Schooling

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katie_and_toto

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Anyone got any fun schooling exercises? I can only jump my pony once a week and sometimes schooling becomes a bit boring. I work on getting Toto in a nice outline, (as he trots around like a camel with his head in the air
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) i do circles, polework, serpentines, practice my individual showpiece and no stirrup work but it still feels like I'm doing the same things everyday. I can't really do gymkhana games because it sends Toto wappy and I'm not keen on hacking. Any suggestions to perk up my schooling?
 
Lengthening & shortening strides - useful for your jumping too!
Loads of transitions
Counting strides to transitions, eg 6 strides walk then 6 trot & walk again
Get hold of a few dressage tests & ride them
Make a handy pony course
Learn to long rein
Swap ponies with a friend so you both get to ride something different
Ride with a radio or CD on
 
There is an amazing book I got from amazon, "101 schooling exercises"..there's also a jumping one too, and it's great. Schooling used to seem like boring circles and straight lines but by reading this book it gives loads of really handy exercises that work.
For getting your horse in a nice shape I suggest draw reins which you can buy from most tack shops and they're cheap. Only use them 2 or 3 times a week and practice circles and serpentines.
 
oh, god, draw reins are the most dreadful things for horses... please please please don't recommend them to people! they are a short-cut to be used by expert riders only (who usually don't need to use them anyway) to cure very specific temporary evasions, NOT a way to get your horse 'round' because you can't do it with your legs and hands. if your horse is comfortable and you ride him or her well, it is easy to work him or her in an outline, and properly beneficial... unlike draw reins.
they are known as "the razor in the monkey's fist", not without reason. it's like your granny saying "i can't touch my toes any more", and you rigging up a pulley system to drag her hands down to her feet... and then keeping her in that position for 20 minutes or so! they're as bad as rollkur, if not worse.
please, get a trainer who doesn't encourage you to use them, and learn to do without them... for your horse's sake!
 
why not start on lateral work... going sideways. it is interesting for the horse/pony, increases engagement, and can be quite challenging. start with leg-yielding from an inside track about 3 metres in, back to the outside track, with slight false bend (head and neck slightly bent away from outside track.) when he can do that easily on both reins, start leg yielding in and out from the track, on a little zig-zag, changing bend at the end of every zig and zag. do all this in walk until it's perfect, then in trot. when that's all good, work on contrabending, shoulder-in, quarters-in, and then finally on half-pass, which is your leg-yield, but with true bend.
what else? turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, walk pirouettes. umm, work on your transitions, until you can do rein-back to trot, rein-back to canter (always fun for both of you, difficult to get perfect, but rewarding), canter to halt (without pulling on the reins!)
increasing and decreasing the number of strides taken between two points, as an early practise to lengthening, and collection.
that should give you a few ideas, hopefully. good luck!
 
Wow great suggestions! Not really sure how to do leg yield, we never actually seem to go sideways
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No idea how to go about doing shoulder-in, quarters-in or half pass
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! I agree with you, Kerilli, but Toto hates draw reins anyway. He's getting a bit better but still pokes his nose a bit, I was taught to tweak really gently on the reins and keep my leg on. Is this right? Really need to get it sorted, because I'm getting marked down on dressage tests and show classes because of it
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. Anyway, I might get that book, 101 schooling exercises, and I was looking into getting the jumping one. Thanks for all your help
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umm, to get your pony to work in a round outline, ideally use a single-joint bit (fulmer snaffle is best), keep your inside hand contact soft and firm and constant, and use your outside hand to gently squeeze and release the rein just after you ask for a bit of engagement from the inside leg. just keep repeating, without getting stronger etc, until it works.
this is what my trainer has taught me, and it works brilliantly for all my horses.
find a good trainer who can show you how to do lateral work such as i've described... it's brilliant for getting horses supple and correct. if the trainer recommends draw reins or any other gadget, run away!
good luck!
 
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if the trainer recommends draw reins or any other gadget, run away!


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Absolutely!! Totally agree with this comment.
 
kirelli:
I think I was a little missunderstood. I am not, and do not, use of advise people to use them to go 'on the bit'. But I find that using them a few times a week really helps build the muscle in the neck and encourage the horse to move in an outline..I don't use them to FORCE them in one. Other than that I can only think of a pessoa which does a similar job but they are quite tricky to adjust and for experts only.
 
well, the majority of people do use them to force a horse into an outline, unfortunately. i have seen people using them on their own, without a pair of normal reins. enough said about that.
they don't help build muscle in the neck, they cause a truckload of problems, 'broken neck' (hyperextended vertebra), heavy in the hands (i can tell immediately if a horse has been ridden in them), false contact. they do not teach the horse anything about how to go from the leg to the hand and soften willingly at the jaw and poll, which is what we are looking for, isn't it?
the problem with them is that they are so simple to fit and use and therefore so easy to abuse.
an expert using them short-term to help with a very specific problem (such as an advanced horse repeatedly hollowing from walk->canter, for e.g.) is one thing... that's what they are supposed to be used for, to prevent a learned and entrenched evasion, and show the horse that it can do that movement without evading.
using them a few times a week over a long period is not the same thing, imho.
 
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