[Amber.Molly]

There are many ways to get flexibility in a horse... but does anyone have any 'fun' ideas that might work to make lessons a little less dry and more... exciting

[MIEventer]

Well, I have some exercises for the rider

For Rider - what I do is a couple of things at walk, trot and canter.

To work on solidifying your lower leg. Reach down and touch your toes while at the walk. If your legs move while you do this, repeat and try again. The object is to not allow your lower leg to move what-so-ever and keeping your heels deep.

Also, reaching back to the tail. Your lower legs cannot move. Must stay put. Do this at the walk, trot and canter. When at the canter, you will find your seat too as to where it should be.

Reaching forward to touch the ears if you can. You can either remain seated or move into two point. Do this at the walk, trot and canter.

~~~~

For the horse, I would think everday riding and exercises help.

Shoulder In's and Outs
Hind In's and Out's
Turn on the Fore and Hind
Half Passes, Leg Yields

OH WAIT! HERE! These just popped in my head and I am chuckling because I cannot believe I forgot about them.

These are great for working on tight turns in the Jumper Ring.




You want to start out at the walk. Bending the ribs with your inside leg and using your outside aids to keep the bend.

Work on large circles first, then move into smaller circles then back out to larger circles.

Once you have it at a walk pretty good. Move into a trot. Same thing.

Then work at a canter. Controlled, rhythmic.

Great for working on Roll Backs

OH - start out as trot poles on the ground. Eventually you can increase the height once you've accomplished balance, suppleness, bending, rhythm, fluid motion.

[juniormylove]

wow MIeventer...you lost me on that diagram, lol.

[MIEventer]

Well, they are 2 different set up's

Ahuumm.....let me see if I can find something for you. I'll PM you.

[JBandRio]

Keep in mind that you, the human, tend to find things more boring than the horse. To you it's one circle after another, one figure 8 after another, a serpentine followed by a leg yield followed by a shoulder in back to the serpentine.

But to the horse it's all about learning and balancing and rebalancing and learning and asking questions and guessing answers. As long as you aren't drilling things that the horse already knows how to do well, it's not really boring to the horse, just you

The exercises that MI posted are really, really, really excellent. They will quickly show you how bad your steering really is I highly suggest doing them at the walk first

Yes, those are 2 different setups - the "star" and the "W". Just pick an arrow and follow it until it runs to the next arrow and follow that to the next arrow and you'll see how to ride the pattern.

You can ride the star in another pattern as well. Setting the poles farther apart, so there's a "hole" in the middle, you can walk a circle over the center of each pole. After you cross the center, make a small circle the OTHER way and come back over the same pole. Continue the original circle to the next pole, and after you walk over that one, do another circle the other way. So your main circle is over the poles, with your "offshoot" circles being to the outside.

[Amber.Molly]

Thanks MIEventer!! Those look confusingly great, I like the + one! I never think to use trot poles ... maybe because I don't have any :P but I'm going to round some up for the next practice.

JB - it's for a group that I am the assistant coach for. We are trying to make the practices more fun for the girls but at the same time make it productive so I figured I'd look here for some creative ideas! And Voila! Thanks!

[Argonaut]

That diagram is wicked I'll try that this week thanks!

[MIEventer]

Here are a couple of vids of me doing these exercises.

The + was given by David O'Connor at a clinic he taught at in Toronto a couple of winters ago. Excellant exercise. This is a vid I recorded of myself riding it, no laughing. This was myself and my Hubby's hosre 2 years ago.

And yes - that's my Rat Terrier doing the exercise with me. lol

The + shaped exercise:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v7...andZeus065.flv




And the W one was given by Dorothy Crowell. 4 Star Rolex Eventer at 1 of many clinics I've ridden under her. On the same horse.

This was taken by a regular tape video recorder. So I had to play it on the telly and record the recording - lol. No laughing. Old vid of me riding after being off for 6 months. This was the first clinic I took under Dorothy.

YouTube - Zeus and I At Dorthy Crowell Clinic

You really have to start at a walk with both of them, with trot poles. That is very important

The object of the exercises is to really see where your level of control is with rhythm, straitness, outside aids, inside aids.

These both really open up your eyes as to where you really are.

[Amber.Molly]

Ooook that is a little different than I was picturing in my head... for the + do you have all the poles together?

I ride western so there won't be any jumps... but I think just having a pattern like that and having to ride through the turns and end up at a specific place and look ahead to the next will be helpful

[FaeriesFaith]

Originally Posted by MIEventer

Well, I have some exercises for the rider


These are great for working on tight turns in the Jumper Ring.

Kind of looks like a cloverleaf pattern used for bending and suppleness, but with poles instead of cones