If you’re looking for a better Partnership AND greater Performance from your horse, then you should concentrate on fine tuning and finessing the groundwork in his training program.  The Foundation in groundwork cannot be overlooked if you want more out of your relationship with your horse.  And, if you’re looking to excel in any discipline, you will need to concentrate on making sure your horse has no holes in his Foundation training.  This may sound like an obvious statement, but in fact, too many people overlook the basics when it comes to training their horse.

Build the Foundation of groundwork in your training program and you will marvel at how easy it becomes to accelerate your horse’s training for specific disciplines which require higher level maneuvers.  Without the Foundations, your horse is not prepared to succeed in other areas of riding.  When training for specific maneuvers we often say that we want to ‘set our horses up for success’ by making the teaching of that maneuver easy for him to understand.  But, why not do that for him throughout the entire training program?  When you build a Foundation of ground work, you are developing a pattern of learning for your horse that will carry over to advanced maneuvers under saddle.  You are preparing your horse to succeed in learning much like we do for our children by first sending them to elementary and high school before they head off to get advanced degrees in college.

So remember, to live the Possibilities you’ve been dreaming about with your horse, it all starts with getting them good on the ground. Start there and you will quickly master the more advanced techniques because you have set your horse up for success in learning new things.