23/09/2026
I’m with you on this Dr Shelley Appleton Calm Willing Confident Horses.
I feel like a lot of my help given to riders and horses is by going back to groundwork!
My friend Caroline Howlett introduced me to this saying, and I love it:🥰
Groundwork is riding where you get to stand up; riding is ground work where you get to sit down.
I Was Far Too Advanced for Groundwork 🔥
(and other deeply held beliefs that aged like milk 😆)
For years, I had a horse with a hard mouth.
Not mildly heavy. Properly heavy. Before competitions I would put strapping tape on my hands because when he got tense, he got even heavier, and I would end up with blisters.
I tried different bits. Well-respected coaches offered suggestions for bits and gadgets. Nosebands were tightened. Various pieces of equipment were rearranged in the ongoing quest to solve The Mouth.
And sitting comfortably underneath all of this was my rock-solid belief that I had simply been unfortunate enough to own a horse born with a hard mouth.
Then I watched a horsemanship video.
I should point out that I did *not* watch horsemanship videos.
Horsemanship, as far as I was concerned, involved rope twirling, cowboy hats and people doing things that had very little relevance to me or my sport.
But this person demonstrated how to teach a horse to respond softly to the bit. More importantly, they explained that the exercise could tell you whether the horse actually understood what to do when they felt pressure from the bit.
Interesting.
So I saddled my hard-mouthed horse, picked up one rein and watched in horror as he braced his neck and turned his head in the opposite direction.
Oh. 😱
My horse wasn't hard-mouthed.
My horse had absolutely no idea what the bit meant. 🤯
It took me about 45 minutes to change something I had spent years trying to solve.
That was one of those horrible little moments in life where a large chunk of what you confidently believed falls over in front of you.
And once you see something like that, you can't unsee it.
There was still a problem.
I could make him beautifully soft at home, but in lessons or competitions the heaviness would return.
Apparently my newfound magic would wear off.
The horsemanship people kept mentioning groundwork.
I ignored them.
I was an advanced rider. I had evidence. I had won ribbons AND rugs. 🙄
Groundwork felt like going backwards. Besides, I had competed successfully without it. I had also been to a horsemanship clinic once where someone waved a flag around and frightened my horse.
So obviously I had gathered all the evidence necessary to dismiss an entire field of practice.
Case closed.
Except eventually, curiosity won.
And holy moly.
The groundwork didn't frighten my horse. Done well, it did the opposite. He relaxed.
Even more interestingly, a whole collection of smaller annoyances started disappearing. He was way less spooky. His canter became more adjustable. Things that I had thought were separate riding problems started changing together. 🧐
And most importantly, the training started to stick.
The magic stopped wearing off.
So I did more.
Then I dragged every horse I owned out of the paddock and experimented on them. Then I borrowed any horse anyone was let me borrow.
Problem horses. Young horses. Green horses. Bucking horses. Spooky horses.
I became obsessed.
It felt like being handed tangled balls of wool. I could find the knots, unravel them, work out where things had become confused and then wind everything back together more neatly.
And I realised something that completely overturned my original belief.
Groundwork wasn't going backwards - It was an accelerant.💥
Which brings me to Project Reboot.
I have just started an intensive where people can begin in one of three places: groundwork, foundation riding or advanced riding for clients that have been working with me for a while.
And I have received quite a few messages asking some version of:
"Can I just start with the advanced riding?”
I understand completely.
They want to do my process by not doing my process.
I did too.😆
But there is a reason I keep mounting a case for starting on the ground.
Groundwork gives you an easier place to refine your timing, feel and communication. You don't have to manage your own riding at the same time, so you can actually notice the tiny things you normally miss.
It is also easier for the horse.
They can learn, organise their body and develop gymnastically without also having to carry a human.
If I took someone struggling with their fitness on their first bushwalk and offered them the choice of going with or without a heavy backpack, which option do you think would make learning to navigate the terrain easier and develop their fitness?
Same horse. Same nervous system. Same body.
Less luggage.
And then there is everything that happens before you even put your foot in the stirrup.
If you have to drag your horse away from grass, your horse regularly drags you towards grass, leading is an argument and personal space is more of a philosophical concept, that conflict doesn't magically evaporate when your backside hits the saddle.
You take it with you.
It's like arguing with your partner about their driving all the way to a restaurant and then sitting down and wondering why dinner feels a little tense.
The ride doesn't begin when you get on‼️
That was probably the biggest thing I couldn't see.
There were important things happening right in front of me every day, but I didn't yet have the knowledge to recognise their significance.
So, from someone who was once far too advanced for groundwork, my advice is very simple:
👉Get curious.
Give it a go.
See what happens.
Because you might discover that what looks like going backwards isn't backwards at all.
Sometimes it is the fastest way forward.❤
Collectable Advice 297/365. Please SHARE to all the other "advanced riders" out there 😉
