I just completed a clinic in Helena, Montana. There were a couple of young green horses at the clinic, which prompted a brief discussion on what are the first things I like to teach a horse in the early training in the groundwork.

Here is a brief description of just one of those things that are important to me.

When a horse does not yet know how to respond to pressure I tend to start with teaching how to “go with” the feel or pressure. It doesn’t matter if I am teaching a horse to lead or pick up its feet or load into a trailer or lower its head or whatever. I want my beginner horse to learn to have confidence and feel untroubled by following the pressure in contrast to going away from pressure or being sent somewhere in response to pressure. “Going with” and “going away” are both are important lessons, but I focus on the “going with" first rather than the “going away” from pressure.

It’s my view that by starting with the lesson to “go with” pressure the horse learns very early to be untroubled by the application of pressure. The first lessons are that pressure is not something to fear or flee from, but to “yield to” and “go with”. This makes the subsequent lessons of being able to “go away” from pressure so much easier and less troubling for a young horse.

For example, teaching a horse to lead with me is a lesson that comes before teaching a horse to go away from me when lunging or round penning. Teaching to come with me into the horse trailer comes before teaching it to be sent into the trailer.

For me, it is not a rule but it is a principle that has served me well and helped form a bond with horses very early in their education. It reduces the stress that is often caused by sending a horse away from pressure before a horse has learned to be okay with pressure.

I am not suggesting a good hand with horses could not teach both responses to pressure simultaneously with excellent results. But it’s my experience that most horses find it easier to be comfortable with pressure when they are first introduced to it as a tool to follow rather than escape.

Be brave enough to experiment and find what works best for you.