Maintaining a bend in the fetlock joint with the back feet will keep your horse from kicking or pulling their hoof away.

If your horse does manage to pull their hoof away from you, pick it back up immediately, if only for a few seconds.

All that said, you don’t want to overwhelm your horse when working with their feet. Keep your sessions short, no more than 5-10 minutes. Keep your expectations in check. If your horse has never had their feet handled, they won’t miraculously be perfect the second time you work with them.

Give your horse time to think and balance. I noticed with my colt if I stood a moment at his hind legs and let him shift his weight and cock his foot, he was much more balanced and comfortable with me working with his back feet.

If you are more of a visual learner who would appreciate a video walk-through of these exercises, I built an online course that walks you step-by-step through each exercise and provides troubleshooting for issues that may arise. I also included homework and quizzes to make the information more digestible. To learn more, you can check out the online course by clicking here.

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