Groundwork Exercises for Horses: 8 Clear Basics

Groundwork exercises are in-hand tasks performed while you handle your horse from the ground. For a useful beginner session, start with ordinary skills—leading, halting, backing and moving the shoulders or hindquarters—before attempting lunging, long-lining or complex obstacles.

Here, “groundwork” means training with the horse, not rider conditioning away from the yard. The horse’s response matters, but so do your own timing, balance and awareness of where both sets of feet are.

Set up safely

Work in a familiar enclosed area with level, non-slip footing. Use a correctly fitted halter and a lead rope in good condition. Wear sturdy boots and close-fitting gloves: the British Horse Society says suitable gloves can improve grip and help reduce rope burns while leading or lunging (BHS glove guidance). Follow your facility’s helmet policy and your instructor’s advice. The BHS requires a correctly fitted riding hat for horse handling in its Care and Lunge assessments, although that is an assessment rule rather than a universal groundwork standard (BHS dress guidance).

Throughout the session:

• Never wrap the rope around your hand, wrist or body.
• Hold spare rope in folds and keep it off the ground.
• Work beside the head and shoulder, not directly in front of or behind the horse.
• Turn a led horse away from you rather than pulling its head into your space.
• Do not try to out-pull a horse that barges, rears or bolts.

These handling points are consistent with guidance from Penn State Extension and Mississippi State University Extension. Stop and get help from an experienced equine professional if the horse’s behavior puts either of you at risk. New or unexplained resistance also warrants checking for pain or another health problem rather than assuming disobedience.

Use one clear cue at a time

Ask for a small response, then reward it promptly. That may mean removing light pressure as soon as the horse responds, offering a scratch or using a food reward if you have already been taught to do so safely.

Break each task into easy steps. Do not force a frightened horse through an exercise: World Horse Welfare notes that fear and high stress impede learning and recommends arranging training in manageable stages that reward the requested action (how horses learn).

Your handler checkpoint is constant: stay upright, keep breathing and move your feet instead of leaning back against the rope.

1. Walk beside the shoulder

Setup: Stand beside the horse’s throatlatch or shoulder with comfortable slack in the rope.

Action: Look ahead and walk a short straight line. Ask the horse to stay beside you without drifting into your space. Halt well before the fence.

Checkpoint: Your shoulder remains approximately level with the horse’s shoulder. If you are towing from in front or being dragged from behind, regain a quiet halt and restart over fewer steps.

Riding relevance: Clear responses to forward and stop cues are also important in ridden transitions, although the aids will differ.

2. Halt at a marker

Setup: Choose a cone, arena letter or other visible point.

Action: As you reach it, stop your feet and apply the voice or lead-rope cue the horse already knows. Soften the cue immediately when the horse stops. Begin with one quiet second.

Checkpoint: Stay tall rather than stepping backward and bracing. The horse should not pass your shoulder or swing into you.

Progression: Halt at different markers, then vary the number of walk steps between halts.

3. Back one step

Setup: Stand beside the head and shoulder, with clear space behind the horse. Do not stand directly in front.

Action: Give the horse’s established light backward cue. Release and pause as soon as one hoof steps back. Add further steps only when the response remains calm.

Checkpoint: Keep your feet moving if needed, but do not drag continuously on the halter. Reset if the horse rushes or drifts sideways.

Riding relevance: This helps distinguish “back” from “stand,” a distinction also needed for rein-back under saddle.

4. Yield the hindquarters

Have an instructor teach this cue before practising it alone.

Setup: Stand near the shoulder, angled toward the horse’s side but outside the path of the hind feet.

Action: Apply the familiar cue for moving the quarters away. Reward one calm sideways step, then lead forward to reset.

Checkpoint: The hindquarters move away without the horse rushing around you. Do not chase several tight circles.

Riding relevance: Independent control of the quarters is used in movements such as turn on the forehand and when positioning a horse near a gate.

5. Yield the shoulders

Setup: Stand beside the head and neck with room for the front feet to move sideways. Use only a cue already taught by a coach.

Action: Ask the shoulders to move away by one step without allowing the horse to walk over you. Release, straighten and repeat from the other side.

Checkpoint: Move your own feet and preserve a safe bubble around your body; do not lean into the horse.

Riding relevance: Awareness of shoulder position matters when riding turns and straight lines.

6. Walk a square

Setup: Mark a generous square with four cones.

Action: Walk each side straight. Prepare before each corner, slow slightly and guide the horse away from you through the turn.

Checkpoint: Look toward the next side and walk the corner yourself. Avoid pulling the horse’s head toward your body.

Progression: Add a halt on one side or alter the square’s size without making the corners tight.

7. Walk over one ground pole

Setup: Place one arena pole flat on suitable footing, with ample room before and after it. Check that the area is free of clutter.

Action: Approach straight in an ordinary walk. Look beyond the pole and allow enough rope for the horse to use its neck. If the horse needs to inspect it, wait without pulling from directly in front.

Checkpoint: Walk beside the shoulder rather than rushing ahead or staring at the pole. The aim is one calm step-over, not forcing or tiring the horse.

Progression: Ask a qualified coach to select safe spacing before adding poles. Do not improvise raised or fixed obstacles.

8. Stand at the mounting block

Setup: Place a stable mounting block in a quiet area and lead the horse alongside it.

Action: Halt, step onto the block and reward a brief stand. If the horse moves, step down, reposition and ask for a shorter pause.

Checkpoint: Stay upright rather than leaning across the horse to hold it in place. The horse should remain still without swinging its quarters away.

Practise the stand before adding mounting. Mount only after an instructor has checked the horse, tack, block position and your technique. You can also build the rider strength and coordination involved with this off-horse mounting practice.

A focused 15-minute session

Do not try to teach all eight exercises at once. Choose three that the horse already understands:

1. Spend three minutes walking and halting.
2. Practise several separate one-step backs.
3. Choose either a shoulder yield or hindquarter yield and work one calm attempt each way.
4. Walk the square in both directions.
5. Finish with the pole or mounting block only if it is already familiar.

Pause between attempts and finish after a calm, clear response rather than drilling until either partner is tired. If your own balance makes the cues inconsistent, work separately on single-leg strength and control, then have an instructor help you apply improved footwork around the horse.