It’s June! Can you believe it?! I’m not sure I can really wrap my head around how quickly this year is going. There is so much to do when you have sunlight until 9pm! If you are anything like me you’ve been managing to ride a bit more this past few weeks and your horse is starting to shape up a bit. I know when I’m trying to fit up my horses I tend to focus on “macro riding” such as trotting laps around the field and on the hills. And that’s where the inspiration for this monthly challenge begins…
For additional information on using hills for building your horse’s fitness see the March Monthly Challenge.
Hattie and I were riding and had completed our laps. She was sufficiently exercised but I just wasn’t quite ready to dismount. There was a chance of a storm later and I decided to try closing the roundpen gate so it wasn’t swinging in the wind. Hattie will happily walk up next to a gate, stop and allow you to open it, then walk through. But closing a gate takes a bit more cooperation from your mount. It’s sufficient to say that I was lacking the necessary cooperation from her on this particular day. We got the gate closed but it was a full 15 minute conversation. I have continued to break this task down into smaller pieces since and we are getting better. She still doesn’t want to sidepass into the gate to push it shut but no worries, we will get there.
The point is that Hattie reminded me to switch gears a little and start adding back some “micro riding”. That is picking a task that requires step-by-step control and communication and master that skill. I do not recommend starting out by trying to close gates unless you and your horse already understand sidepassing pretty well. But I do have another idea which anyone on any horse can get started on… ground pole mazes. I love setting up mazes for my training horses and students because it increases body awareness for both horse and rider.
First set up the poles as seen in the picture. I like to place my pairs of poles about 4 feet apart from each other. The intended task is to walk in one side of the maze and stay between the poles as you sort of “wiggle” your horse through the maze. Sounds simple enough, right?
Trouble Shooting (from the most basic level of riding/horse training up):
- The horse is not confident about the poles close to him on either side. Solution: give this horse some time to get confident. Forget about the turns and just ride at a walk between the pairs of poles at random. Loop around in various different ways to keep putting him back between the poles until he is calm and walking through confidently.
- The horse blows through the turns completely. Solution: slow things down for this horse. Ride between one pair of poles and halt between them. Wait 3 or 4 seconds, then walk straight out without turning. Repeat 2 or 3 times until your horse expects to stop. Then increase the task by halting as before, then ask your horse to walk on and do the turn. Once that has been successful a few times increase the task further by riding through a turn without halting. Once your horse can handle single turns in both directions try to the whole maze as intended.
- Horse gets the first turn, but struggles with the second turn. Solution: work on making sure he is confident and understands one turn at a time, turning both directions. If he still struggles when you add the second turn then try halting between the second pair of poles, pause for 3 or 4 seconds, then continue into the second turn.
Some key riding pointers for success:
Make sure you use your legs to help your horse position his body for each turn. For example, if you intend to make a left turn, use pressure with your left leg to help him swing his belly out of the way of the turn a few steps ahead of time. If your horse swings too wide in the turn, then use your right leg to catch him and push him back between the poles.
The use of your reins can also hinder success. Be careful not to pull back towards your body for steering because this will prevent the horse from being able to step his front legs out and to the side for these types of turns. You will likely need good contact through your reins, not loopy reins. But your hand should be steering in more of an opening motion, slightly away from the horse’s neck.
One final note for successful riding is to be sure you are sitting well. Your horse shouldn’t have to guess where you will be next to stay balanced. Sitting tall and straight, and “on your back pants pockets” will make all the difference to your horse because you will be centered and out of his way to maneuver.
Finally, the fun part – advancement options!
It is so easy to dream up entire obstacle courses with a simple pole pattern like this. Some additional elements you could add with practice would be:
- trotting between single pairs of poles (not the whole whole pattern)
- riding over pairs of poles
- halting between poles and backing straight out
- sidepassing over a single pole (fairly advanced level riding)
- sidepassing over through the one pole of each pair in a zig zag pattern (for the finished horse only)
- backing through one turn or even the whole pattern (for the finished horse only)
By designating a sequence of such tasks, you can practice pole work, transitions, halts, backs and lateral work all in one ride. The possibilities are endless! As with any challenge though, be sure to make your expectations achievable for you and your horse. Sprinkle some of this into your rides and make it sort of a puzzle for your horse. If you ever get frustrated, recognize that your horse was there long before you were and just go do something else. You can always come back in 10 minutes or tomorrow to try again.
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