Doing groundwork with any horse is amazingly rewarding for a number of reasons. It ensures you get to know your horses almost inside out and back to front. Understand your horses quirky things he/she does will help keep you safe as well as making sure he/she is fully trained before you go out riding.
One of the first things you can teach your horse is to just stand still with you, so no pressure on doing anything apart from being at your side. This in turn teaches the horse that being stood still like that is all he has to do. Next cue your horse to walk forwards just 2 steps then halt. Repeat at least 15 times before moving on to now 4 steps then standing still. Working on smooth transitions is a great thing to do. Ask your horse to walk for four steps then trot for four steps then back to walk and stop. Repeating this does lead to really good transitions when you ride or enter into an in-hand show.
Disengaging hind quarters is a good way to see if your horse has flex in his back and legs. Turn your horse into a nice close circle making sure he puts his outside rear leg under his body. Do both ways as always what ever you do on one side you must always do on the other.
Backing up your horse is most important, stand in front and make your self bigger as you move forwards, your horse should move away from the pressure, if not, slowly touch his chest just with one open finger to apply some pressure. Watch his foot, then as soon as it moves take the pressure off. Reat a number of times till he moves away as soon as asked. Time and patiance are needed when doing groundwork.
Groundwork is a skill you develop as you work with horses, noting when they do anything at all that responds to the work you are doing. The end product is to work at liberty with your horses and enjoy the freedom of groundwork and horsemanship. Here in the picture above we see a young student starting a course and learning all about groundwork and horsemanship.
