For those of us who love spending hours grooming and playing with our horses from the ground. For the people who love establishing a strong bond and a respect level instead of just hopping on for a ride.
My young TB has been off with a suspensory injury since October so all we can do with eachother is groom and ground work! He loves it! He comes when called, follows me every where, and does all kinds of other ridiculously cute things on command now. Cant wait to get on him soon though!
I love grooming too. We have 3 horses and a Shetland pony. I great day is when i get to groom all four! Talk about bonding. I'm always reminded of what it is I love about each equine after a session of brushing and stretching :-)
Comment by Cindy Jeffery on October 15, 2008 at 10:21pm
Grooming is the best groundwork we can do with our horses. Like so many have said it is very relaxing for both in fact if you brush them without tying (not recommended for beginners without supervision) you will also get a massage, but be careful of teeth. When you think about it...grooming simulates the communal contact horse have in the pasture. When you see them out there rubbing each other they are grooming and if you watch closely you will see that they have certain individuals that are allowed to do the grooming and vice versa. These horses are ones they have built a trust relationship with, we can learn from this and I think most of you have. Grooming and groundwork is most important over riding. From the ground, then to the saddle, that's the order right?
I hadn't been in the barn for a while, so I had so much fun grooming that I overdid. I blogged about it, too, through a haze of muscle relaxers. http://thehorseyset.net/420/horse-withdrawal-update/
I can't think of anything more relaxing for both me and the horses than a good grooming session. We even did a blog dedicated to it on my website at www.horsenponyfriends.ning.com I was surprised to see how many people felt the same way about it that I did!
Anything a horse becomes begins on the ground. It is not the quantity of time that makes a good horse but they quality. If more people spent more time on the ground with their horses there would be less accidents and a higher awareness level of proper treatment of horses in training methods and handling.
I was out playing with my horse today. We were learning to back up between poles. After repeating it from the ground many times, I learned just how much pressure it took her to keep her in line while she was backing. After about 1/2 hour of doing it over and over again, in the same direction, I got pretty good at asking and directing to get my mare through it pretty easy. Then I mounted her. We did several other things before I finally asked her to back through the same poles in the same direction we had been doing it. It wasn't perfect but for the first time backing through the poles in the saddle what a difference from when I tried to teach my first horse without the ground work. PS I love ground work. A trainer I respect says "You Ride The Horse You Lead" Claire.
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