Georgia Quarter Horse Groundwork, video 2 of 5

It's important that the horse be comfortable not only feeling the rope on his body, but also seeing the rope moving on his body. Many times a horse will stand quietly as we desensitize him to various things, such as a saddle or blanket, but he has been standing with his head turned ever-so slightly away so that he actually is avoiding seeing what we are doing. Your horse NEEDS to see what you are doing, so that he will become accustomed to seeing it as well as hearing the sound and feeling it. He is going to see you up there in the saddle when you turn, so you might want him to be comfortable with everything before you're on his back.
When doing the desensitizing work, I am watching his head to read his expression. I do not need to watch my hand moving the rope on his rump.

Notice that I do not pull his head to the side. I simply take the slack out of the rope and wait for him to give to the pressure. The horse in this video isn't very comfortable turning his neck to see me, so he moves his feet. I continue to maintain even pressure on the rope and move my feet with his while I wait for him to give.




Please note that I have a hold of the front of the horse while I touch him with the rope on the back end of his body. After I feel that he's probably not going to cow-kick me (reaching forward with his hind leg to strike me), I can move in and do this step. But I still have a short enough hold on the rope and am bringing his head towards me so that if he got scared and wanted to spin his rear towards me and kick me, I've got a hold of his head. I see people (sometimes catch myself doing it too) holding the lead rope with a giant loop of slack while sacking out/desensitizing the horse. Just know that the horse might turn towards the scary object and kick at it (and you) if you let him have all that rope.

I will do the same exercise of getting a "give" on both sides with the bridle rein after he has been introduced to the bit. This small exercise is an important part of training for many reasons. When I am jumping up and down to prepare for mounting, I want the horse to be comfortable giving his head to the side and holding it there while he sees me moving and stepping up and down into the stirrup. Having his head to the side is also my safety, as he can express unease by circling instead of bucking when I step up for the first (second, third...) time into the stirrup. Doing the exercise with the halter prepares the horse for giving to the rein when he wears the bridle.

There's something about getting the horse to look at you with his two eyes. If they see me with their two eyes, it seems they REALLY see me and connect in a better way. In this video you'll see me help the horse by moving my face in front of his at the end when he wasn't comfortable turning his head far enough to look at me with two eyes on his own.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Quarter Horse
• ground work
• horse training
• Sara Licht
• saralicht.com

[tribzz09]

u are so lucky with your life but me im not lucky

[tribzz09]

i wish i could get one too...

my dream horse...

[yahamagirl160]

i find it helpful to grab the mane when they are moving around and pulling on your hand. :)

[babyhorsey6]

I was having an issue with teaching my horse to flex...I think this will work better than what I was doing. Very helpful.

[FillyFurios]

beautiful horse