If you've ever felt like your horse only really listens to you once you're already on their back, groundwork is where that changes. It's one of those things everyone says you should do more of, and then it quietly gets skipped because there's a lesson booked or the arena's free and riding feels like the "real" work. But some of the best groundwork exercises for horses take ten minutes and change how a horse thinks for the rest of the session, not just how they behave while you're standing next to them.
I say this as someone who used to treat groundwork as a warm up chore rather than training in its own right. It wasn't until I was working with a horse who'd shut down a bit under saddle that I properly understood what it does. Groundwork isn't the boring bit before the real ride starts. It is part of the ride, just from a different angle.
What counts as groundwork exercises for horses
Groundwork covers anything you do with a horse from the ground that isn't just leading them from A to B. Think transitions on the lead, yielding the hindquarters or the shoulder, backing up on a cue, standing still while you move around them, walking over poles or through narrow spaces. None of it needs fancy equipment. A halter, a lead rope, and a flat bit of ground is genuinely enough.
What makes it valuable isn't the exercise itself, it's what the horse is practising underneath it. Every groundwork session is really a conversation about who's making decisions and how calmly your horse can handle being asked something. That's the same conversation you're having under saddle, just with less risk attached if something goes sideways.
Start with the basics before you get fancy
It's tempting to skip straight to the exercises that look impressive, but the horses who benefit most from groundwork are usually the ones who haven't nailed the simple stuff yet. Can your horse walk beside you without dragging you along or lagging behind? Can they halt when you stop, without you having to haul on the lead? Can they stand quietly at the mounting block, or while you fuss with a rug or a girth?
If any of those feel shaky, that's your starting point. There's no prize for teaching a horse to back through a row of cones if they still barge through your space at the gate. Get the boring stuff solid first. It pays off far more than people expect.
A few groundwork exercises worth trying this week
Once the basics are reliable, a few simple additions go a long way. Try walk to halt transitions where you ask with your body language before you touch the lead, so the horse starts reading you rather than waiting to be told. Practise yielding the hindquarters and the shoulder separately, so you've got a horse who moves each end independently instead of just spinning as one block. Lead them over a single pole, then a few poles in a line, paying attention to whether they rush or think their way through it.
For a horse who's a bit buzzy or easily distracted, standing still and doing nothing is honestly one of the most useful exercises going. Just stand there, at a safe distance, and wait for them to settle before you move off again. It's not exciting, but it teaches patience without a rider in the mix trying to manage that at the same time.
Why it's worth the ten minutes
Groundwork matters for green horses learning the ropes, but it matters just as much for an experienced horse who's had time off, or an OTTB still working out that not everything on a track is about going forward fast. It gives you a low pressure way to check in with how your horse is feeling that day before you ever get on. Is he a bit sharp? Distracted? Sore somewhere? You'll often see it on the ground well before you'd feel it in the saddle.
It also counts as part of your horse's training week, not an extra on top of it. A ten minute groundwork session on a day you're not riding still builds the same trust and clarity you're after under saddle, without adding load to a horse who might need the rest. If you're mapping out a week that includes jumping or polework alongside everything else, groundwork is a great way to fill the gaps without overloading your horse physically.
If you're the kind of person who plans out a horse's week properly, it's worth giving groundwork its own spot on the calendar rather than squeezing it in when there's time. That's part of why I built the training plan feature into EquiCare, so sessions like this don't get forgotten between the flashier stuff.
Next time you're at the yard with a spare ten minutes and no real plan, that's exactly when groundwork earns its keep. What might your horse tell you, if you gave them the chance to think it through with their feet on the ground first?
