Schooling ideas pwease

[Annette4]

I've got a couple of new projects...One is a 17.2hh shire mare who I rode a bit last summer...she's a very sweet mare and an angel to hack..shes fab but she hates schooling and at my size I struggle to get her to work properly and have to wear spurs and carry a schooling whip to even get her to acknowledge my existance.

She's lovely though and I had a little pop on her last summer and she jumped me out of the saddle but do like riding her.

Other is about 15.3hh lovely dun Clyde cross whos VERY green in the school. All she's done is hacking. Any ideas on schooling exercises I can do to get her listening as she was very 'looky' today and we only just managed to walk round almost on the track bending the wrong way. Can anyone suggest some schooling exercises for us to get her concentrating. I'm going to do my corners exercise and more transitions, turns, circles etc. but any suggestions very welcome

 

[Ezme]

Something i heard people do to keep big 'un interested while schooling is do pony games type things, keeps them interested with something to focus on. With the baby i'd suggest a million transitions, get her listening and dont give her time to spook, most heavies give plenty of notice of a spook, but i do say most....!

 

[rara007]

10 meter walk circles at every marker.
3, or 5 loop serpitines(depending on horses balance)
15 meter circle around x, and get them to listen to you leg pushing it to a 20 meter circle, and then into 10 without chamging your hands atall.
Transitions, on a circle , so doing a lap of trot, a lap of walk, then half trot half walk, then 1/4 trot 1/4 walk and bring it right down to 3 or 4 strides of each pace, and then going large changing and halting at the markers.
How do they sound?

 

[Jingleballs]

Ditto the pony games suggestion - I use cones and poles to keep my youngster interested.

I also like to do gradually decreasing circles to loosen them off - my RI introduced me to it and it really helps as my cob cans sometimes start off a bit stiff.

 

[Annette4]

I say spook....she stops dead and looks then wanders over to whatever scared her with some excouragement lol.

Didn't look like they have much in the way of cones etc but a few poles and planks so might try stuff like oddly placed poles, a L etc

 

[YorksG]

I bought a book from the BHS stall at the GYS, 101 schooling exercises by Jaki Bell, after seeing it given good reviews on here, has quite a lot of good stuff in it. Would deff agree with the idea of plenty of stuff to bend round, walk over, worked wonders with ours in the past if they hadn't learnt to do school work.

A good idea for circles is to place poles like spokes of a wheel, gives the horse something to look at and to follow, concentrates the mind well.