How do you plan your schooling sessions?

dominobrown

dominobrown

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Its may be that I am sick of January, cold, rain and darkness, but I have lost motivation.

How do you plan your individual schoolings sessions?
How do you plan training for events, goals and targets etc?
Thanks
 
Not really as I'm not currently competing (dressage only when I do!), but when I have something booked I tend to look at the tests and pick bits to work on in particular sessions. I try and run through the whole thing once or twice towards the end and pick the next bits that need work for the following session.

At the moment I try and vary the focus of each schooling session. If I've done a lot of lateral work one day I'll concentrate on something else the next. Throw in a poles or jump session every so often to keep him interested.

I do have goals/targets but they are all very little ones - one of them being book some competitions!
 
I set up a playlist on my iPhone for flatwork sessions and put it on the side of the school! Steady tunes to warm up/cool down and stuff with the same tempo as his trot and canter work for the middle half an hour or so... Means I look for a steady rythym and concentrate on my transitions within the paces.

Perhaps not standard, but I like it!
 
I like the idea of music - how do you choose/set up the play list? Is it specific to you or a general set of music that changes in tempo? Not explained very well, but like the idea ever since daughter (10) did a one off christmas dressage to music and during a later class "her" music came on and the little mare changed her walk to fit....think it may be a good schooling tool for them x
 
I like the way Carl Hester plans his sessions (he schools his horses 4 times per week, and they hack out twice per week) - one day to learn, second day for it to sink in and be re-affirmed, third day rest/hack then repeat (so something new again on the 4th day, re-affirm 5th day, rest/hacking for the rest of the time).

It all depends what you are working towards to be honest - for me its dressage and we are only at Prelim so our sessions involve lots of transitions, getting her soft and fluid in self carriage, pole work to mix things up a bit occasionally, lateral work (lots of leg yield and introducing shoulder in), soon if she starts to behave herself I'll introduce medium strides. So maybe a typical week for me would be transitions/basics Tues & Weds, lateral work Thurs, hack Fri (not with me - with head girl at yard) then more lateral work & pole work on Sat with another hack on Sunday. Mondays off.

If I've got a competition coming up I'll start to run through the movements in the test/s individually (not running through as a whole otherwise horse begins to anticipate). So if I know there is a canter transition over X on a circle for example, I'll work on this quite a lot until I'm happy in that session. Then next day will throw in a few transitions over X at random times just to check that she has learnt it and has no problems with it.

But if you are a showjumper or eventer for example you'll want to look at different things - for eventing this time of year fittening is important so more hacking/hill work will be more important. Equally if you are SJ then grids and polework will be more important - but there are still plenty of things to do on the flat to help your jumping, this can be altering the stride of the horse so that's a transition within a pace, asking to lengthen (i.e. medium strides) then bringing the stride back and shortening a bit to collect the horse. Flying changes for SJ if your horse is capable....the list goes on.

So have a think about what you want to achieve this year (any goals you have, can be competition related or not) and think about what you need to do to achieve these goals. Book in regular lessons to help keep you motivated, when you get homework from your trainer it helps to keep you working towards something. Keep it varied as well, make sure you mix up your schooling with other work so you and your horse dont get bored.
 
I had this conversation with my YO yesterday as I did some UA eventing last year (though she'd told me to do BE) and plan/hope to do BE90 this year. So I know it's only small stuff but I want to feel prepared and know events will be a positive experience.

YO schools my horse once a week, on a Mon, and I really need to get my a$$ in gear to school on the Tues then either day off or hack on a Weds (our hacking can be v hilly if you do the right routes, so that is useful). Thurs needs to be schooling and then another hack Fri. That said, I need to start jumping once a week now so Fri could/should be a jump/ grid/ pole session. Saturday is usually lesson day (flat or jump) followed by a hack to cool down, then hacking on Sun.

Schooling session content tends to depend on what mood horse comes out in. I usually know what I want to work on and will always get to it, but how I get there does depend on how sharp/ over excitable he is being.

I need to crack on a bit really as I'd like to do Stafford BE80 on a ticket, which I think is in March, so need to get out and do a couple of DR tests and SJ rounds. I had planned to spend the entire winter doing that but have barely ridden thanks to a bad back and apparently catching every virus and cold going :/ There are a couple of local places which hire out their arenas with full course of SJs up, so am going to hire one of those once or twice too. Need to get some XC schooling in a couple of times too. When I look at it in B&W, I suddenly realise I have an awful lot to do and not much time...!!
 
I am aiming for Novice/ 1* this summer. On the flat he can get on his forehand, so I am aiming to get him to sit more and be a lot lighter in front. He also has a tendency to get very short in the neck and forge. He has grown significantly and he really struggles with his balance. I also want to get the leg yielding/ rein back and mediums more established for tests.
I work stupid hours, and apart from 2 days a week I only see my horses in the dark! So I limited with the amount of roadwork etc I can do. Jumping wise I want to get more adjustability and a better canter to help with jumping bigger tracks.

My other horse is a very stressy ex racer. She needs to learn to slow down and relax and take the contact forward as she backs off it significantly. Also she is quite one sided and I need to work on getting her straighter, and taking up an equal contact down both reins and bending both ways equally. She also needs to starts jumping in a calm and controlled manner!
 
Last edited:
dominobrown said:
I am aiming for Novice/ 1* this summer. On the flat he can get on his forehand, so I am aiming to get him to sit more and be a lot lighter in front. He also has a tendency to get very short in the neck and forge. He has grown significantly and he really struggles with his balance. I also want to get the leg yielding/ rein back and mediums more established for tests.
I work stupid hours, and apart from 2 days a week I only see my horses in the dark! So I limited with the amount of roadwork etc I can do. Jumping wise I want to get more adjustability and a better canter to help with jumping bigger tracks.

My other horse is a very stressy ex racer. She needs to learn to slow down and relax and take the contact forward as she backs off it significantly. Also she is quite one sided and I need to work on getting her straighter, and taking up an equal contact down both reins and bending both ways equally. She also needs to starts jumping in a calm and controlled manner!
Click to expand...

I only see my pony in the dark apart from weekends but am lucky enough to have a yard where there is a nice big floodlit outdoor for me to ride - no excuses for me!

It sounds like you know the issues you have with your two horses so if I were you I'd work out how often per week you can ride them (and how often they need) - for example my mare needs riding 6 days per week otherwise she becomes a nightmare but if yours are not so high maintenance then perhaps you can get away with doing a bit less in the week and leaving the intensive stuff for the weekend. Weekends should be for hacking/hill work/fittening if you are an eventer (hacking in the dark is not the best idea!) but you can work on schooling movements whilst out on a hack - leg yield for example is very easy to do when you are out hacking. Mediums as well are easily do-able on a hack, in trot you can collect the trot then push on for a lengthened stride.

So maybe hacking both days at the weekend, with one hack full of schooling movements and then the 2nd hack a relaxing one where you dont worry so much about where his neck is or trying to improve flatwork moves. Then ride when you can during the week depending on work and your facilities - with the Novice/1* horse getting him off the forehand will be your biggest priority. So LOADS of transitions (I mean literally hundreds), and more direct transitions will help (like walk to canter or trot to halt where he will really have to sit back and use his backside). Cavalletti and raised poles will get him using his back end more as well, also try leg yield spiraling in and out of circles (going from big to small circle, then back out again using leg yield).

If he gets short in the neck then make sure you balance your work in an outline with long and low, lots of stretchy walk/trot/canter as a reward for good work. This thread has lots of good ideas for improving the canter for jumping and getting a horse off the forehand:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...-Tips-for-getting-a-better-canter-for-jumping

Other horse - do you hack her out much? I have a stressy, spooky mare who used to rush everywhere and only once I'd started hacking her out regularly (me twice at the weekends then head girl at the yard once or twice a week) she really learnt to relax. We also found that she had some issues in her neck and poll that the physio had to sort out, as soon as the physio treatment was done I found she was 100% better at working long and low, and overall felt much more relaxed. So if you are struggling to get her to relax and stretch down then perhaps look at getting the physio out to see if there are any neck issues that might be affecting her.

In terms of straightness that is a hard thing to correct in a crooked horse - a trainer is best placed to advise on exercises for that. Do you have lessons with your 2 horses? Getting her to calm down over jumps will take a while but generally the more she does it the more routine and less exciting it will become. So you can start with just placing poles at random locations all over the school, and she will have to walk/trot/canter over them as if they were not there. Then once she is calm and doesnt bat an eyelid at cantering over the poles, put a couple of tiny cross poles at random locations and again carry on with a schooling session but occasionally popping over the cross poles, then carry on schooling again. Make it boring for her, if she sees a full course of jumps its going to be exciting so start small with poles and work up to little cross poles and carry on as normal around them so she learns jumps dont equal excitement every time!

So if I were you I'd do the following (obviously you change depending on work and your facililties):

Novice/1* horse - 2x hacks at weekend with 1 hack working on leg yield and lengthening stides (i.e. transitions within the paces). 2-3x schooling sessions during the week. 1 x transitions session (LOADS of them!). 1 x cavalletti and pole work session. 1 x jumping session (interchangeable for another flatwork/lateral work session if the flatwork was particularly bad that week)

Stressy mare - 2 x hacks at the weekend working on relaxing, stretching neck down and generally being calm! 1 extra hack during the week if you can fit it in. 2-3 schooling sessions during the week (2 if you fit a hack in), 1 x working on stretching and long and low in all 3 paces. 1 x lateral work and suppling exercises to help with bend and straightness.
 
We do dressage, competing elementary and schooling medium and learning flying changes.

I plan my week so that he is never doing the same sort of work 2 days in a row. I will generally do a stretching/suppling day, followed by a harder day where I ask for more collection, then a rest day - on a rest day he will go on the horsewalker. In winter he hacks once a week on the weekend, then the other day might be a lesson or a show. In summer I will be able to hack during the week too, in which case I am more likely to mix up the routine and replace a rest day with a hack for example.

What I am trying to do though is to plan my actual sessions better and be more targeted in what we do in them. I am specific though that in the school he does 5 mins walk on a loose rein, followed by 5 mins walk on a contact, followed by 20 mins stretching in trot and canter, then if appropriate more collected work. Then we walk for 10 mins at the end.
 
kc100 said:
I only see my pony in the dark apart from weekends but am lucky enough to have a yard where there is a nice big floodlit outdoor for me to ride - no excuses for me!

It sounds like you know the issues you have with your two horses so if I were you I'd work out how often per week you can ride them (and how often they need) - for example my mare needs riding 6 days per week otherwise she becomes a nightmare but if yours are not so high maintenance then perhaps you can get away with doing a bit less in the week and leaving the intensive stuff for the weekend. Weekends should be for hacking/hill work/fittening if you are an eventer (hacking in the dark is not the best idea!) but you can work on schooling movements whilst out on a hack - leg yield for example is very easy to do when you are out hacking. Mediums as well are easily do-able on a hack, in trot you can collect the trot then push on for a lengthened stride.

So maybe hacking both days at the weekend, with one hack full of schooling movements and then the 2nd hack a relaxing one where you dont worry so much about where his neck is or trying to improve flatwork moves. Then ride when you can during the week depending on work and your facilities - with the Novice/1* horse getting him off the forehand will be your biggest priority. So LOADS of transitions (I mean literally hundreds), and more direct transitions will help (like walk to canter or trot to halt where he will really have to sit back and use his backside). Cavalletti and raised poles will get him using his back end more as well, also try leg yield spiraling in and out of circles (going from big to small circle, then back out again using leg yield).

If he gets short in the neck then make sure you balance your work in an outline with long and low, lots of stretchy walk/trot/canter as a reward for good work. This thread has lots of good ideas for improving the canter for jumping and getting a horse off the forehand:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...-Tips-for-getting-a-better-canter-for-jumping

Other horse - do you hack her out much? I have a stressy, spooky mare who used to rush everywhere and only once I'd started hacking her out regularly (me twice at the weekends then head girl at the yard once or twice a week) she really learnt to relax. We also found that she had some issues in her neck and poll that the physio had to sort out, as soon as the physio treatment was done I found she was 100% better at working long and low, and overall felt much more relaxed. So if you are struggling to get her to relax and stretch down then perhaps look at getting the physio out to see if there are any neck issues that might be affecting her.

In terms of straightness that is a hard thing to correct in a crooked horse - a trainer is best placed to advise on exercises for that. Do you have lessons with your 2 horses? Getting her to calm down over jumps will take a while but generally the more she does it the more routine and less exciting it will become. So you can start with just placing poles at random locations all over the school, and she will have to walk/trot/canter over them as if they were not there. Then once she is calm and doesnt bat an eyelid at cantering over the poles, put a couple of tiny cross poles at random locations and again carry on with a schooling session but occasionally popping over the cross poles, then carry on schooling again. Make it boring for her, if she sees a full course of jumps its going to be exciting so start small with poles and work up to little cross poles and carry on as normal around them so she learns jumps dont equal excitement every time!

So if I were you I'd do the following (obviously you change depending on work and your facililties):

Novice/1* horse - 2x hacks at weekend with 1 hack working on leg yield and lengthening stides (i.e. transitions within the paces). 2-3x schooling sessions during the week. 1 x transitions session (LOADS of them!). 1 x cavalletti and pole work session. 1 x jumping session (interchangeable for another flatwork/lateral work session if the flatwork was particularly bad that week)

Stressy mare - 2 x hacks at the weekend working on relaxing, stretching neck down and generally being calm! 1 extra hack during the week if you can fit it in. 2-3 schooling sessions during the week (2 if you fit a hack in), 1 x working on stretching and long and low in all 3 paces. 1 x lateral work and suppling exercises to help with bend and straightness.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's really helpful!
There is a small indoor (about 15 X30m) and a nice big floodlit outdoor so I can school when dark. The event horse got very regular physio and the stress mare I have only had a month, and she hadn't done much other than race, obviously ridden by someone with awful hands! Physio is out on Wednesday so it will be handy what she says.
Thanks :)
 
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