Ground Driving

Ground driving is also called Long Lining. Ground driving is a very good training
technique for young horses to learn how to turn right and left, stop, and back. This
exercise provides a great variety of training for any age of horse or rider.

Handler Coordination
For the human part of this partnership, ground driving works on your
coordination. It provides a focus on what you’re doing with your arms, adjusting your
reins and keeping them organized, your foot fall to stay in line with the horse, or your
foot fall to stay inward on a curving line. You learn how to flex the horse’s head inward
so you can just see his eye.

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Choosing the Right Equine ‘Dance Partner’

You and your partner touch. With almost imperceptible signals you dance together.
Your steps are light, your turns graceful and balanced. There is trust between you as you
confidently master more difficult maneuvers. You move as one with your horse in
beauty, in the partnership called “riding”.
You may be a trail rider or barrel racer, ride hunt seat or Western Dressage or Western.
Whatever your passion, there’s no greater reward than learning how to dance, in
partnership with your horse.

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Backing with a Loose Lead

If you have been following this series, we’ve been discussing how to teach your horse basic ground training commands including “come to me”, “move away from me”, and “whoa” or stop.  Now I am going to share tips for teaching your horse the fourth basic command- how to “back”.  Make sure your horse is consistently responding to the first three commands before introducing this lesson.

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Backing with a Loose Lead

If you have been following this series, we’ve been discussing how to teach your horse basic ground training
commands including “come to me”, “move away from me”, and “whoa” or stop. Now I am going to share
tips for teaching your horse the fourth basic command- how to “back”. Make sure your horse is
consistently responding to the first three commands before introducing this lesson.
Backing is an excellent exercise to improve communication with your horse and sharpen your reactions to
control his body position.

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The ‘Move Away from Me’ Command

Horses need to respect four major ground training commands: “move away from me,” “come
toward me,” stop, and back. In my last two articles, we covered the “come to me” and “whoa”
commands. In this article I will give you the steps to teach your horse the “move away from me”
command.
Before starting, make sure that your horse is properly equipped. He should be wearing a properly
fitting halter, with a longe line, and leg protection. I prefer using a longe line over a lead rope for
ground training, but will use both terms in these articles.

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The ‘Whoa’ Command

Horses need to respect four major ground training commands: “move away from me”, “come
toward me”, “stop”, and “back.” In the last article I gave you the steps for teaching your horse the
“come to me” command. This time we will include the “whoa” command. I am taking this lesson
plan directly from my 6-part Longevity Training Video series where I demonstrate each
maneuver with several young horses.
Before starting, make sure that your horse is properly equipped. He should be wearing a properly
fitting halter, with a longe line, and leg protection.

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“Come to Me” Training

Horses need to respect four major ground training commands: “move away from me,” “come
toward me,” “stop,” and “back”. In this article I will give you the steps to teach your horse the
“come to me” command.
Before starting, make sure that your horse is properly equipped. He should be wearing a properly
fitting halter, with a longe line, and leg protection. I prefer using a longe line over a lead rope for
ground training, but will use both terms in these articles.
No matter what the horse’s age, I introduce these commands first in a confined, familiar location
like stall, round pen, or small paddock. Remove any distractions such as buckets or hay.

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Golden Rules for Ground Training Part 2

Before we start on specific lessons, you need to understand and follow my Golden Rules for ground training any horse. We covered the first two in past issues of this magazine and website. To review, Golden Rule #1 is to respect your position, as a handler, in relationship to your horse. Golden Rule #2 is to make straightness a goal.

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Golden Rules for Ground Training

No matter what your horse’s age, investing the time in ground training will make him a more
responsive, obedient partner. I’d like to share with you my “Golden Rules” for ground training
any horse.
Before beginning any ground training lesson, make sure you have set the foundation for success
we discussed in the “Beginning Ground Training” series. Go back and review them if you need
to. Here’s a quick summary.

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How Horses Like to Learn

Hi, this is “My Royal Lark” also known to my friends as “Wills”. I am a handsome bay Appendix Quarter bay stallion and son of legendary “Rugged Lark”.  I’m Lynn’s favorite partner, or at least I think so!
We know that horses don’t talk… but Lynn is finally off of her computer and now it’s my turn to give you a horse’s perspective on training. Together with Lynn’s 40+ years of professional experience in training horses and riders, we’ve come up with these pointers to help you be more successful in training your horse.

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