Exercises please in 30x40 arena :)

[HorsesandParrots]

Hiya.. i've never had an arena before so done all my schooling on grass. However, i've just moved to where there is a lovely 30x40 arena with poles etc to use.
I was wondering if you could give me some good exercises? My 2 mares do dressage and jumping. One can sometimes rush towards fences.
Thanks!

 

[BlueThePiebald]

i learned an exercise over in England when i was riding on holidays, it's fairly easy and it encourages responsiveness to the aids!
So, what you do is, when you are trotting/cantering down the long side of the arena, ask for extension in the stride. Once you come up to the short side of the arena, ask for shortened, collected strides. This is good as a warm-up exercise!
You could also cavaletti work, such as bounces, grids etc... if you don't have cavaletti, use jump poles and wings and start with low jumps build up.


Now, here is an essay answer about rushing!
Horses only rush when they feel that the rider is going to interfere with the speed coming up to the jump (i.e. slowing them down), so they speed up because they don't want to listen to the aid. What you want to do is just sit quietly in the saddle, start with a single pole on the ground and work your way up. Start at the trot, trot over it a few times and do not ask the horse to slow down or speed up, just let them come in at their own pace. Anytime the horse manages to go over the pole without out pretending they're in a formula one race, give them lots of praise. Continue doing this and gradually start cantering, doing the same thing. Gradually start to build up the jumps, making them higher when you feel that the horse is ready. Or you could check out this video, it explains how to prevent rushing. My method and their method are different, but try either and see which ever one works the best!
video:https://youtu.be/lbMqGfcYpnM

 

[Red-1]

A lovely size arena. I taught in on for nearly 20 years.

One of my favourite exercises was to set up a 2 stride double on the centre line, then one of the jumps has a jump each side angled as though it was on the diagonal.

That way you could do a double up the middle, change rein each way on the diagonal as a warm up. Than it would get fun as you could jump the double with the fence with no attached fences first, then you can decide to go straight, to go left or to go right. Horses would have to wait to see where they were going, so did not rush.

I could also fit a full 7 fence course in, could do 5 bounce fences easily, a one stride treble combination or a grid with a mixture of bounces and strides.

You can also set up 2 fences so they are on a straight line from A or C to nearly at B or E. The fences could be jumped singularly, or you can do a dog leg over to the fence at E/B and back. Really good for steering and balance.

For flat work one of the most valuable exercises is actually to make the arena 20 X 40, with poles at each side 5m off the track. It helps you balance them as you can't rely on the fence. It also prepares them for dressage boards.

 

[ohmissbrittany]

Here is something I keep as my "in case of boredom in the winter" guidebook. You can do these with poles on the ground or actual jumps, and they all work a little something different.

Since the image isn't working, try the link:
http://imgur.com/OIkq1mI

 

[britisheventer]

Sounds silly, but works! When I have done every exercise I could think of, I get that bored I spell my name out in the arena! Maybe it's just me, but gets them thinking and off your leg, great for turning as well. So say if your name was "Amy" you would go from M to A to H ride up to X and halt, etc.. it's fun!