Here’s a page out of the Horseman’s Handbook that will help you build your groundwork toolkit, and help your horse conquer his fear of obstacles.
Before you attempt obstacles in the saddle, make sure you have control of your horse’s feet on the ground. Monique Potts, a Ride TV coach and Natural Horsemanship trainer, shows you how she likes to have her clients approach a new obstacle for the first time on the ground.
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Pick the Correct Side of the Obstacle
“One of the mistakes that a lot of people make when it comes to scary things is that they send their horse over or past things that are scary, in a way that encourages their horse to jump towards them or on top of them. I like to use a little bit of our horse’s fear to our advantage, so I will have him send his horse on the other side of the bridge, back and forth, and this will free up your horse’s shoulder. If your horse is afraid of the bridge or the obstacle, then the horse is going to want to take his shoulder and go away from the bridge.” “I just want to set my horse up in a way that I’m not teaching them something that later I have to fix.”
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Controlling the Feet
“If she wanted to stop and smell the bridge, I’d let her have a second of smelling it… What commonly happens is they’ll smell it and start looking around. The moment they start looking around is the place I’ll ask them to go over the bridge.” “Just keep setting it up where you’re saying, I want to put your feet where I want them.”
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Setting Your Horse Up for Success
“He’s offering and saying, take one little step toward the bridge, and then he lets her have a bit of a break. If she were to go away from the bridge, he’d tell her that’s not okay, but because he has good control of what her feet are doing, she’s not thinking about rushing over the bridge or finding her way out in one direction or the other. He can stop and start her where he wants her.” “Hopefully, the other exercises I’ve done with my groundwork have set me up for new obstacles or places where I don’t have to think about it much when I encounter a new obstacle.”
▶️ Watch the full video lesson.
Forward Movement When Crossing Obstacles
“We’re going to set this up to give her the idea that the best place to be is going over the jump. So he’ll let her smell it, see it, but the big thing is that he needs to have a little bit of momentum when he asks her to go over it. So he’ll send her around, let her keep moving, and when he feels like he has good movement, he’ll offer for her to go right over it.”
▶️ Watch the full video lesson.
Assess the Situation and Your Horse’s Body
“Ideally, when you have control of where their body goes, it’s easy to ask them to go wherever we want them to go. I think of using every obstacle, or anything that comes up as a training opportunity. So, I’ll think of assessing if her shoulders or hindquarters are stuck, does she not want to go forward? I just want to assess these pieces as I ask them to go over.”
▶️ Watch the full video lesson.
