Anticipation
Approach & Retreat
Bending
Bits
Buying a Horse
Common Sense on the Trail
Curb Strap Tying Info.
Exaggeration
Expectations
Feel
Feet
Focus & Time
Ground Driving
Ground Manners
Ground Tying
Haltering
In the Saddle
Introducing a New Horse
Lateral Movement
Leading
Longeing
Mecate Reins
One Rein Stop
Posture
Pressure
The Process
Progress Strings
Punishment & Correction
Reins
Respect
Reward
Round/Square Pen
Rope Skills
Senses
Slobber Straps
Softness
Support
Tools
Training Home
Training Stick
Trust
Trailer Loading
Trailer Unloading
Tying from Above
Tying a rope halter
Visualization
Yielding

Ground driving is the basis for many things, probably most importantly to you is trailer loading. Before you can effectively teach a horse to ground drive they must be able to work on a 12 foot longe line. If you have an arena wall or fence you can save yourself a lot of time.  The fence acts as a barrier which you can use to your advantage.


As with longeing, you have a direction hand and a power hand. With the horse on the wall, ask for direction with one hand and raise your power hand. Your horse should move off in the direction you ask. Ideally, you should be able to drive your horse from either side. You should also be able to work from the shoulder to directly behind the horses rear. It’s easier to start up by the shoulder and gradually work your way back.

To get your horse to stop, all you have to do is ask with the lead rope with an up/down energy motion in the rope. You also need to be able to ask your horse to change direction when driving. You do this the same way that you do longeing. Change hands with the lead rope. You now have new direction and power hands and can ask the horse to move. It is important that the horse yield and make adjustments to it’s body to move around you.

A good exercise to practice for ground driving is to be able to drive a horse all of the way around an arena, round pen, or pasture. When you get good at this you can move off the barrier and drive the horse to objects, like a gate. Then you're ready to move to trailer loading, this will be simple if you have ground driving working for you.

Next Concept: Lateral Movement