Ground Work A horse's eyes often tell the story about where his mind is. Follow the path of his eyes and a person can often tell where the horse is in his head. Where the horse's mind is, his feet may soon follow. His body language all demonstrates how present he is with the handler in any given moment and, often, how he feels about what is going on. Some of Shea's work comes from people who are having difficulties on the ground. She finds many people don't quite understand how to relate to a horse on the ground in a way that makes sense to the horse. Some of these problems can be dangerous behaviors on the ground, and some people just want to teach their horse how to trailer load, stand for the farrier, lead safely, tie, etc. Shea uses round pen work to show people how to connect to their horse on a deeper level. Working in a round pen is a way to build a focused relationship with the horse in an environment where the horse has the freedom to move. For Shea, round penning is not about chasing the horse around to punish the wrong behavior. She teaches a style of round penning that allows the horse freedom to search for the right answer. Shea also uses the round pen to get the horse in tune with moving with our rhythm through the transitions, just like we do on his back. There is a big difference in driving the horse and offering that the horse move with us. In all aspects of ground work, Shea teaches people how to offer that their horse move with them, not from them. This can take place in leading, lunging, and liberty work. Ground work is also useful in helping people understand "where" their horse is thinking, and to teach them how to direct their horse's thoughts. Where a horse is looking is where he is thinking. Shea does not advocate traditional lunging where the person stands in the middle and cracks a lunge whip while voicing commands. Instead, Shea uses lunging to encourage the horse to respond off her feel, breath and rhythm, which is the same way she works in the saddle as well. Shea has helped many people with loading their horses in the trailer. There are a few different techniques out there that Shea finds a problem with. One is forcing the horse in with butt ropes and stud chains. The other is to trot the horse in circles outside of the trailer then point the horse in, making the outside of the trailer difficult which can put the horse between a rock and a hard place. These may work temporarily, but in the long run there can be some problems. What Shea focuses on is helping the horse feel involved in the process. She does this by allowing the horse time to feel better about the situation and helping to not only direct his thought into the trailer, but also to stay soft. Other aspects of groundwork, or lack thereof, can make or break a trailer loading experience. For instance, coming forward softly off the feel from the halter can help a horse go into the trailer. Or getting him used to being in small spaces or going through small areas, or even stepping on strange things on the ground. Many times Shea will work on trailer loading when there is no trailer in sight, just by helping the horse lead better Go to Training, Colt-Starting, Troubled Horses page...