Firn's Blog post # 16

Groundwork Too Much of a Good Thing?

Groundwork is the buzzword in nearly all equestrian circles today. Everyone loves it - from the ammies to the classical horsemen to the cowboys. But is there such a thing as doing too much groundwork?

I sure didn't think so a few years back. I spent hours and hours on the ground working with my homebred colt, Thunder; endless walking, bathing, grooming, long-lining, in-hand exercises, lunging, desensitisation. He never had more than two weeks off from learning things. And it paid off: By backing time, I could pretty much get on and go. He didn't buck, he didn't run away, and he knew what the reins meant. (I did need to boot him a few times, but even the leg aids came quickly). He had a mind that was used to accepting and figuring out new things, and as such was willing and trainable. What's more, by the time Thunder was eighteen months old, I had a good citizen. He stood for the farrier, for baths, for injections; he loaded and led exceedingly well and had impeccable manners. These simple skills have all served him well into his adulthood and will continue to be an advantage to him for the rest of his life.

Today, though, I take it a little easier on my young horses. I still like to teach them all these things before backing - when they're my own horses, or so young that not even the pushiest client can expect me to ride them in 8 weeks - but now I do it in far fewer sessions. Part of it is because I am just a more effective horsewoman than I was four years ago when Thunder was a baby, of course. I can communicate better and as such things that took four or five sessions with Thunder and his half-sister now take two or three.

But another part of it is that I've learnt that groundwork is great, but it has its limits. Basic groundwork has never been an end; it's a means to get to an end - a well-mannered horse, both under saddle and on the ground. And like anything else, too much of it can cook a horse's brain, particularly if that horse is young.

It has to be remembered that baby horses, while definitely able to learn and appreciative of having something to do, have very short attention spans. Throughout these early years we will slowly push the limits of that span, but we always have to remember that the horse is a baby. The attention span also does not relate only to time. Very few people will try to work a two-year-old for a solid hour - it's common knowledge that they can only handle 15 or 20 minutes most of the time. But it's less well known that the short attention span also means that they are easily bored by repeating the same thing over and over in exactly the same way. Repetition is indeed key to learning, but a bored brain is a brain that isn't taking anything in. With my really young horses, I do something until they get it right in one session. Then I have them get it right one more time and then I quit. Maybe I don't stop the entire session, but I do move on to the next topic.

Take long-lining, for example. I have seen - and worked for - some people who insist on having the horse long-lined for two months *after* it already long-lines really well. This is a really good way to make a young horse angry, bored, tired, and ultimately, resistant and unwilling. He knows this stuff. Why is he being made to do it over and over and over? He's like a seven-year-old having to repeat his times tables four hundred times even though he already knows them off by heart. Often youngsters will start to resist and appear as if they've forgotten everything a few weeks in. They haven't; they're just being naughty in order to have something to do.

However, it does help to have an early start. Cramming too many new things into too short a period can fry a baby brain just as quickly. And with ground manners, it's good to start when they're still small enough that you can push them around instead of vice versa. But if we can't drill the same thing over and over, and if we can't learn loads of new things all at once, what are we to do?

The solution has long since been found by professionals and merrily ignored by the hardworking amateur: Turn them out and allow them to grow up. It's easy to fear that the youngster will forget everything, but horses have amazing memories. He'll come back rusty, sure, but he'll re-learn fast.

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