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Get Grounded Equine Experiences with horses vs. making the horse 'work' for us. No space for monetizing, just humbly sharing my inspirations.

Foundation training that shifts perspectives on working at eye level via liberty, trail hiking, obstacle navigation and line driving.

10/24/2026

Forward moving is not always an indication of forward thinking. A horse that learns to move forward in a framework that is weighted in avoiding pressure signals feels very different than a horse that is seeking, targeting, and exploring. It’s not that pressure signals shouldn’t be utilized, rather they are better introduced, first, through communicating our boundaries. A relationship built with lop-sided trust requires reliance on propped up control. So the more we can make introductory arrangements that foster ‘forward’ through seeking, targeting, exploring, the better we can build 2-way trust. Poking a bear, yet not wanting them to leave requires a use of mechanical aids weighted in containment. The mare in this video is exploring, offering, and was not asked to step up on the bridge, nor given any forward direction. The rider is focused on staying balanced regardless of the maneuvering choices the mare makes. However, there is a moment of setting a boundary when the mare suggests stepping up onto the stack of matts. For developing ‘forward thinking’, It’s much better to communicate, ‘you can do any forward maneuver, but that one’ than to demand a maneuver that is very micro-managed. Develop the forward thinking mindset first, acceptance of your boundaries, listening to their boundaries, then get more technical together.

10/21/2026

An update on our little weanling filly. (See posts from Sept. 9 and 11)�She is now marker savvy and offers to engage. Here is what a horse begins to understand when they are deemed ‘marker savvy’: A reinforcer will come after the click. The click is a prompt to take a visual snapshot of the self in a context so it can be memorized and repeated, and the human is a reliable source of the reinforcer. (Important note: it’s not a ‘request/reward’ dynamic it is a ‘reinforcer’ of behavior that is offered.) This clip shows our filly is starting to understand 2 different ‘click-points’, meaning she has the ability to take ‘self-portraits’ and show awareness of 2 behaviors: left front stepping back and dropping her nose down. She caught onto her left front stepping back first (primary behavior), then we are starting to add the nose drop (secondary behavior).
This foundation work is part of building a solid default stand and was preceded by sessions of shaping a favorable working position in relationship to me. Once she began to show reliable positioning, I can use myself as a prompt for her to ‘re-position’ in order to retain her physical relationship to me.�I’m hoping you can see the importance of my timing and observation in this process. If you watch closely, you will see my timing was off on the 2nd to last click. I welcome pm’s from anyone curious about this process.

What if our foundation 'work' had more emphasis on showing them we trust their judgement and less about psychological re...
10/13/2026

What if our foundation 'work' had more emphasis on showing them we trust their judgement and less about psychological reactance. This photo is a moment captured during a FIRST ride. The rider has rapport to communicate boundaries, but is more of a passenger than anything. The mare was left to make her own decisions about how to proceed during the experience. We were tickled to see her offer this step up on the bridge in exploration of it all.

10/02/2026

Everything radiates from a default stand. It becomes the indicator of readiness to begin. Once it gets established in the simplest context, you can start asking for it in more complex contexts as we see in this video.
I did not grasp this concept fully with the first few horses I explored marker training with. I got too focused on free shaping movement before establishing this one anchoring behavior. I now see it is better to have acts of moving together at liberty come out of a well understood default stand, utilize the default stand for ‘start overs’, and return to the default stand more frequently for processing and regulating.

09/28/2026

Invasiveness must be precisely measured.
The preliminary practice to backing is to evoke energy, then direct that energy into a mutual understanding. GG preliminaries hold a very solid commitment to evoking the appropriate amount of energy that allows the nervous system to be present and thoughtful while defining the parameters. The skill of calibration is often lost when using lunging rituals as preliminaries. Lunging rituals often over stimulate, sends the horse into a bracing/bolting mindset. Thoughtfulness has left the building and the energy then requires a level of control and confinement that is counterintuitive to the process.

09/17/2026

Already Leading!
2nd time no header with the lines…..and and first time no header on the trail. I attribute success to hand walking on the trail, building rapport with R+, and waiting for readiness before adding more.

I just saw a self promotion ad selling how to 'build thinking'. Again, another ego denying the mental capacity and intel...
09/14/2026

I just saw a self promotion ad selling how to 'build thinking'. Again, another ego denying the mental capacity and intelligence that exists outside of themselves. The intelligence is already there. We just need to focus on holding spaces in our experiences that make it safe for the intelligence to express itself. This is where the safety, the cooperation, the flow states exist.

Honoring feedback means you don’t override stress signals by using aversive measures to extinguish unwanted behavior. By...
09/12/2026

Honoring feedback means you don’t override stress signals by using aversive measures to extinguish unwanted behavior. By observing this mare standing quiet at the park with no buddies, I knew she was capable of managing the added stress of a solo trail walk with the lines.

09/11/2026

Progress-Adding Touch
This filly’s increased confidence has allowed some progressive nuances to unfold. She is now able to fully expose her left side while reaching towards my hand. I also inserted touching her chest into the pattern. You will see a remnant moment of her guarding (touching my backside) which actually now starts the sequence. It will be interesting to see how/when that part of the sequence fades away.

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