HHO virtual clinic week 6

Wheels

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I saw this a while ago on horsequesthub - 8 poles, 10 exercises. Some of them are pretty difficult, some not so much and most don't involve going over the poles, only through and around.

https://www.horsequesthub.co.uk/post/8-poles-10-exercises

There is something for everyone here and some of them suit ridden, lunging and in hand so those that aren't riding can have a play.

I will start with numbers 4 and 6
 
Looks really interesting, I’m just waiting for my new poles to arrive (only have three just now) but sure that I can adapt some of these :-)
 
Due to time constraints I'm not going to be getting the poles out but will definitely be having a bash with number 10 with Kira without them ;) Just trying to wedge the sequence into my head before I head to the yard. I think it will help her piris. I've been doing something like exercise 1 & 2 with Darcy anyway so we will add in some 10m circles from number 5 :)
 
As I already had the playing with strides in mind I pinched that for some of my lessons this morning, and I'll have a look for some with supercob later in the week
 
Due to time constraints I'm not going to be getting the poles out but will definitely be having a bash with number 10 with Kira without them ;) Just trying to wedge the sequence into my head before I head to the yard. I think it will help her piris. I've been doing something like exercise 1 & 2 with Darcy anyway so we will add in some 10m circles from number 5 :)

Good idea, I dont think you necessarily need the poles, they are good markers but you should be able to follow the floor plans even with poles
 
Went through some of the exercises with both horses yesterday, Topaz is a bit unfit really so we didn't do much. Skylla however, worked very hard for me! We worked through one and three in walk. Moved on to five, then six and finally four in trot, four is the video below:


She's not as quiet in the contact as I'd like yet, but this was fab for woahing her and getting her to concentrate. I think now she knows the pattern I'll be able to put more leg on to push the hind legs under more without hysterics.

Canter was interesting, we started with one, tried six but she got super daft so we did five but around the outside of the poles to help her and then attempted four!


It's at the limit of what she can do I think, but she did try so hard. You can see the start she wants to break or throw her legs about (I made the line in less leg yield more half-pass'y to help her maintain her bend), but she did settle and I think her canter at the end becomes calmer. Back to one for a stretch (anyone else with a horse with a very high head carriage will know that this is so hard for them).


And just because I'm pleased our square halt bootcamp is paying off :p.

 
well I attempted to do 10 with Kira but the weather was just too wild and she was very anxious so we gave up :p
I did it in walk first which was excellent for walk piris in between the enormous spooks, and in canter we attempted to do the sequence in a row up the safe edge of the school so I can see it will definitely be helpful on a day when the trees and hedge aren't full of scary windy monsters! :p

Have a new bit for Darcy to try so we will see how that goes before committing too much I think. Very blustery again today :(
 
I did 4 in walk and trot with captain carrot today. Don't have enough poles so didn't put them out but as a floorplan it actually made quite a nice exercise for a moderately green horse. I felt like it sharpened up her leg yields without losing the connection. It seemed constructive anyway.
 
Not keeping up at all here - particularly as the bit of field I have taped off for working in now has a huge pile of muck which we need to spread on the rest of the fields. Never mind - I can do the earlier exercises when we are out and about and my mare is only 4 so no hurry. :) :) Keeping on with some simple in-hand stuff too.
 
Had a bash at the walk trot walk trot square last night. In addition to riding with my Franklin balls, I also threw in 1/4 turn on the forehand as something we've worked on before in lessons as a way to stop him curling up and get the hind legs engaged.
May have been too much for my brain in a small space tbh :p
Our poles are in the field (being jumps in fact) so I just used the fact that I'm working in basically a square anyway, however, the pole approaching i think would make you prepare better for the transitions. I found I was running out of space to establish a good trot very quickly, although it did improve my transitions and make them sharper.
I'll admit as well I likely dont ride my trot as forward as I could when I'm focusing on keeping my balls in place.
I did however find the canter was much better following all this, more balanced, a bit more on the hind leg and better transitions- less motorbike than last week already
 
Had a bash at the walk trot walk trot square last night. In addition to riding with my Franklin balls, I also threw in 1/4 turn on the forehand as something we've worked on before in lessons as a way to stop him curling up and get the hind legs engaged.
May have been too much for my brain in a small space tbh :p
Our poles are in the field (being jumps in fact) so I just used the fact that I'm working in basically a square anyway, however, the pole approaching i think would make you prepare better for the transitions. I found I was running out of space to establish a good trot very quickly, although it did improve my transitions and make them sharper.
I'll admit as well I likely dont ride my trot as forward as I could when I'm focusing on keeping my balls in place.
I did however find the canter was much better following all this, more balanced, a bit more on the hind leg and better transitions- less motorbike than last week already

How do you find the franklin balls Roxy? I've been dying to give them a go!
 
How do you find the franklin balls Roxy? I've been dying to give them a go!
I had a little lesson with them at camp in feb and was really impressed. So I bought a peanut and s pair of orange ones, makes me super aware of my straightness (or lack), sitting on the peanut really worked my core last night and I feel I sit much deeper afterwards. The orange ones stretch my hip flexors and are like doing a load of no stirrup work.
I really rate them but I'd suggest a lesson first. Once things settle I'm going to see if I can find an instructor locally for them
 
Well this week was a bit of a damp squib really. I tried the circles and piris in walk first which was difficult because she was very tight and still holding her breath from her Big Fright earlier where noisy walkers were hiding behind the hedge trying to get the horses the other side to come over to them. She really lost the plot about that and has been really difficult since, especially because that was followed by some really windy days. So i was not able to jazz the walk up at all and she minced round feeling anxious :(


In canter it was not the success I had hoped for. I think with a buzzy horse it would give you more control if they tried to take over etc especially with the alternating between LY and HP but actually it encouraged kira to just get slow and become more laboured. I have to really focus on getting quickness behind for canter piris so it was a bit counterproductive. Oh well! Maybe the next horse I have to do piris on will find it useful.

 
I had a little lesson with them at camp in feb and was really impressed. So I bought a peanut and s pair of orange ones, makes me super aware of my straightness (or lack), sitting on the peanut really worked my core last night and I feel I sit much deeper afterwards. The orange ones stretch my hip flexors and are like doing a load of no stirrup work.
I really rate them but I'd suggest a lesson first. Once things settle I'm going to see if I can find an instructor locally for them

There is a lady who isn't too far from me I think who does lessons / clinics with them, so once life has returned to some semblance of normality I'll give them a go.
 
There is a lady who isn't too far from me I think who does lessons / clinics with them, so once life has returned to some semblance of normality I'll give them a go.
yeah I had found someone doing monthly clinics before the world went crazy and was thinking about taking Kira for some sessions.

I think oldie48 has done some work using them too but I might have made that up :p
 
Ideally I'd like to use the lady who did the camp lesson but shes about an hour away and I dint know if she'd travel, although I might be able to arrange a clinic perhaps. Shes not working yet anyway but I'm keen to do more with them for sure. They're very effective
 
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