What is Buck Brannaman's view on the role of groundwork?

Buck Brannaman's view of groundwork reflects the Dorrance-Hunt tradition's understanding of it as the foundation through which the horse develops the concepts and responses that under-saddle work builds on, rather than simply a set of exercises performed to check a box before riding begins. For Brannaman, the quality of the groundwork determines the quality of the under-saddle horse — a horse that genuinely understands yielding to pressure, moving its feet in response to specific cues, and maintaining its attention on the handler from the ground will carry those understandings into the riding relationship in ways that make mounted work significantly more productive and significantly safer than working with a horse whose groundwork was cursory or incomplete. The specific groundwork exercises Brannaman uses are less important than the quality of the horse's responses within them — a horse that goes through the motions of yielding its hindquarters while remaining mentally disconnected from the handler has not achieved what the exercise is for, while a horse genuinely attentive, soft, and connected to the handler's direction has developed the quality that the groundwork is designed to produce. Brannaman is also clear that groundwork is not a phase to be completed and left behind — it remains a useful tool for assessing and improving the horse's responsiveness throughout its working life, not just during the starting phase. When a horse shows resistance or difficulty under saddle, returning to groundwork to address the horse's thought and responsiveness in a lower-demand environment is often more productive than attempting to solve mounted problems while mounted, because the groundwork allows clearer communication and more precise release than the additional complexity of a rider introduces.