Ground Driving Lessons

by Yvonne

Leslie is a big proponent for Ground Driving as a means to ready the horse for being ridden. She mentions many positive affects of ground driving first before saddling. Not being the least reason; it is a lot safer from the ground then from their back.

Now mind you, Greyboy was green broke. His problem when being ridden, he would go backwards, knowing all too well that it is very hard to control a horse who is backing up. What do you do? You can’t pull on the reins and expect a stop he is already backing. A one rein stop sends him spinning. Basically his previous history was the problem. The family who owned him before me had several kids who liked to ride him in the pasture. When GreyBoy would go too fast they would bail. He never had a leader, so therefore he did what he liked to do. Get rid of his riders.

Getting Started

Leslie had heard stories about his previous experience with a horse trainer that was not what I would want for my horse. All that history aside, we had our plan of action. While I was training Greyboy I was also training myself. I always kind of felt a little sorry for Greyboy having to put up with my mixed signals, but we both turned out OK.

So Ground driving it was. Leslie taught me how to saddle my horse, run the ground driving lines through the stirrups and tie the stirrups together so they did not flop around when using the ground driving lines. Off we went for our walks. Over the river and through the woods. It was great exercise for me and it helped me and GreyBoy build a relationship. I Ground Drove at least three days a week. We would walk 2 - 3 miles or 1 - 2 hours on each session.

The first few trips out was pretty scary. He was high headed and determined to run amuck. I learned quickly to put him in a circle when he was hell bent for speed. That was still scary at first. He would be wild, running in a circle, not thinking just acting. He would slip but I remained calm on the outside asking for the walk, which I would get once he realized he was not going anywhere. LOL. Quite the experience. I really loved my time with him. Leslie is a very patient teacher and was there with me for guidance when needed. She never gave me too much information, she always dealt with one thing at a time in a voice that was calm.

GreyBoy and I would advance our learning together. Leslie would have me send him up and down hills, I would back him up a hill and then back him down the hill. I would send him to walk on the side of the hill and down through the gully. I would send him across obstacles and over them.

GreyBoy did not like water crossing, not even a puddle, not even a two inch stream. When I was ready to win the battle I asked Greyboy to walk through the puddles. He eventually did it, but it was not without his expressed objection. Even after all the Ground Driving training he still objected. But it did not take long before he would calmly walk through the puddles. Leslie taught me early on, don’t ask for something too soon or I may not get it and then there will be a greater tendency to lose Greyboys confidence. I took that to heart and it has paid off in big ways.

Eight months of Ground driving, yes I said eight months of ground driving. A little too excessive in my opinion but we had a routine and he was great when we were out doing our thing.

I love watching Leslie when she has the controls of the ground driving lines. She would put GB in a figure eight with all the grace and beauty a horse can muster. It was a dance with no mis-steps. A beautiful thing to observe. I could see how well GB did when watching Leslie with expertise hands guiding him along. Oh to be able to do that kind of dance.