These groundwork exercises for sharp horses are ideal for those that tend to be over-reactive when you first get on, or have had time off. Perhaps you are getting to know a new horse and you’re unsure how he will react. Establishing good manners and softness before you hop on board will increase the likelihood for success and will help you feel confident that you and the horse are singing from the same hymn sheet.
These simple groundwork exercises take only a few minutes, but pay dividends in building safe habits, connection and trust for when you are in the saddle. Teaching from the ground allows the horse to listen, learn and respond. A sharp horse may take two or three sessions of working through these exercises before he’s ready for a rider, and they are a great tool for setting up the foundations before ridden work.
Darren Hegarty, who trained with the likes of Dick Stilwell and John Smart, has produced horses to top level in eventing, showing and showjumping. He demonstrates these groundwork exercises with an ex-racehorse who has had some time off and is just starting ridden work again. The horse is naturally sharp and benefits from some initial work in-hand before a rider gets on.
For all these exercises, Darren works with the horse tacked up and ready to be ridden. He just twists the reins under the neck and inside the throat-lash, so they don’t hang loose. He attaches a lunge line to the opposite bit ring to the side he’s working, and threads the line through the inside bit ring. The stirrups are secured so they don’t dangle down and bang against the horse’s flanks.
The reins are twisted and secured under the throat-lash. The stirrups are secured so they don’t slide down and confuse the aids.
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You can work in an arena, a field or just outside the stable. For very hot horses, Darren prefers to work on a flat area outside the stable to begin with, to make sure the relationship is in place right from the outset.
“What you want is to normalise good behaviour, so when the horse does go in the arena, or a rider gets on, they don’t over-react,” he says. “Some people say with sharp horses that you should let them let off steam, but I think that then becomes learned behaviour. It’s much better and safer for horse and rider if he’s engaged and connected with you and then any antics don’t need to happen.”
Three groundwork exercises for sharp horses
Aim
Darren explains that he is reading the horse’s body language, his mouth, nose and eyes, which will indicate how the horse is engaging with him.
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“I want to see the horse chill,” he says. “He might yawn, take a breath, blow through his nose. These signs show he is releasing tension, softening and wanting to work with me. You see it with physios when they stretch horses.
“I want this horse to be calm, but equally I don’t want him dead to the leg, so he still needs to react when he feels the tickle of the whip or hears my voice.”
Darren emphasises that the handler’s posture is crucial.
“When you want a horse to be relaxed, it’s important that you are very relaxed yourself, your breathing is slow and you’re not hyper alert and tense.”
Kit
The horse’s usual tack
Lunge line
Schooling whip
Exercise 1: desensitisation to touch
Darren begins by patting and scratching the horse all over. This horse is sensitive to the touch, and has already been groomed with a body brush.
Run your hands all over the horse’s body so you are confident he will accept your touch.
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“When we started with this horse you could barely touch him, especially where your leg would go or round the girth,” he says. “I put my hands all over him, including his sensitive areas, and scratch or rub. He’s had a few sessions and he loves it now, but he didn’t initially.”
Then Darren gently rubs the schooling whip over his back, quarters and sides.
He explains: “Because I’m not on the horse, I don’t have my legs as aids, so the stick is part of the cue system. I use that, my voice and my body language.”
Teaching the horse to feel comfortable with light physical pressure, particularly on the areas where the seat and leg aids will be applied, is essential to reduce the likelihood of undesirable reactive behaviour when the rider gets on board.
Exercise 2: rein-back
Darren stands facing the horse with the horse square, then lowers the lunge rope, applies gentle downward pressure and points the whip towards the horse’s front hooves, which encourages the horse to step backwards. Having taken a few steps back and then halted, Darren then lifts the rope and walks backwards himself to encourage the horse forwards, then stands square again. If the horse doesn’t immediately understand to walk forwards, he points the whip behind the girth, and follows up with a light tap if necessary.
The horse should step back in diagonal pairs, without rushing or putting his head up.
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“I use my voice to say ‘back’ so he connects that aid too,” he says. “I teach rein-back very early in a horse’s training so they learn not to lean on you. Once this is established on the ground, he’ll understand the movement more easily when ridden.
“I want to see him stepping back in diagonal pairs, with his neck lowered without dragging his hind feet. I don’t want him rushing with his head up, but concentrating on me.”
The rein-back teaches the horse to engage the hind end and respond to the handler or rider’s aids.
Exercise 3: engaging the hindleg
Darren turns the horse around him almost as if lungeing on a 2m circle, bringing the line towards him and pointing behind the girth with the whip. He is looking for the horse to bend through the body and step underneath his belly with his inside leg. Darren continues for three full turns, until he is satisfied that the horse has released any tension. He repeats this three or four times on each rein.
“He’d like to just walk round in a circle rather than stepping under and through, but that step is really important as you’re asking them to lift the core and soften in the back.
The horse should step under and through with its inside hindleg, which helps engage the core.
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“Just like when you are riding the horse and do any lateral work, it helps them to soften and become more supple. But sometimes when you’re riding them, they don’t understand what you’re asking.”
Darren gives the example of a young horse he had recently that would panic when you put your leg on under saddle.
“By teaching him from the ground, he learnt the movements and to accept my aids so when I asked him while riding, he’d say, ‘oh yeah, I know what I’m doing’.”
Groundwork exercises for sharp horses aren’t a silver bullet, but they can pave the way to a much safer and more enjoyable ride for both horse and rider.
Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
