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"I have a notebook of the tips from your site and I love them... Bonnie Anderson has been wonderful. All the tips I tried of hers worked the first time. I am now in the riding stage and my horse is awesome. Thank you all very much and keep the training tips coming!!!!!!"
Karen Gossard
Fayetteville, NC

Weve all seen the cowboy in the movies as he gallops up, jumps off his horse, and drops the reins, knowing that when he comes back his horse will be there waiting for him. We all wish our horse would do the same, especially for those times when we need both our hands to do something and we have nowhere to tie our horse. But our horses can be trained to stand ground tied just as those movie horses, and heres how to do it.

When teaching the horse to ground tie, we need to start in a round pen if possible, or any small pen where were able to use a longe line and begin working our horse in a circle at a trot until his freshness is worn off. When he seems to be tiring, we say whoa and step toward the front of the horse. If he doesn't stop, we drive him around again. Dont tug on the line, we want him stopping on our voice command only. Say whoa a second time and he should stop, if not, send him around again. He'll soon find that by not stopping, he creates more work for himself, and will be happy to comply to our request as he tires. Next we attach a lead rope to his halter, place him in the center of the pen and tell him whoa in a firm voice. We drop the end of the lead rope and slowly back away a few feet. If he moves, we pick up the end of the lead rope and tug sharply downward, and move the horse back to the center of the pen, repeating our whoa in a sterner voice. Be patient but firm and he will soon learn to stand in that spot for a minute or two as we step a few feet away. Praise him lavishly and end the lesson for the day.

In the next few days repeat the above lessons. But remember, we dont want to use a bridle with reins at this point, only a halter and lead for now. We dont want any broken reins or a bruised mouth in case the horse should move away and step on them. When we are sure the horse will stand when we only a few feet away, its time to walk over to the gate and pretend we are leaving. This is a good test to see if how well the horse is progressing.

If at anytime our horse seems to forget what these lessons are about, we need to send him around the pen at a fast trot until hes tiring, then put him in the center and ask for the whoa again. Hell be more willing to stand and wait for us when hes tired, at least for these early lessons. Once we are able to walk outside the gate without him moving, then we are ready to start ground tying him in other places under supervision. Perhaps when we are grooming him, we can drop the lead and tell him whoa as we move around him. Perhaps when we walk out to the mailbox, we can take him along and ground tie him while we get the mail out and look at it.

Well need to keep a close eye on our horse when were first working with him outside the pen but soon hell learn to stand no matter where we place him. Now when we saddle up and go for a ride, well be confident that if we should ever have to dismount, our horse will be waiting for us when we drop the reins and say whoa.