Riding Exercises

Poles can be used differently! I absolutely adore this exercise, I used to do this quote often when I worked with a young horse and it really helps them to learn understand your legs better. When we did this, we would start of with the blue track and the move up to the red one. In this exercise you basically walk through the gaps of the poles and try to stay in the middle. This is quite similar to one that has been posted "" but in a "let's put it to a test now!" form. I would really recommend this exercise as it's fun but obviously you shouldn't do it for long periods of time because as pretty much any exercise "the horse's head can get exhausted" (my old trainer used to say this to younger riders) Now on how to exactly do this; the gap between the poles should be like you horses normal trot poles, you should try to stay in the middle and turn in a way so you don't need to 'wiggle' to get to the middle (i hope that makes some sense), the gait that doesn't get messy is walk. I mean you can technically do it in trot but even the walk often sloes down a lot to turn tightly sooo...

Here’s my newest polework exercise for the week, this is going to help me practice bends, striding while not putting too much pressure on getting it perfect, lots of room for “error” Swipe left for a video demo and course walk!

A great exercise if you only have four poles!

Turn on the forehand!! This movement teaches the rider the use and effect of the forward and sideways driving aids. As he turns his hindquarter around the forehand in walk steps, it improves coordination and brings about suppleness. Turn on the forehand teaches the elementary coordination of the aids essential to the development of the rider. The turn on the forehand prepares the horse and rider for leg-yielding! It’s one of very favorite exercises for my young horse setting her up for success!

🌱Relaxing a horse on the lunge line ⚫️One of my favorite exercises to help relax a horse on the lunge line is to decrease and increase the size of the circle. ⚪️It's most effective to do this at the trot. Gradually ask the horse to decrease the circle, maintain the smaller circle for a few horse lengths, and then ask for the circle to be increased. You can repeat this a couple of times on both reins.

Yesterday was our first day doing Dressage in hand!! I think it can be quite beneficial for both the horse and the rider and was quite surprised with how it went. Can't wait to give it another go!

On Saturday I tried to introduce my girl to poles to muscle the back so first I started with groundpoles and then I elevated a bit with one tire. The day went really good!! I pass 8 times in each way with trot also. You can see a summary on the video.

🔥Energizing the horse ⚫️I think it happens with every horse that they tend to "shuffle" at times.To achieve energizing, I brought an exercise. ♦️You can do this exercise during any dressage pattern, but I think it’s most advantageous on a large circle or by alternating patterns. ⚪️The exercise: frequent tempo changes, transitions every few steps. 〰️For example, after 2-3 strides of trot, transition to walk, 2-3 strides of walk, then back to trot. Repeat this during any dressage patterns until you feel a difference in the horse's energy. 🫧You can also use trot-walk or canter-trot transitions.