hi it's Josie and today I'd like to show you how your groundwork moves on into your ridden
work this is Rihanna Rihanna's come back into work after two and a half years off to have
a baby so she's had two rides only both of those in the round yard the first ride was
just a walk and a bend and making sure I could keep her thoughts with me and the second ride
was a walk and a trot with the same goals that I could keep her thinking with me and
she could follow my AIDS so your groundwork explains to your horses what the AIDS are
because if if he doesn't know what pulling on the left rein means how is he actually
going to do what you're asking him so to me I've taught this mare on the ground that if I do this
pick my rein up she should just bend like that there should be no movement how many of you can
pick up the rein on your horse and bend them and not have them walk off because the rein is not a
go forward Aid the rein is a bending Aid it's to do with head neck and shoulders okay so you teach
the horse that from the ground and then when you get up here you can do it no intention good girl
good girl pick up my intention to pick up the rein and bend her run down I already
have the intention ask her to come this way good what a good girl swap sides
running my fingers down with intention and she's already coming around to me good girl
good girl also from your groundwork you've taught your horse to move its hind end off
of your pressure so that I can do this I can just bend her nose a little bit actually I'll go this
way put my left leg on and Rihanna steps over with her left hind good girl she can come this way too
I'll put my right leg on now and over she moves so how does that work you must teach your horse that
from the ground first I'm just going to stand here and I've got no intention in my body I'm going to
pick up my intention of my I've got my thoughts I want that right foot there or her left sorry
my right her left foot to pick up and I want it to step in front of the left Hind
but if she doesn't understand what I'm asking even if she just picked up that left foot I would
reward that to start where you have to build somewhere and if you think about it for her
to do that it actually starts with her thinking about picking up that foot so I'm going to pick
my intention up I'm going to put my energy on her I'm going to use the back of my hand where my leg
will go I'm just touching the hair I'm pushing I'm pushing I'm pushing I'm pushing I'm releasing
so I released when the left foot came off the ground not the right foot she had already moved
the right foot first I'm aware if I want my horse to go forward she knows from a
click and a couple of touches that two legs on means go forward in the very beginning
you should not mix your aids with your green horse okay you should not use
your reins and your legs together they won't understand it they'll be confused
so there's only leg or only rein and when I want this mare to stop in the very early days I bend
my horses to a stop but when they're a little bit further along I just touched my rein I picked them
up I touched her mouth the minute she stopped I let go of her mouth the release of the pressure
tells the horse that it's done the right thing that is how horses learn yes they learn from
positive reinforcement as well but they learn a lot in their life from negative reinforcement
when I want her to go I close my two legs and off she goes it was just literally a touch
so let me show you how I teach the horse to stop in the beginning so I reach down I take my rein
I bend my horse my hand always goes to my back pocket never in front of my hip I sit back when
she stops and my rein is soft I let go if she was to spin around in circles I would sit there
until she relaxed stopped stopped and relaxed and then I would let go she has learned this from the
groundwork we've done this is why groundwork is so important that was his touch to get her to go
turning the horse
turning the horse is literally on a green horse is an open rein close open rein
put your rein back open your rein put your rein back open your rein put your rein back
it's how they learn to turn a circle so your circles on your green horse are not
very circular quite often they are a little bit like you're riding a drunk
all right two reins are going to ask her to stop but I've got no leg good girl and as I
know she's going to stop I release it moving the shoulders now this was something I found
really difficult to do when I was first learning to do this it was the thing that
I honestly found the hardest and because I had to work through it is actually probably one of
the things I find the easiest now but the horse as well learns this from the groundwork before
we go into the saddle and so when Once I'm up on the saddle remember this is only this
girl sorry it's her third ride but I can open this rein and ask her to move her shoulders
to the right I can ask her to move her shoulders to the left
very good girl so I'm going to leave that bit there now and we're going to move the shoulders
I want the shoulders to go that way
that's it that right front foot actually stepped out and across she did spook away from the flag
now she's got some tension a little tiny bit of tension on that rope I'm just holding it
until she lets go she can let go by dropping her head which will also help her with her relaxation
I've got my little arm tucked in so I don't pull but there is tension on that rope you can see it
that good now I did close my ring finger ever so slightly to just increase the pressure just
to point it out to her that it was there let's see if she'll go this way there good
there good good girl good girl hey good girl I'm gonna do that the other way now
get in the spot where I need to be and walking towards that way not that way not that way but
where I want her shoulders to go so if I want her front foot to come out here which is where I would
like from this side that's the area I'm walking towards and aiming towards I take a head that way
good I can ask her to move her haunches to the left to the right pardon me and I can ask her
to move them to the left that is all from the groundwork that I have done with her so ground
work whoops is vitally important for you to understand how to teach your horse the AIDS
now if you're having trouble with your horse even if he's 10 years old I would bet that if
you went back to the basics of the groundwork you would find where the problem is so groundwork is
always there to help you find where the issue is and then to work through it it helps the
horse with Clarity and a horse that is clear and understands what's expected of him is a horse
that's very relaxed and happy in his work anyway I hope you enjoyed that thanks for watching [Music]