Project Ground Driving

Project Ground Driving

As many of you know, I planned to teach Trifecta to ground drive.  He is the first horse that I have started that I used ground driving as a training tool.  I always thought it was a good idea, but  Cruiser was confused by it, Mingo didn't need it because it was all so simple with him and I skipped it with Cole because he was older and I just wanted to get to the riding.

I have a lot of time with Trifecta while I wait for him to grow up, and I needed something to keep both of us entertained.

Ground driving is a good way to teach young horses to understand reins before actually riding them.

To start, I wanted Trifecta to understand the word "walk."  We practiced it on a lounge line with clicker training to help him understand when he got it right.  

I planned to use a surcingle as he hasn't had a saddle on him, yet.  That is when I realized another benefit--he is getting used to having a girth without worrying about the weight of the saddle at the same time.  In the beginning, he was very fussy about it when I put it on him.  Now, he stands quietly for it.

I had my practice sessions with Dante to get used to handling the reins.  The trickiest part is to remember to loosen the outside rein when you ask him to turn with the inside rein.  My arms had to learn to work independently.

I am starting with ground driving in just a halter, so there was nothing for him to get used to there.

Everything I read about teaching a horse to ground drive suggested doing it in a round pen.  That is a great idea, but in the winter, the outdoor round pen is no fun place for a human on foot.  I would be starting in the indoor arena.

When I felt we were ready, I had Ellen assist us by leading him.  That helped him get used to the bare basics of starting, stopping and turning.  I did use clicking, but I was the one clicking and giving him the treats.

We had several very short sessions, and he was doing well.  The next time, I had Ellen unhook him and just walk with us.  That is when things started going downhill.  I don't know if it was because he knew the very basics and lost interest in the whole thing or if I was doing something wrong, but he started to obsess on Ellen.  He wanted to bite the lead rope if she had him hooked--and bite her if she didn't.  He could turn away from her, but if I asked him to turn towards her, he would take that as an invitation to play with her.  If she walked ahead of him so he could follow her, he just stopped listening altogether.  If she walked away to leave us to work it out on our own, he seemed to forget everything and just concentrate on either visiting her or the horses in the stalls along the walls of the arena.  We had several frustrating training sessions like this, and I started to get discouraged.

Then Ellen had a revelation--she had to vacate the premises--completely.  That is what we ended up doing when I was struggling to teach him to lounge.  He just couldn't pay any attention to me if there were people around--particularly his favorite people--Ellen and Kevin.

The day she left us alone, we had some struggles, but once he understood that I could steer him away from the horses he wanted to visit, he started paying attention to me.  We practiced straight lines, turning each way and halting.  I used clicker to reinforce everything, but once he started to be consistent, I faded most of it off unless he did something outstanding.  It is way to inconvenient to click all the time when ground driving.

Towards the end of the session, Ellen had to come through the arena and was afraid to even look at us in fear of distracting Trifecta.  By that time, he was getting so consistent that I told her to look and see how well we were doing.  She was as happy as I was!

The next few sessions we did, she stayed and watched us.  Trifecta is no longer obsessed with her.  We still had trouble with the other horses and going past the exit that leads into the barn, and there were times when Ellen stepped in to give me a hand.  We would work about 10 minutes a couple times a week when it was quiet at the barn.

And then the magic happened.  This last session was just amazing.  Everything just fell in place.  He wasn't perfect, but he was leaps and bounds better than he was in the previous session.  I found us going around and around the arena along the wall, turning both directions, switching directions--going past the problem spots and walking in a very steady, forward manner.  He kept turning his ears back to listen to me as I told him over and over how good he was.  It was just so lovely.