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Riding over poles can be varied and create some extra challenges in daily training, both for the horse and the rider. But don't we tend to always do the same thing? We lay out one, two, or maybe three poles and create a distance that suits one of the horse's gaits. And that's about it. Have you ever considered that pole work can be SO much more rewarding? Told with a good old cliché, it's actually only imagination that sets the limits. And if you're lacking in that department, help is fortunately available right here.
We have drawn inspiration from the book Creative Riding With Obstacles and found three creative pole exercises that can benefit any pair – show jumpers, dressage riders, western riders, Icelandic horse riders, and certainly many more. The exercises can improve your horse's balance, strength, and flexibility even better than the classic use of poles and help the horse to keep attention on the rider's signals. The exercises do not have to be performed in one specific way, and you can certainly develop your own ways of riding them. Nevertheless, we give you a couple of options along the way, which vary a bit in difficulty. So you're well on your way.
Using poles to form a fan is nothing new. But have you ever thought of using them to practice a perfect serpentine line, snake arch, or to optimize your figure eights? By creating several fans turning in each direction, you can train precision and balance, which is especially good just before a competition.
Create a fan consisting of four poles, where you lay the first pole so that it lies perpendicular to the long side. Build the fan by laying the other poles so that they point more and more towards the short side, as shown in the picture. Adjust the distance between the poles in the middle of them so that they fit your horse's trot. Usually, a distance of 1-1.5 meters is used for that. If you ride over the poles right at the center, you can walk over. If you ride at the outermost, you can canter. If you want to make it more difficult, you can create another fan 5-10 meters next to it. Its center should be in line with the other fan, but it should be made exactly the opposite, so the poles point towards the opposite long side. On a normal riding arena, you can make up to four fans depending on how close you lay them. You can also lay two fans in the middle of the riding arena, so they form a snake arch.
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The 'U' is often used as an exercise to improve the horse's ability to turn for the rider’s leg aids – and it's certainly good for that! But here we'll use it a bit differently. It can be used at many difficulty levels – from ordinary riding over poles to lateral movements and backing exercises.
Form a 'U' with three poles and place another pole in between. This one should stick out about a third longer than the two poles it runs parallel to. The distance between the three parallel poles should be a short trot distance or a large walk distance. If you want to better tailor the distance to your horse's trot or do the exercises in canter, you can create more space between the poles than what is shown in the illustration. If you choose to raise one or more of the poles to a cavaletti or a jump, the distances may need to be slightly larger.
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The last exercise actually doesn't even consist of poles but of cones or jump supports, depending on what you have available. The good thing about the jump supports is that they don't tip over as easily as cones. The downside is that they are somewhat heavier to drag out onto the riding arena. Therefore, we'll leave it up to you what you choose.
Place supports or cones around a circle with about 2 meters between each. There should be at least two meters to the hoof print, so you can get around. The most optimal is to use 10-12 cones, but if you have a small riding arena, you can certainly use fewer. The exercise should preferably be done in walk and trot, but can also be done in canter if the distance between the cones is increased by an extra meter or two. You can check if the wheel is completely round by measuring the length of the diameter one way and the other way (like a cross) with your steps.
Read also: 3 creative pole exercises that can benefit any pair
If you and your horse have got a taste for it and want to do even more creative pole exercises, you can find a total of 160 of them in the book, written by Lina Zacha and Barbro Lagergren.
