The Horse And Co., monthly tutorials are learning aids, covering all levels of groundwork from basic to ‘at liberty.’, The tutorials enable you to gain your horse’s respect from the ground before you climb into the saddle.
Groundwork is the most important aspect when building a sound relationship between you and your horse, it is a must for all handlers and riders to know, understand and implement no matter what your discipline is. The key to success when working with your horse is realizing that what you teach on the ground transfers to the saddle. Everything you teach or plan to teach your horse begins with you, not your horse. How you handle your horse on the ground will determine how your horse responds when you are in the saddle.
Good groundwork is an application that works not just for problem horses or horses needing to learn new exercises. Good groundwork also helps handlers starting out young horses, or what’s commonly called ‘breaking in’. Groundwork is also valuable for float training (this is a surprisingly widespread problem I witness on a far too regular basis, horses who are difficult to float.) Floating is covered in the Horse and Co., tutorials, from basic to ‘at liberty’ float loading.
When it comes to riding, the main discipline will be ‘at liberty’ riding from young to advanced horses. In additional to this main discipline, the tutorial also covers starting and training a horse to a saddle. All of the ‘at liberty’ riding from beginner to advanced, can be done in a saddle using a bridle or head collar (which ever preference you choose). Riding exercises are an extension of the groundwork, the better the groundwork, the easier the riding will be.
Remember to recognize your riding level/ability/experience and work from there upwards to improve it, its not recommended to be a beginner and try to start at the advanced or intermediate level.
The focus of the tutorial is learning the correct process from start to finish, for a handler to train up a horse. The tutorial will help you step-by-step see (through visual demonstrations) and understand what to expect in each stage of training and how to implement it. The tutorial caters not just for the learner, but also for those horse handlers with experience who want to gain more learning.
The goal of Horse And Co., is to educate people on how to form a mutual relationship with their horse, a relationship build on a foundation of trust and respect, a relationship in which both the handler and their horse will enjoy and benefit from the learning experience.