Ferriana Begins Ground Driving

Ferriana is still coming along well.  She is still the queen bee of her universe and only occasionally deigns to accommodate us mere mortals with her compliance, but at least she and I have reached an understanding about personal space (you don't try to squish me, I won't smack you).  After her recent dental she was all ready to begin wearing a bit and start ground driving.

The first session trying a bridle went well.  I tacked her up and took her to the round pen (keeping everything familiar so I only add one new element at a time).  Once we were there I put her bridle on with one smooth motion before she had time to object.  I put it on over her rope halter and let her think about it for a moment before I gave her a cookie.  It's good to have the horse associate a bit with something nice like a treat, and it's not a big deal for me to clean the bit after we're done.  A fair trade for good behavior!

Once she was wearing the bridle in addition to her saddle and breastplate I lunged her in the round pen.  She LOVES jumping, and soon after she's warmed up she does her best to edge our lunging circle to the small jumps on the side of the round pen.  I'm fortunate that my round pen is a 100' diameter so I have plenty of space to do both flat work and over fences work in the same session without needing to set up and break down jumps. I was really pleased that she accepted the bit so readily and immediately went to work doing what she loves best - jumping.

Over the next sessions Ferriana and I began to introduce ground driving.  I do this by attaching one long line to the halter as usual, and the other on the far side of the bit, through the surcingle ring, and around her haunches.  Then we lunge one direction.  So if she's circling to the right, I hold in my right hand the line directly attached to her halter.  The other line in my left hand is going around her haunches, through the ring on the left side of the surcingle and attached to the ring on the left side of the bit.  To go the other direction I have her halt and wait standing quietly so I can reorganize lines in the opposite arrangement.  This allows her to get used to the lines, one at a time, along her sides without any new cues coming through the bit.

Once that was going smoothly, I set up the long lines through rings on each sides of the surcingle, to each side of the bit.  This allows me to begin some basic steering work with Ferriana.  It's important to do this with a surcingle so that I have rings to hold up the lines and prevent the horse from stepping on the ropes which would yank on her mouth.  Some people do ground drive using a saddle with stirrups instead of surcingle with rings, but I prefer this method as it's less likely that the lines will get tangled in additional tack.  A horse as smart and reactive as Ferriana will remember any mishap, and she's not a forgiving sort.  Therefore it's in all of our best interests to do this correctly.


Her first actual ground driving experience went really well!  She very quickly determined what we were doing, and didn't kick at me when I gave her cues using the reins (a common reaction from horses when beginning this process).  When I first introduce this to a reactive horse I'm very careful to make sure I stay to the side or significantly behind her, just in case.  The solid foundation of groundwork helps the horse not to panic when I add the new gear.

The only hiccup was Ferriana wanted to go faster and jump the jumps while we were ground driving, so I had to make sure I'd lowered everything down to ground poles to decrease the temptation.  Once this mare realizes that she needs brakes and steering so that I can ride her and she can do much bigger jumps, she's going to be all about this riding thing.