Useful exercise for a "hot" horse. please share your favourites!

[oldie48]

Mr B is feeling fit and well, probably the spring grass too but in today's lesson he was getting a bit hot in canter, got quite strong and started to try to take over, which is not unusual. We did an exercise that really got him back on side which I thought I'd share as I'd not come across it before. Medium trot across diagonal to X, then leg yield the rest of the diagonal. It took a couple of goes to get him to listen sufficiently to get the leg yield but when I did and we went back to canter he did some lovely work. He's such a quick enthusiastic horse but quite sensitive so it's helpful to have a few different exercises to hand. Any other good exercises that you've come across?

 

[Shazzababs]

One of my favourites is trot shoulder in down the centre line to X, a canter transition and then a 10m half circle to the track.

I've extended it to a figure 8 at x, with a more balanced horse.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

A boring one but super useful despite it being deceptively 'easy', canter - trot - canter transitions, especially on a 20m circle. If you can go from canter to trot smoothly, easily and into a forward trot and then back up into canter again smoothly I've found it really gets Topaz listening and engaging the canter. The transition down, must be on the aid and into a big swinging trot (thinking down straight into med trot and this gets my leg on) and then off one aid and into canter (she's not allowed to 'leap' into the transition).

She's a ****** for being too sharp through her transitions so this really gets me putting my leg on her so she doesn't drop me in the transitions, as the idea here isn't to just get to the desired pace but really work on the quality achieved through the transition.

We also find canter squares of diamonds really get her listening, so essentially a quarter pirouette on the corners. Collect the canter, use the outside rein to move the shoulders round for one stride and then forward and repeat.

Anything in shoulder-in gets our vote , either trot or canter, though currently I'm being strict about nose placement! As she's so spooky I've been curling her neck round to keep control, but she now needs to keep her nose in line with the center of her chest, this has been harder than anticipated, but has had good results!

Or failing all of the above, wait for the sun to come out, the grass to grow and then we get sleepy, hot Topaz who is much more amenable :lol:.

 

[Auslander]

Pammy Huttons six circle exercise - will explain it at the end of the post. I use it a lot myself, and when I'm teaching

It's a great exercise for making the horse take responsibility for regulating his/her own speed - it works really well to slow sharp horses down, AND to get lazy horses using themselves better. The better you get at it, and the more established the horse is, the more you can do within the exercise - from transitions to shortening and lengthening the stride, to shoulder-in, travers, leg yield, half pass, and flying changes - the possibilities are endless

Starting at A on the right rein

10m circle right K-D,
Change rein between K and X
10m circle left X-E
Change rein between X and H
10m circle right H-G (you'll do 1.5 circles here)
10m circle left G-M
Change rein between G and B
10m circle right B-X
Change rein between B and D
10m circle right D-F

Expect chaos, until you get the hang of it! It's brain/co-ordination training for the rider too!

 

[crabbymare]

depends on the level the horse is working at and the size of the arena. for a 20x40 (which is probably what most people have) medium canter round or on the short side then back to working or collected on the long side and before e or b 15m circle then at e or b change rein. it gets them thinking steady for the long side instead or lets go and when they find they then have something to do it sits them back more.it can be made more difficult by adding lateral work to it

 

[Apercrumbie]

Auslander I tried visualising your exercise and got in a complete mess - I will write it down and visualise it again next time I'm in a marked arena! I have a lazy horse and I think that should work a treat at getting him thinking and working.

When I had a hot horse, I found riding squares, not circles to be a good exercise. It kept their shoulders in line, making it harder to set their neck against me, and it forced the corners to be well-balanced, bringing them back almost like a half halt.