Star....9/26/10

Sunday...
Another Beautiful south Texas day!  Spent most of the day prepping the kids lambs for the fair. But did get some time with Star and put in some ground work.  Ground work is something that I used to think was a waste of time, that I could do in the saddle what my Dad was doing on the ground.  I think we all turn into our parents at some point and I find myself saying and doing alot of the things that my Dad did, and said, back then. 

Back then, I was rougher and my horsemanship was rougher.  I joked about the "scars" I had from some of things we did when I was in college.  I gave as good as I got back then, but our thought for our horses was sometimes lacking.  I can remember being hired to put a few rides on some long yearlings with a friend of mine.  Our horse handling skills were definitely old school back then.  We snubbed them to a center post, saddled them up and took turns being bronc riders.  No groundwork, no preperation and no feel for the horse.  They were bucking and that all we cared about.  How many of these horses were harder for someone to finish, than if we had taken our time and went at it from the horses perspective?  Probably all of them. 

Ground work is fundamental for all of your riding and your confidence.  I start with being able to yeild the hind end.  Take your stick and string, start waving it in the air at their hip.  If they don't move, you move it for them (In a horse herd, boss mare says move now and then backs it up).  This has levels of pressure, from the lowest to the highest.  YOUR skilll should tell you how fast that progression should be.  The less skill you have, the slower the progression needs to be.  Also included in this is your body language, if you want your horse to move their hip....then you should have the same look on your face as Boss Mare does when she moves another horse.  Ears back, teeth bared....I said move now!

Then you should be able to make them back away from you by shaking your lead at them.  Start by wiggleing your finger, then your wrist, then your elbow and finally your shoulder (each of these is a progression in pressure from the lowest to the highest).  As your horses learns, they will start to back away at the finger wiggle.  See body language note above, it applies here also.