10 Reasons I Dig Ground Driving My Horse

In case you missed it, my saddle wasn’t fitting Knight well, so I asked my trainer to teach me how to ground drive. I thought it would be a good way to build up his back as I waited for my saddle fitting appointment. “How hard can this be?” I thought at first. What I soon realized is I needed to grow another pair of arms in order to manage the lines. Please enjoy my awkward beginner attempts and read my ground driving backstory. Then come back and take in this list of reasons I dig ground driving my horse Knight.

1. Seeing my horse’s whole body move.

I am enjoying having a visual, which I otherwise don’t in the saddle. For example, I am not as sophisticated of a rider yet to know the difference between Knight’s tracking up, actually overtracking, placing his hind feet beyond the imprint of his front feet by four inches v. eight inches. At one point in a ground driving lesson, my trainer said he was going about 12 inches. I can feel the difference between a lazy walk and a marching walk when I ride, but the visual from the ground is helpful to know what my horse is capable of.

Also, when ground driving, trotting to the right, Knight sticks the very side tip of his tongue out of his mouth maybe a half inch. I certainly don’t notice that while riding. My trainer explained the muscles of the tongue tie way far back into the neck. She said one student’s horse used to stick his tongue out all the time, but through proper schooling (getting him to move and use his body well) he no longer sticks his tongue out.

By the way, did you hear I’ve written a book about Marguerite Henry and her famous pony, Misty of Chincoteague? Sneak a peek of Marguerite, Misty and Me, now available for pre-order. I found it interesting to research the man who trained Misty to be a riding pony. He taught Misty how to ground drive. If Marguerite Henry ground drove, I want to ground drive too. 🙂

2. Adding a massive number of steps to my daily step count.

During one recent ground driving lesson, I noticed my step count was the equivalent of 2.7 miles. lol Granted I had walked around the house a bit that morning and I had to walk out to the pasture to grab Knight, but I’m guessing the lesson itself gave me about 2.2 miles. Not bad!

3. Admiring Knight’s dapples.

For many years Knight barely had dapples. While he lived in California, he was always outside, meaning his bay coat got sunbleached. He would shed his winter coat and have dapples for maybe a few days. At this point he’s had them for several weeks. Yay!

4. Strengthening Knight’s back.

When I first learned Knight has kissing spines, I cried for a day, then did what horse girls do: join a Facebook group. lol! As I lurked in the FB group for kissing spines and read a bunch of online articles, I learned ground driving was a good suggested activity. I didn’t quite understand how that would be because in my mind it was a person standing behind a horse just walking around while holding a lunge line in each hand. How would that be different from regular lunging or just hand walking?

During my first ground driving lesson, my trainer took the lines. She had him circle around her as though she were lunging him, but the outside line connected from the bit, wrapping around his lower rump, above his hocks. It didn’t take long for him to start working long and low. It became clear the simple nylon line helped encourage his hindquarters to work. Both his walk and trot became more vibrant. The lightbulb went on how this would help not just a kissing spines horse, but any horse.

5. Keeping Knight in some level of fitness without riding.

It’s been a struggle with saddles recently. Late last summer I discovered my saddle tree was broken. Now I view it as a blessing in disguise because it wasn’t a great fit anymore. I’ve borrowed saddles, tried some through SmartPak’s Test Ride program, and even bought a used one at my local tack shop. Sadly, that was not a great fit either. Rather than allow Knight months of time off while I figured out the saddle fit issue, I have been able to work him. My trainer said I could do ground driving every day and it would be good for him. The term she used was “low impact.”

6. Getting better square halts.

Knight has always halted like he was going to pose for a conformation photo. I don’t know how much of that was habit, how much of it was me not asking for more or how much of it was weakness. Since I’ve been ground driving Knight, he stands more squarely both on the crossties and when I halt him when ground driving. Granted, he does receive regular chiropractic adjustments and frequent body work. I have even started incorporating a number of stretches into my overall routine.

7. Improving my all-around horsemanship.

Before this ground driving journey began, I had only really seen ground driving in books and when I had watched the Tempel Lippizans perform. I didn’t realize an everyday, non-trainer of an equestrian like me could dive into the world of ground driving. I don’t start young horses. I’m not a high-level dressage person. Now I feel empowered with a skill that is not only benefitting Knight, but can only help any of the future horses who cross my path.

8. Identifying (and trying to correct) my riding weaknesses.

If you’re like me, I’m sure you can recite a list of your riding weaknesses. I have a hard time keeping my left hand (my non-dominant hand) up when I ride. My wrist and forearm drop. So much for outside rein when tracking right. I also need more give in my elbows. I have a hard time keeping a consistent contact (I blame learning how to ride western as a kid and all those years riding without lessons, just riding around somewhere between on the buckle and a loopy rein, and showing in local hunter shows).

While ground driving Knight, the same principles of contact apply. I need to keep my hands moving with his mouth. My elbows need to be bent. I was finding myself lifting my hands up high and one being low. I felt like an awkward marionette puppeteer when I first started this activity. Now I’m smoothing out. I get to practice not dropping my left hand and keeping consistent. As they say, practice makes perfect.

9. Reinforcing voice commands and cues.

Knight has always been pretty good about voice commands. Ground driving has given me an opportunity to perfect my voice pitch to get a crisper response. I learned my “walk on” was too low of a tone and too similar in sound to “whoa” (which is Knight’s favorite cue of all). I don’t really use many voice commands while riding, but perhaps I need to pepper in more “good boys” in my high, happy tone.

10. Watching my horse’s facial expressions.

Speaking of happy. . . I love being able to see Knight’s face as I ground drive. He really likes to work (such a Thoroughbred). When his long forelock rustles a bit here and there based on his movement, and his ears are forward looking happy and his eyes are relaxed, it makes me feel happy too. These are all subtle signs I can’t see in the saddle.

Yesterday the saddle fitter came out. I had sent her a few photos of Knight’s back maybe three weeks ago. I was delighted when she said his back had changed (more muscled) since I emailed her photos. Even though I now have a saddle on trial for two weeks (which might be my dream saddle), I plan to continue ground driving Knight’s horse. I want to get really good at it. My changes of rein are getting smoother. Maybe if I continue to hone my ground driving craft I’ll one day perform with the Tempel Lippizans.

Your turn: If you ground drive your horse, what is your purpose or motivation? If you do not ground drive, do you use other unmounted exercises to build up your horse’s topline and/or watch him or her move?

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