Le Trec help please (training)

Rowreach

Rowreach

Adjusting my sails
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Having agreed to fill in to teach for a riding club I don't normally teach for, they have now informed me that they want a Le Trec lesson on Wednesday night:rolleyes:

I have done a Google search and have come up with a list of "obstacles" or whatever you call them that I can do in a (very large) arena, but if anyone has any great ideas for how to make a 3 hour training session fun and informative when I haven't got a clue what I am doing, or links to any websites that explain clearly (preferably with pictures and diagrams:D) what it's all about, I would be eternally grateful:)

I am assuming I can include a fair amount of flatwork anyway (control of gait/turns on the forehand/rein back etc) and maybe they won't notice that I don't have a clue:confused:;)

Or I could give them my usual xc technique training and they'll be so blown away they will forget all about Le Trec ...:D
 
Wellll, I've never done Le Trec but did go along to a mini one they did locally to watch. The "obstacles" are stuff like going down a line of bending poles, you get more points the faster you go, so if you can do it at canter then you get more points. There was stuff like having to mount on the offside (aaarrrrgggh!; and a sort of box thing on the floor where you had to go in and then manoevre your horse around it, so it would need to be able to yield from the leg; then there was a little jump (easy); then this horrendous see-saw ramp thing where the horse steps on it and the whole thing moves!!!! I only saw one horse do that and she'd done TREC before. Then there was a thing with something like an electric fencing "gate" where you had to go through it mounted - again, only one did it, the rest spooked. Oh there were others, but I can't remember them all.

Basically its a reincarnation of the good old handy pony comp we used to do at gymkhanas; some of looks easy, but isn't, and basically your horse would need to be able to go forward from the leg and also be able to deal with spooky stuff, but most things you'd probably encounter hacking at some stage, or stuff like it.

Then there was a ride over open ground & everyone was shown the map and you had to copy down your route from the master-copy. I was spectating so didn't do it (but knew the area well anyway), and I thought this was fairly challenging as they doubled back a few times and if you didn't know the lie of the land you'd struggle unless you could read a map and the geography well.

Apparently you can do TREC in pairs, so that would be much easier for a first-timer.

It looked fun, but I've a feeling my boy might have jibbed at the some of the obstacles, but you can I think pick and choose which obstacles you do and which you leave out.

Perhaps we shall have a go at some stage.
 
You could lay out poles in an 's' shaped for them to negotiate through

You can make a square/circle for them to get the horse to stand in whilst the rider exits the square/circle. The horse needs to stand still whilst the rider is outside the circle.

You can practice gate/opening shutting

If you have some feed bags/tarpaulin you could put that under the the poles and get them to walk over it.

Lay out a corridoor of poles to practice control of paces - this is quite hard with cantering slowly without breaking to trot whilst in the corridoor.

Just think handy pony and you will be on the right track for trec training!
 
I have judged three obstacles on a Le Trec - the up incline, the down incline, and my special favourite, the dismount and mount.
Of the three, I found the down incline most hazardous, and was grateful for the trees to stand behind. The mount and dismount was...er...eventful. :D
To get to the point though, I found that no one knew what they were doing (or even what they were meant to be doing - including the competitors, the judges, and even the Committee. So blag with utter confidence and no one will know.
S :D
 
I held a fun one last week for my birthday to raise funds for the local indoor school. We had fast walk, slow canter, beinding poles, a bridge, posting a letter, rein back, low branches and a small jump, all mounted. From the ground loose tying, leading over 'water' a carpet and mounting from the wrong side using a mounting block.

It was great fun and everyone enjoyed it and wants us to run another
 
Shilasdair said:
So blag with utter confidence and no one will know.
S :D
Click to expand...

Ah yes, this is my particular strength thank goodness:D

Thank you everyone, this has given me some good ideas - most of them can't even mount from the correct side so I will have some fun there:D

I knew I could count on you all to help me out in a crisis;)
 
I do quite a bit of TREC, and mostly work on general obedience and agility/ suppleness in between competitions. The thing I work on most is getting a really obedient canter, because you get the most points for doing a lot of the obstacles (bending, low branches and ridden corridor etc) in canter, as well as the control of paces phase of slow canter and fast walk. So lots of work on changing within the pace from collected to extended canter is helpful if you can't make many obstacles on the night. The thing people always seem to do badly in is the rein back, because the horse doesn't reverse in a straight line and can't see the poles as they are on the ground. To practice this at home, I put two normal jump wings to make a channel to walk between, and start with the pole at my mare's stifle height so she can see where they are, and then lower them until they are on the ground as they would be in a competition.
Enjoy, TREC is really good fun!
 
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