Schooling exercises please? :D

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NicoleS_007

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Hey everyone :) I need some schooling exercises for my 4yr, just to keep us both occupied as we both get a bit bored!! Shes quite smart and when she gets bored she likes to spook or gets a bit forward bound!! Shes in an outline most of the time except she finds it harder on the right rein to bend round the leg and go into a contact but after a while eventually gets there. We've mastered upwards transitions, canter to trot is ... ummmm lets say a tad unbalanced but it'll come at some stage ... hopefully ;) iv started leg yielding her in walk on the right rein to get her onto the outside track as she trys to stay on the inside track on that rein and doesnt really bend! So any baby schooling exercises to get her bending and keep us occupied would be great, jumping or flatwork :D Thanks
 
i'd definitely start more lateral work, in walk then trot, leg yielding in and out, a bit of shoulder-fore working towards shoulder-in. tbh i wouldn't worry about outline yet, just rhythm, going freely forward, relaxed and happy, giving at the ribs and moving away from your inside leg, etc. staying out because of you leg not because of your inside hand, that's really important at that stage. umm, transitions within the gait, so trot to almost-walk, back up to trot again. trot, walk 5 strides, trot again, that sort of thing. walk serpentines, with 10-12m circles incorporated. polework. that sort of thing, to keep her interested.
 
Good advice here, Ill just add that pivots on the haunches are useful for getting the horse to step up, over and away from your active leg. Sometimes as a first step or a suppling exercise before you begin shoulder-in and lateral work. Be sure that the horse stays on contact, slightly bent around your active leg. Ensure the movement is still a forward one and there are no backward steps.
 
15m circles in the four corners of the school with halts/halfhalts at B and E - helps you dig deep into the corners, exaggerates the bend which makes larger shapes seem easier afterwards and the halt/halfhalts help maintain good quality paces.

Serpentines - focussing on good bend around the corner and then nice and straight as you cross over the centre line...you can improve the bend by turning each bend of the S into a full circle of that size (20/15/10m according to how many loops you ride) and then go straight.

Start on a 20m circle and gradually leg yield in to as small a circle as you like using only your outside leg to push her in and outside rein to control the bend and stop her turning in faster than you would like. Once on your 10/15m circle, use your inside leg to push her back into your outside rein as you leg yield back out.

I like to play with spooky objects in the arena too so traffic cones are great near corners as they have to go right into the corner to get round it and the odd pole just off the long side between E/B and X means you can do a nice little 10m loop off the long side to reach the pole and then back in time for the next corner - the change of flexion there is a nice exercise (also when riding a normal long arena side it helps them not to drift in off the track as they usually avoid the very end of the pole unless directed at it properly).

I find these quite fun and find lots of ways to vary each exercise, what do you think? :)
 
doing pole work and setting the poles in random places almost like your jumping a course of fences usually keeps me occupied or doing circles and practising flying changes or sometimes even trying to go from a walk to a canter.
Jumping you can do mini courses with poles to practise getting her strides right or putting a jump up and two poles balanced on the sides helps the horse to jump in the middle. Also mini courses and doing small jumps with poles in front tends to get horses really excited. I also like to do turns and trying to turn quite quickly because it helps you look before actually going into the fence.
Hope this helps :)
 
I have to say that I would not be attempting to teach a four year old turns on the hind, flying changes or walk to canter until basic transitions and way of going are correctly established. I would work on flexibility and rhythm/quality of the paces and transitions until these are all correct and standard for her, using circles, transitions, poles and spookbuster material to keep things entertaining ;)
 
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