09/05/2025
A great foundation starts right here!
๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐!!!
This is the most basic of the basics ๐ซฃ
Your horse should be able toโฆ
1.) Lower his head when asked. This includes using halter pressure to ask the horse to lower their head, but also being able to put your arm up over to ask them to bring their head down. Otherwise, how are you supposed to halter or bridle them?
2.) Lead at walk, halt, and back without pulling on them. If your horse is half asleep and you ask him to walk forward, fine, you can give him a little bump to get him leading forward. But you shouldnโt have to pull on a horse to get them to walk with you, nor should you have to pull on them to get them to stop and not run you over. If you walk, they should walk and if you stop, they should stop. Foals and freshly haltered mustangs can learn this in one session, so thereโs no excuse for your horse not knowing it. Itโs also just not that hard to get a horse to back up off of body language. I donโt care if you have to mimic the chicken dance, but you should be able to back up your horse from the ground without pulling on the halter or shoving into his chest
3.) Yield the hind quarters. Itโs even okay if you need to use the lead rope to tip the horseโs nose toward you, but it should just take fingertip pressure to move the haunches away. (both directions please)
4.) Yield the forehand. Iโve literally seen people that donโt know how to turn their horse to the right and instead they would make a 270ยฐ turn to the left, because they only knew how to pull the horse towards them, and had no idea how to turn the horse away from them. Itโs all right to have one hand up by the halter and the other hand at the base of the neck or even the shoulder. You should be able to make the horse turn approximately around their tail or hind legs. Iโm not gonna be picky because this list is just rudimentary basics, but you need to be able to get those shoulders to turn away from you. (Both directions obviously)
5.) Send. You should be able to stand on either side of your horse and send them forward and around you. Otherwise, how do you even take them through a gate? If you need practice, set up a pole or barrel near a fence or wall and send your horse back-and-forth through the gap. Send your horse into their stall. This isnโt some fancy groundwork exercise- itโs just basics that you need in order to take a horse from field to stall and stall to field!
6.) pick up feet AND SET THEM DOWN!
Get help with this one if you need it because you can put some bad habits into a horse real fast if you donโt know what youโre doing. But you should be able to not only left your horses foot up and handle it, but donโt just drop the foot! Set the foot back on the ground underneath the horse. Just dropping the foot is rude, and while some horses learn to deal with it quite well, it makes others distrusting, so get in the habit of setting the foot back down politely.
Picture of a haul-in student learning to send her horse and create a little space between them. This mare clearly knows basic life skills, but the owner had some holes in her own education that were making things more difficult than they needed to be. Thankfully, she understands the importance of maintaining good ground manners and is eager to learn how to keep her nice horse nice! ๏ฟผ ๏ฟผ
