How much groundwork should you do before riding obstacles?

The appropriate amount of groundwork before riding obstacles is enough that the horse can complete the obstacle calmly, willingly, and without significant resistance from the ground — because the horse that cannot handle an obstacle from the ground with a skilled handler present is not yet ready to handle it under saddle with a rider adding weight, balance demands, and communication complexity to the equation. The specific standard is not a number of sessions or a fixed amount of time but a behavioral one: when the horse approaches the obstacle with a relaxed body rather than a tense or high-headed one, investigates it with curiosity rather than avoidance, steps through or over it without rushing or requiring strong pressure to move forward, and can repeat that performance multiple times consistently within a session, the groundwork has done its job and under-saddle introduction is appropriate. If the horse rushes through the obstacle to get it over with rather than moving through it slowly and carefully, the groundwork is not yet sufficient. If the horse refuses at the obstacle and requires significant handler pressure to engage with it, the groundwork is not yet sufficient. If the horse panics or bolts during ground approach, under-saddle introduction would be genuinely dangerous and the groundwork needs considerably more development before any riding near the obstacle is appropriate. The most common error in this calculation is moving to under-saddle work too soon because the horse completes the obstacle on the ground eventually rather than easily — completion under pressure is not the standard; calm, willing completion with minimal handler effort is. That standard, applied consistently, produces horses that handle obstacles under saddle safely from the first mounted session rather than creating dangerous situations that require extensive remediation.