Riding from the Ground

with Guy McLean

Many wonderful trainers from around the world speak of the importance of ‘ground work’ in the quest for harmony between horse and rider, and I too am a big believer in the gift of understanding that can be taught from the ground, however, it was not always this way. When we were children, growing up on bush bred horses in the Queensland scrub, we were basically placed on a horse by Dad, told “try to stay somewhere between his ears and his tail, keep your hands down, your heels down and your mouth shut” and not a whole lot else, but boy did we have fun. In those formative years, the only people I saw doing ‘ground work’ were those who were just lunging them on a long rein to basically just ‘run the fresh’ off of them, and after watching all of the bucking, rearing and head tossing, us kids thought that you only worked them on the ground, if you were too scared to ride them yet, but I have certainly come a long way since then.

I now know for a fact, that our dear horses do not differentiate between the relationship we have on the ground and the one that we want under saddle, and so I have endeavoured for many years to find a way to marry the two together, so that there is no confusion on our horses’ part when we ride. The biggest step I took was to stop calling it ‘ground work’ and to start calling it ‘riding from the ground’. Just those few small changes in wording alone, now holds me to a higher standard with stricter guidelines. Basically, If I would not be happy with a certain behaviour in the saddle, then I shouldn’t encourage it, or allow it to stay, on the ground. More than that though, if I’m going to spend valuable time and energy with my horses (and of my horses) then I should make certain that I am doing my utmost best to bring forth clear communication with no blurry lines to be misconstrued by my student.

If you were to come and spend any amount of time with me, you would soon see that I have a particular way that I like them to go, on the ground and under saddle, and it is my belief that my main goal is to have the individual horse be the very best version of themselves, mentally, emotionally and physically. This article, however, is not designed to tell you to do what I do, or do it how I do it, but for you to see the correlation between both worthy skills and put the two together for the best benefit of yourself and your horses. In saying all of this, I want you to have a clear understanding of how you would like your horse to behave and carry themselves under saddle, and then you can start to diligently work on putting the pieces together on the ground so that each coming ride is better, from the experience that was shared before it.

So, if it is a soft, supple equine partner, with correct bend, correct canter leads, smooth transitions up and down, all in a balanced, willing and confident frame that you are after, then this is what we should be trying to develop in our groundwork.

I do see a lot of people let their horses go out and ‘play on the line’, and although the horses themselves do look very happy for the chance to do so, not one of the riders I have seen, ever look happy when they are doing it with them in the saddle. Now, I want to be very clear on this next piece. Horses, at their very core, need to have time to play and just be horses, and if you are in a position where your horse is stabled 24/7, then it would be unfair to expect true compliance straight away, and so in that situation I would place them in a safe arena or round yard, remove the halter, remove myself and just let them be horses for a little while first. Horses like mine however, who spend all day and night in the pasture and less than an hour a day at school (much less when they are fully educated), can be expected to go straight into work mode, with the idea of ‘we do this well, we make Dad happy, we’re home and hosed’ (literally).

In the early stages of training, it is walk when I walk, stop when I stop, wait on direction and know that I always have your back. Then out on the circle, it is bend around me like you will my inside leg (from nose to tail), drive your inside hind foot deep, release the muscles over your back and breathe deeply and quietly through all of your movements (not quite yoga but maybe an equine version). If that is the limit of your ground work skills, you can continue the training from the saddle, but I highly recommend the art of ‘long reining’ for developing the kind of riding horse that is truly a pleasure to behold.

The finished product, should be a willing equine partner that can be mounted and ridden off with no groundwork at all, but like all good things in life, there is a beginning, a middle and an end and ‘riding from the ground’ is a great place to start. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times, people saying to me “I do not have time to do groundwork” and I just smile straight back at them, look them in the eye and say “that’s funny, I myself do not have enough time to not do groundwork”. High quality work on the ground does not just save me minutes, hours or even days, it saves me weeks and months over a horse’s lifetime. I often travel a liberty team of five horses (I have three separate teams) around three different countries and can trailer load, work, wash and handle five in the time it can take most to finish with one. This kind of work I am speaking of, is so highly essential for a true partnership to develop, and I know for a fact that I can make a deeper and longer-lasting connection and change on the ground in one session than I can make in a week of riding alone.

The kind of leadership that can be shared from the ground is so much more stable and connected (in those early stages of education) and it is much easier to be calm and concise when a horse is bucking or rearing whilst you watch, than if you are sitting in the saddle, looking down for a soft place to land. I will speak of this next part in probably all of my training articles in going forward, and even though all of the pictures that join this article are of soft and willing work (as we all know), this is not always the case and it is the part we play in those difficult moments that are most integral. I have always found that in any human relationship that the need to be ‘truly heard’ is of the highest importance, and I sincerely believe that horses (in their own special way) feel the same. In those moments when our horses pull against the lead, rear, buck or shy, I feel that they are trying to express their innermost feelings, and when most trainers try to ‘out shout’ them almost (in a physical fight) that the horse is then left feeling ‘unheard’, and therefore he shouts back louder until one of them gives up and only one voice remains. In these moments, I go completely quiet with all of my requests and take a physical stance that basically conveys “I hear you, I see you, when you’re finished I will calmly ask again and we can go from there.” The moment that the unwanted behaviour subsides is the moment that I set about teaching them something else to do with their energy, in a way that benefits us both, hip control, backing up, change of direction and so on and so forth (all with the heartfelt intention, of ‘I am doing all of this for your ultimate greater good’). In all meaningful conversations, there can only be one speaker, whilst the other listens, or otherwise our training sessions just look like a bad day in parliament, with a whole lot of white noise going on and a whole lot of angry faces.

A true leader always has their followers’ greater interest at the forefront of their minds and at the core of their hearts, and it is just as important to see where their student is at in the moment, whilst still having one eye fixed firmly on the horizon and a fine future ahead.

I hope that this mindset and thought process may help you and your horses in the future and until we meet here again.

Ride Safe, Ride Smart, Succeed.
- Guy McLean