HOW DO YOU SCHOOL YOUR HORSE?

M

MadJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 August 2001
Messages
201
Visit site
I know alot depends on your chosen discipline and what your horse is like, but I was just curious to know what work people do with their horses to get results. I just find it interesting cause I reckon you can pick up little things by what other people do, maybe that haven't occured to you. I have my own yard now so don't get to watch other peoples lessons which I used to find fascinating.
I have 3 currently in work.
1, does bsja, I do alot of work on her canter and responses to keep her alert. Sometimes a bit of gymnastic jumping but she's quite athletic anyway.
2, working towards doing bsja and bd. do alot of stretching to begin each session, only short bouts of 'up' work with lots of rests between to keep relaxed.
3, ex racer working towards BE, mainly getting him to stretch in to the contact and accept the bit cos at the moment he has a tendancy to shorten his neck too much.
I try to only 'work' them all for max 30 mins then go off for a hack to chill out. Just curious what other people do.
 
I dont do enough schooling so will look a the responses with interest! Think that's the result of having an out and out schoolmaster but I do try to have lots of lessons and don't jump much at home.
 
I usually start off really long in walk trot and canter to let him loosen up and then begin to collect him once he is moving forward properly if you know what I mean. Lots of circles and changes of reins, leg yielding etc. Don't usually jump at home, and I don't always canter when I'm schooling. Just working on getting him more supple and using himself properly.
 
Similar to above, but lots and lots of transitions. Read somewhere that Carl Hester was quoted as saying you need to do minimum 100 - which is more than most of us would do in 30 mins I am sure - tried it and he is right.. makes a hell of a difference :-)
 
I scchool my Welsh cob for dressage, so we do lots of work to lighten the forehand, I'm with Carl Hester... transitions are AMAZING, we do loads, direct and progressive, which really helps lighten the forehand and shift the weight to his larger bum!

Also he has a tendency to lock his neck when you initially start lateral work, so we do lots of circles asking for flexion, really exaggerated at first.

In canter he can fall onto forehand so we stay on 20m circle, graduating down to 10m to achieve uphill canter, then going large asking for shoulder-fore to keep steady

Tons of other exercises, but thats ll I can be bothered to type at the mo!
 
Schooling is not ALL about dressage, etc, IMO it is also mainly for conditioning and exercising the horses muscles to enable them to be supple and to be able to do their job with ease.

I school my horse everytime i ride (this includes whilst hacking so 5-6 times a week).

But a typical ridden schooling session for me would involve a good 10-15 minute warm up - very long and low stretching - and then I ask him to come up into an outline and work for about 20-30mins, doing anything like leg yield, shoulder in, quarters in, and lots and lots of transitions. Followed by a good 10 minute cool down with lots of stretching. i then untack and always do his carrot stretches too!
I try and vary his sessions as much as poss so he doesnt begin to guess what i'm going to ask him next and most importantly I don't bore him! or me for that matter! lol
smile.gif
 
Hi, I agree with the transitions, I do lots of them, they help a lot. I have 2 horses who I compete BSJA, and I ride them both most days, 5-6 days a week, with hacking too.
When I work them in the manege, they each get anything from 30-45 mins unless its a lesson then it is 1hour.
I work them both generally the same, starting with about 10 mins in walk doing long and low, not a loose rein, but their withers are up etc. and I incorporate some leg yield and shoulder in and large figures of 8 to loosen up with some bending and flexing. Then onto trot, do some shoulder in as this is brilliant for getting them on the aids etc, and circles. Then go through different exercises, eg, serpentines, small circles, flexing, pirouettes on a square or triangle etc, lengthening and shortening, with lots of halts and transitions. Also do these in canter work too.
Sometimes, quite often really, I put a pole on the ground and work over this in walk, trot and canter, keeping a rhythm etc.
I tend to work on the things that we have done in our lesson, but I dont really do any jumping at home apart from over x-poles in the school or the odd time over the jumps in the jump field. I should do more grids really.
Anyway, thats pretty much what we do. I try to do a bit of everything but if something is sticky, then I will work on this for a longer time, but if something is working well, then I move onto something else. Our main aim at the moment is keeping both girls light in front with active hind legs etc and working into the contact. They are both quite nosey and it takes a while to keep their concentration, just like kids really.
I hope I have answered your question, its a shame there arent many replies as its an interesting one.
 
I 'm one of those awful people that do showing, but I don't spend hours and hours just going round in circles. My show cob gets very bored very quickly, so lots of variation.

We start with trotting and cantering on a long rein round the outside of the field to loosen her up, then start 'work'. Lots of transitions esp. trot - walk a few strides - trot, walk - canter, turn on the forehand to canter. She thinks this is very exciting and does lots of bouncing and squeaking.
Shoulder in and leg yielding helps to supple her up.
We intersperse flatwork with work over raised poles in trot or a grid in canter (to keep her tummy toned!)

We only school once a week - the rest of the time we hack out or jump or lunge, otherwise she gets a bit stale.
 
we have tried lots of different approaches to schooling, and try to do a bit every day no matter what we're actually doing, hacking, a jumping or dressage lesson or just boring old flatwork in the school. I've tried a really firm no nonsense approach, a really calm patient approach, and everything in between, with lots of transitions, and every time he will ignore/evade/refuse to move etc until you are at the point of getting off and abandoning the little ****, crying, killing him, threatening to turn him into sausage meat or something along those lines, and only once he has achieved that despair will he actually start to work and listen
mad.gif
crazy.gif
sometimes this may take 15 minutes, sometimes an hour, but I make sure we end positively, I'm happy if we get 10 minutes of good work out of him in the end!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top