Schooling exercises

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littleredmare

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I think both I and my horse are getting bored with schooling so are there are any exercises (on the flat) people recommend to get her brains working?
 
Wheels said:
What sort of level are you and your horse working at? Are there anything in particular you want to improve?
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She is 4/rising 5. I'm working on her accepting contact and working on the bit and doing lots of circles. She comes round in trot but her canter needs lots of work so any exercises that would help her canter?
 
I went through a stage of doing the same schooling exercises and getting a little bored. I decided to get a book called 101 schooling exercises off amazon and find it really good. I normally go through it just before I ride and pick one of two exercises to work on. I also have the 101 jumping exercises as well. Highly recommend these books to give you some fresh ideas.
 
Yep - 101 Schooling exercises, 101 Dressage Exercises and 101 Jumping Exercises. I have all three! Great for schooling or polework ideas. The dressage one even has exercises you can do out hacking :)
 
My favourite is a square of 4 poles in the middle of the school. Use them in circles, transitions, can go across on the diagonal, can walk, trot and canter them :)
 
I posted this yesterday on another thread but I will post it again. Set up like a diamond with the points to ACBD means you can set yourself up on a figure of 8 and either trot, or canter, depending on the line.

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littleredmare said:
She is 4/rising 5. I'm working on her accepting contact and working on the bit and doing lots of circles. She comes round in trot but her canter needs lots of work so any exercises that would help her canter?
Click to expand...

There is so much you can do so hopefully some of this will interest you:
1. Stretching work as in long and low in walk and trot for suppleness and relaxation.
2. 20m circles and 15m circles in walk and trot
3. Figures of eight using two 20m circles
4. Stride counting: count how many strides it takes to ride half a 20m circle and then count the next half, change the rein and repeat. Then count each half a circle through your figure of 8 (so you will have 4 counts). Helps with accuracy, rhythm etc
5. Shallow loops down the long side, helps suppleness through the changes of bend
6. 3 loop serpentines
7. Walk down the centre line and from the centre line ride alternate 10m circles
8. From the long side ride half a 10m circle to the centre line and change the rein with a half 10 the other way. Go straight for a bit then repeat back across the school
9. Transitions: Trot walk trot, trot walk halt walk trot, trot walk halt trot.
10. Transitions within the gait - small walk big walk, small trot forward trot.
11. Trot walk 4 strides walk trot building to walk 4 strides trot 10, walk 4 etc
12. Trot walk, 4 strides walk trot then repeat. Then trot walk, 2 strides walk trot repeat. Then trot walk 1 stride walk repeat then trot almost walk and spring forwards again
13. Canter half circle trot half circle canter half circle.
Shout if you want more....
 
Simon Battram said:
There is so much you can do so hopefully some of this will interest you:
1. Stretching work as in long and low in walk and trot for suppleness and relaxation.
2. 20m circles and 15m circles in walk and trot
3. Figures of eight using two 20m circles
4. Stride counting: count how many strides it takes to ride half a 20m circle and then count the next half, change the rein and repeat. Then count each half a circle through your figure of 8 (so you will have 4 counts). Helps with accuracy, rhythm etc
5. Shallow loops down the long side, helps suppleness through the changes of bend
6. 3 loop serpentines
7. Walk down the centre line and from the centre line ride alternate 10m circles
8. From the long side ride half a 10m circle to the centre line and change the rein with a half 10 the other way. Go straight for a bit then repeat back across the school
9. Transitions: Trot walk trot, trot walk halt walk trot, trot walk halt trot.
10. Transitions within the gait - small walk big walk, small trot forward trot.
11. Trot walk 4 strides walk trot building to walk 4 strides trot 10, walk 4 etc
12. Trot walk, 4 strides walk trot then repeat. Then trot walk, 2 strides walk trot repeat. Then trot walk 1 stride walk repeat then trot almost walk and spring forwards again
13. Canter half circle trot half circle canter half circle.
Shout if you want more....
Click to expand...

Great reminder of some simple exercises to do, o forget just how many variations there are for this kind of work!
 
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