In this article, I’ll explain how I warm up on the flat and share two ground-rail exercises to improve your eye to help you see a distance, work on adjustability and get comfortable with adding or leaving out strides.

The Warm-Up

Jumping courses are getting more and more technical, so your horse needs to be as rideable and adjustable as possible, and that starts on the flat. Olympian Lisa Wilcox comes to my farm a few times a week to ride my horses and help my students. Riding is one sport that no matter how long you’ve been doing it, there’s always more to learn. Watching Lisa ride my horses and then discussing how they feel to her helps me improve as a rider. Dressage is an important part of my program as it really strengthens the horses’ muscles and helps prepare them for the jumper ring. For these reasons, my warm-up is focused on dressage basics.

I start with a lot of walking, which is good for the horses—physically and mentally. Walking gets their circulation going and helps loosen up their muscles. Compare it to when you first get out of bed. Most people don’t go straight to exercise; they wake up a bit and stretch before increasing their physical activity. I stretch and supple the horses by bending to the inside, counter bending and doing leg-yields, shoulder-ins and serpentines before moving on to the same exercises at the trot and canter. 

I also do a lot of transitions throughout my warm-up—both between and within the gaits—all while working on the connection by using leg and as little hand as possible to keep the horse’s hind end active and light in the bridle. Your horse needs to be like an accordion, able to open and close his stride very easily without losing his balance or power in the hind end.

This is essential for jumping, too, because a balanced horse with impulsion can jump much more easily, even if he’s not at a perfect distance. Riders tend to struggle with keeping power and impulsion in the hind end when collecting their horses and compressing the stride. They forget to back up their hand with leg and only pull on the reins so their horses run through the bridle and end up on their forehands. Your hand aids should always be as light as possible. 

The hind end is so important—it’s where the power comes from to jump and where the collection comes from for dressage. When your horse is using his hind end correctly, he’ll have more impulsion and his gaits will be more animated. It will feel like he’s in front of your leg and carrying you uphill, not like he’s pulling you along with his front end. 

Preparing for the Ground-Rail Exercises

These two ground-rail exercises are very simple and useful for:

• Learning to see a distance
• Improving rider confidence
• Developing adjustability and rideability
• Getting comfortable with adding and leaving out strides
• Staying connected and keeping a rhythm with even strides
• Practicing straightness and balance
• Determining how to ride a line depending on the distance over the first jump.

For these exercises, you’ll approach in an active canter with the main goal of getting comfortable closing and opening your horse’s stride as quietly as possible. I prefer my students to ride the exercises in almost a full seat, or a three-point position with their legs molded around their horses and their seats in contact with the saddle. You should feel like you’re part of your horse so you can be more sensitive to his back and hind end. A lot of riders tend to focus on the front end because it’s right in front of them, and they make the mistake of thinking the horse is on the bit because his neck is flexed. However, you actually need to feel the animation coming from behind, and you can do that by keeping your legs molded around your horse. 

As you ride over the rails, think of your hands as extensions of the reins. Since it’s only a pole, there’s no need to give a big release. Your hands should simply follow the horse so he can use his topline over the rail while keeping the connection. 

For many riders, ground rails prove to be more challenging than jumps. Horses tend to focus on and study jumps more in order to clear them. But with rails, they don’t pay as close attention, so riders need to use more leg and seat to create impulsion to help their horses correctly navigate the exercise. So, these ground-rail exercises will also help pinpoint any weaknesses you might have to fine-tune your riding.

Exercise 1: Two Ground Rails 

You can set this exercise at any distance, but since they’re rails or cavalletti and not jumps, you don’t need as much room for takeoff and landing. Allow about 12 feet for every stride between the rails or cavalletti, but instead of allowing 6 feet for takeoff and landing (as you would with jumps), allow 1 or 2 feet. For example, if I’m setting a six-stride line with two rails or cavalletti, I’ll make it between 72 to 74 feet. Set the exercise so you can approach it from both directions and alternate directions each time, so your horse works equally on both leads.

In this exercise, you’ll practice riding the normal six strides, next adding a stride for seven strides and then leaving out a stride for five strides. This will help you gauge your horse’s adjustability and get comfortable with adding and leaving out strides while maintaining a connection and hind-end impulsion. Whether you’re doing the normal striding, adding or leaving out a stride, the idea is to stay in the same balance and keep each stride as even as possible, with your horse using his hind end while staying in front of your leg—just like you practiced in the warm-up. 

Start by seeing if you can comfortably canter the two ground rails in six strides by sitting still and keeping an even rhythm and a steady connection. Then, try adding a stride for seven strides by using a little more seat and leg to keep the impulsion while collecting your horse’s stride. Your horse should still be in front of your leg, but his stride should be compressed. If you ask him to add a stride without enough leg, he’ll likely break to the trot.

Next, try leaving out a stride for five strides. For the five, your horse needs a more open stride, but it shouldn’t look or feel significantly different than his stride for the six or seven. Opening the stride doesn’t mean faster. Maintain the same balance and simply lengthen the stride from your horse’s hind end by keeping a light feel of his mouth to keep the connection from leg to hand and an uphill feeling. When you go over the first rail, your horse should feel round and like he is coming up through his back. If he’s flat and running on his front end, he’ll be unbalanced, discombobulated and may get to the rail on a half-stride and either chip or have to reach for the rail.

Keep in mind that how you canter into the line over the first rail will affect how you approach the second rail. For example, if you’re planning to do the normal six strides but you see a very forward distance coming in, your horse is going to land and take you forward with a more open stride. To get the desired six strides, you’ll need to balance and compress him by backing up your hand with your leg and seat inside the line, so he doesn’t break to a trot or lean on your hand. But this shouldn’t be a drastic adjustment. If the opposite happens and you jump into the line a little backwards without enough impulsion, land and gradually ask your horse to open up his stride by keeping a light connection with your hand as you add leg so your horse doesn’t run flat on his front end. 

Exercise 2: Two Ground Rails on a Bending Line

For this exercise, set two ground rails or cavalletti on a bending line. You can set the striding based on the size of your ring or whatever striding you want to work on, but like the first exercise, you only need 1 to 2 feet for takeoff and landing.

In addition to the other benefits mentioned previously, this bending-line exercise will help you learn how to use your track to your advantage in order to add or leave out a stride. You’ll find that you don’t have to worry about getting a perfect distance to make this exercise work. 

As you did in your warm-up and the first exercise, make sure you have a powerful canter and keep an even rhythm and a steady connection. To add a stride in the line, curve the line to give yourself a little more room. To leave out a stride in the line, ride a straighter, more direct track. Look at the rails coming out of your turn, being careful to stay on your track without cutting in or fading out through the turn. Look where you want to go and draw an imaginary line in your mind—whether you want to line up the two rails on a straight, direct line or use more bend on a curved line. If you get there on an imperfect distance, you can move your track toward the inside or outside of the rails to get a better distance and smoother jump. 

Get Creative

Use your imagination to come up with other ground-rail exercises. Think about what’s most difficult for you and your horse, including problems you’re having on course, and apply it to the ground rails. For example, if you’re having trouble coming off a short, left turn, practice that. If your horse is cutting or diving to the inside after a line, exaggerate going straight and then bend him around your leg correctly so he learns to land, balance and go around the turn properly. You can even set up a whole course of ground rails to work on riding smooth courses.  

With these exercises, I try not to make things too complicated. I want riders to get comfortable with keeping an even rhythm and proper balance, collecting their horses and adding a stride, opening up the canter and leaving out a stride and—one of the hardest things—simply sitting still and doing nothing to maintain the desired canter. Remember, when it comes to horses, less is more, and the fewer jumps you can do with your horse, the better for his long-term health and happiness.

For More:

• To watch hands-on training videos with Margie Engle on EQUESTRIAN+, click here. Use code MARGIE15 for 15% off your first month’s subscription.
• For more of her top training tips, click here.
• To listen to our podcast with Engle, click here.

About Margie Engle

Margie Engle has been one of the winningest jumper riders in the U.S. for more than three decades. To date, Margie has won more than 250 grands prix classes, six World Cup qualifiers, more than 75 Nations Cups, a record 10 American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year titles and was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2021. She competed in the 2000 Olympics, won team silver at the 1999 Pan American Games, team gold and individual bronze at the 2003 Pan American Games and team silver at the 2006 World Equestrian Games. Margie and her husband of 30 years, veterinarian Steve Engle, are based at Gladewinds Farm in Wellington, Florida. 

While indoor and outdoor jumping competitions share similarities, indoor events typically have shorter courses in a smaller space. And after riding outside for most of the year, it can be challenging to adjust navigating a course in a smaller area where you have no time for hesitation while still making your round look smooth and easy.

To prepare for the different challenges indoors can present, it’s important to consistently practice your flatwork, ensuring your horse is on your aids so you can easily make adjustments in the tighter space. It’s also important to prepare for the types of courses you can expect to see.

In her video series on EQUESTRIAN+, Stacia Klein Madden stresses the importance of practicing courses at home that are similar to those seen at past indoors to prepare for the common questions course designers might include at shows. Here, she helps three students practice indoor courses and offers tips that you can apply to you own preparation.

The Practice Course

“Good preparation will give you confidence as we prepare for the indoors. The course we’re practicing today is an adaptation from regionals in Florida, and is a nice, friendly and useful course to practice before we go to Capital Challenge.

“The first time around, I want you to just muddle through it and go from start to finish unless I pull you up because I think there’s a real problem that needs to be addressed. This course is going to be challenging to start off with, but the horses need to go ahead and get their feet wet and then we’ll do it a second time to polish anything we need to work on.

“For every fence on course, you not only have to be thinking about your approach, you also have to think about where you are on the landing side to stay organized and prepared for what’s coming next.

“A lot of championship courses start off with a line, so for this course, we’ll start with the ASPCA wall on the left lead and do a nice, flowing six strides to the green roll-top. Then, you need to get a good riding horse right off the bat and go to the narrow white gate.

“Be prepared that the white gate is going to present a steering issue because it doesn’t have any standards. If you meet the gate a little soft, you can turn inside to the Beacon Hill wall. But if you meet it a little loose and your horse lands right and you need a lead change, take the longer option by going around the Beacon Hill wall.

“Then you really have to use your turn as well as your eyes to ride a nice turn back to the blue plank, which will be a five to a one. It needs to be a little following, so you don’t get to it short. Next, check your reins and make sure your horse is front of your leg and go to the scoop jump; then, put a little shape into the five to the Animal Planet jump and then a four to the green roll-top.

Round Two: Correct Mistakes and Polish Details

“I have the riders repeat the exact same course again. After kind of muddling through it the first time, this gives both the riders and horses something to work on the second time around. You can see here that while doing the course for the second time, this horse really took a breath and started to understand the course and listen to his rider.

“Every rider naturally either over-rides or under-rides. When preparing for the indoors, you have to identify which type of rider you are and always strive to strengthen your weakest link. All three riders here are naturally under-riders, so I have them work on making sure their horses are with them and this first line is a real test of that.

“The most challenging aspect of competing indoors after riding outside for most of the year is the lightning-fast tempo in which you have to make your decisions, while remaining calm and not allowing the course to pile up on you. This is why we spend so much working on using the ends of the ring and your recovery after jumps. The quicker you can recover, the sooner you can start to think about the takeoff for your next fence.

“I like to practice difficult things at home, because we don’t want our horses to be faced with those things for the very first time at a horse show.

“Also, keep in mind that riding is a constant contradiction. We’re always telling our horses to go forward, but to also wait—to come in but stay out. Successfully riding the lines in this course really requires your horse to be pushing off his hind end so he can leave the ground and execute a clean, crisp jump over the fence.”

Reverse the Course

“After mastering the course in one direction, I like to have riders practice reversing it or at least changing the lines in some way so they ride differently. Sometimes when reversing a course, you’ll need to modify an offset oxer, but I tend to set my jumps so everything can be jumped both ways and nothing needs to be changed. When you set your course this way, you easily create two courses in one. If you’re on a green horse, though, you might consider ramp oxers or jumps with ground lines.

“To reverse this course, you’ll start on your right lead with the blue plank and do five strides to the vertical. It’s going to be a little challenging to get through that gap without your horse getting his eye on the wrong fence.

“Riding the course in reverse, the new first line is going to ride more ambitious than it did in the first course, and the last line has the potential to ride a little nicer.

“You can see this rider really using the corner over by the wall to soothe her horse and put him back together. If you really focus on using those corners, you’ll give your horse a chance to take a breath, digest the course and regroup. You can use both corners and the ends of the ring to let your horse drop his head down and realize he’s not in a speed competition.

“So this is typical of how we school and prepare for the indoor competitions. If we don’t end up reversing the course, I might end the day with some sort of test. We might practice the counter-canter, trot jumps, halting or hand galloping.”

For More:

• To watch Stacia Klein Madden’s full video series on schooling indoor equitation courses on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• For more top training tips and hands-on video demonstrations with Madden, click here.
• Check out her favorite four exercises for winning equitation rounds here.
• You can listen to our podcast with Madden here.

About Stacia Klein Madden

Known as one of the most successful trainers of young riders in the country, Stacia Klein Madden began her career as a successful Junior, winning the 1987 ASPCA Maclay National Championship and placing in the USEF National Hunter Seat Medal Final and USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals—East. She turned professional in 1988 and started working out of Beacon Hill Show Stables, now located in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Madden also worked for Johnny Barker in North Carolina, before returning to Beacon Hill where she began teaching and developed a passion for working with young riders and matching them with horses. 

In an effort to help those who are insecure about finding their distances, a lot of trainers instruct riders to count their strides. But Hugo-Vidal says this can sometimes backfire, because riders then get fixated on trying to guess when the exact takeoff moment will be—like counting down to blastoff.

Another common problem develops when riders are convinced they’re helping their horses by telling them when to take off, when in fact they really don’t know. Unless you’re a highly skilled and experienced rider, she notes, this can create a lot of confusion for your horse.

If, however, you practice focusing less on the fences and more on your rhythm and track, you’ll find the distances come naturally. In her video series on EQUESTRIAN+, Hugo-Vidal breaks down her circle-over-fences exercise to help change your perception about distances and discover that if you achieve a quality canter, stay on the right track and ensure your horse is balanced between your legs and reins, you don’t have to do anything else. This in itself will allow your horse to find the appropriate distance.

Fences On a Circle: Finding Your Rhythm and Track

“This is a tried-and-true exercise that I’ve used over the years to help riders at all levels. We’re going work over fences on a circle to help you improve your rhythm and track. We’ll start with a ground pole on the inside track and then progress to a vertical on the middle track, and ultimately we’ll finish with the oxer on the outside.

“If you have the right pace and you’re on the right track and your horse is in balance, then the distance to the pole or jump should vary only by inches. If you turn too wide or cut in on the track, that’s going to affect your distance. For example, when Britt, our rider here, turns too early she got a deep distance.

“We start tracking right and go over the ground pole on the inside track. If you’re able to keep your horse balanced on the right pace and track and continue to meet the pole comfortably, then you can advance to doing the same exercise, but going over the vertical on the middle track.

“Britt makes it look easy because she’s relying on her horse’s rhythm and is looking for the track so she can meet the jump right in the center. Now, she opens up the circle even wider to catch the little oxer on the outside track. Because she’s doing it so perfectly, I have her change tracks to get a feel for how that creates a bad distance. Then, I have her go back to her perfect track to ensure she knows what that feels like and because we always want the horse to end on a good note.

“Now, we’ll change directions and do the exercise off the left. Tracking left, Britt’s horse tends to drift off the track more than he does to the right. So, she’s going to need to compensate more going to the left by maintaining that left bend through the turn to keep the track circular to the pole and jumps, opposed to bending him and then going straight. Don’t let him fall in after the pole; you want to maintain that 90-degree angle as much as possible.

“This exercise is a means to an end—the goal is not to replicate a course. You want to follow the round shape and think about matching what you have on the front side of the jump to what you have on the back side.

“Constantly be aware of your canter. Is it active enough? Is your horse in front of your leg? As you approach the oxer, I don’t want to see a change in pace at all. Stay on the rhythm and seek the center of the jump.”

Common Mistakes: Falling Behind and Jumping Ahead

“Here, I have Britt demonstrate some common mistakes riders make on this exercise. She’s been doing an excellent job of waiting for her horse and working out of the rhythm. Here, she’s going to demonstrate a rhythm that’s not ideal, so she misjudges the distance and gets left behind. This demonstrates why it’s so important to maintain the rhythm with a quality canter while also staying on your track to get the ideal distance.

“The next mistake I have her make is jumping ahead of her horse. Instead of sitting up and waiting for him to leave the ground, she’s going to demonstrate getting ahead of him, which is actually worse than being a little behind. You can see that she was unsure of where her horse was and kind of froze and got ahead of him. Ideally, you don’t want to be ahead or behind; you want to be right with your horse.

“Through this example, Britt is mimicking a rider who gets nervous and is anticipating the jump—and you can clearly see the effect it has on her horse and how he gets quick on the back side. For her horse’s sake, we end by doing it correctly on the ideal rhythm and track, and she waits to allow her horse to jump up to her.”

Focal Points to Adjust Or Maintain the Canter

“As you can see in the video, I’ve put two shamrocks in strategic places on the ground. This is to remind Britt that after she lands from the pole or jump and is heading toward that first shamrock, she needs to determine whether she needs to adjust anything. You want to use this space to determine if your pace is below or above what you need and adjust it as necessary.

“The shamrocks serve as visual reminders to check your canter as you work this exercise. For example, if your horse lands on the wrong lead or the distance you got to the jump caused him to land a little quick on the back side or he’s a little slow and trots—or if anything else goes wrong on the back side—once you see that shamrock, you need to repair your canter.

“In this exercise you’re basically working on straight lines off the circle, but the concept will easily carry over to your course work. For instance, when you’re coming off a line and are approaching the end of the ring, you need to be asking yourself what you need to do to adjust or maintain your canter in order to get a good distance to your next fence. You have to train yourself to use that space to make corrections. If you can do it before you get to the end of ring, all the better, but if not, absolutely use the short end to regain your ideal rhythm at the canter. If it helps, try to find a focal point or marker in the show ring to serve as a reminder, so you don’t get lost.”

For More:

• To watch Holly Hugo-Vidal’s full series on riding fences on a circle, click here.
• For more top tips and hands-on training tips from her on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• Read more with Hugo-Vidal on Practical Horseman here.

About Holly Hugo-Vidal

Based out of Scott and Nancy Boggio’s Arbor Hill Farm in Canton, Georgia, Holly Hugo-Vidal maintains a busy schedule with her junior and adult riders as well as giving clinics and judging. With her former husband, Victor Hugo-Vidal, she ran the successful show barn, Cedar Lodge Farm, in Stamford, Connecticut, learning from his ability to help anyone with a desire to accomplish his or her goals. Her next mentor was show jumper Rodney Jenkins, who provided her with lessons in reading horses and creating in them a desire to please. She is the author of the book Build Confidence Over Fences!

The exercise I’ll describe in this article will help you learn to do just that. Instead of using strong and sometimes conflicting aids to ride it, you’ll work on communicating with your horse using subtle aids and riding softly. You want to be more like your horse’s dance partner and less like his drill sergeant. This exercise will help you find moments where you can lead the dance and the moments where you can follow and let your horse do the job. This requires repetition: The more you practice subtle, guiding aids, the more in-tune you and your horse will become.

This exercise is also a great way for you to practice sticking to your plan on course. It’s your responsibility to set out with a plan and stay diligent, but it’s easy to allow circumstances (such as a distance you didn’t like, a break in canter rhythm, a rail down or a butterfly going by) to talk yourself out of your plan.

When you deviate from your plan, you’ll be more likely to throw away your canter quality, the track you walked and planned and your position—and when this happens, riders start to ride their horses like dirt bikes and forget they’re supposed to be working with their partner around the course. And that’s when things really start to spiral faster than a blender. This exercise is a good indicator of how you might deviate from your plan on course, so you can practice improving those areas.

Setup 

This exercise is easy to set up and can go in any size ring. It’s also scalable—you can make it very easy or more difficult without having to change the setup. I can do this exercise with my 3-year-olds who are just getting started, all the way to my grand prix jumpers and Advanced-level eventers.

Study the diagram. You’ll need two verticals, eight tennis balls or cones and two poles. Position two poles parallel to each other in the middle of the ring to create a lane, and put the verticals at opposite ends of the ring. Set the fences to a height that feels like a real jump for you and your horse but is a comfortable height. Place two sets of four tennis balls on a diagonal on the track between the verticals and lane of poles to create inside, middle and outside tennis-ball lanes for you and your horse to pass through while riding the exercise.

The distance between the tennis balls and verticals doesn’t matter, but try to challenge yourself. If you know you have a harder time with longer distances, set the two verticals further away from the center of the exercise. And if you have a harder time with shorter distances, set the two verticals closer to the center of the exercise. You can also easily change the distances—you could set it for about five strides one day, and 10 strides on another day. 

I like using tennis balls because once the horses go by them a couple of times, they kick sand on them and then tend to ignore them, so it becomes more of a rider exercise to create the inside, middle or outside track. You can use cones, but horses tend to steer around them on their own. Therefore, tennis balls will challenge you to steer more accurately.

The Exercise

I’m a huge believer that success breeds more success, so start by setting the verticals as ground poles, and warm up over the exercise at the trot. Trot over the first pole then through the middle tennis-ball lane, change direction in the lane of poles, then go through the next middle tennis-ball lane and over the second pole. 

Then, try it at the canter. When changing direction through the lane of poles in the middle, I like to start by doing a simple lead change in the lane before introducing a flying lead change. Try doing five steps of trot in the lane, then if that’s going well, three steps. And if your horse doesn’t have a flying lead change, just stick with the simple lead change.

Gradually increase the difficulty by making the poles crossrails, then a 2-foot vertical, then continue to slowly build the fences to a height that’s comfortable for you. You can also start mixing up which tennis-ball lane you’ll ride through. Make sure you do the exercise in both directions so you’re spending roughly the same amount of time on both leads.

Throughout the exercise, focus on keeping your canter consistent, while the track is the variable. In order to make it through the exercise successfully, use consistent guiding aids by aiming your eyes where you want your horse’s eyes to be, the buttons on your shirt where you want your horse’s withers to be pointing and your belt buckle where you want your horse’s hips to be going.

After you jump the first fence, you should be looking at the lane of tennis balls you want your horse to travel through. Then, use your eyes and body to guide your horse through the lane of poles, and again through the next turn and to the second tennis-ball lane and fence. 

As you ride through your turns, think about how simple you can make each one. A course is essentially a bunch of turns stacked on top of each other, so this exercise will prepare you for riding smooth courses both at home and at competitions.

If you’re practicing this exercise without a trainer, bring out a white board and predetermine which tracks you’re going to do and in which order to hold yourself to your plan. In the moment, it can be tempting to change your plan to what seems easier, but that won’t help you improve your riding.

Variations

This exercise can be adapted based on what you’re working on and what you want to improve and is one of my favorites to help riders practice doing the opposite of their natural instincts so they can progress.

Once you’ve ridden through the exercise a few times, here are some ways you can vary it:

• Mix-up which tennis-ball lanes you ride through. In addition to riding inside lane to inside lane, middle lane to middle lane and outside lane to outside lane, try riding any combination of lanes. For example, inside lane to outside lane, outside lane to inside lane, middle lane to outside lane, etc. There are lots of different combinations at your disposal. 
• Count … or don’t. If you count your strides all the time, try not to. And the opposite is true, if you never count your strides, count out loud as part of the exercise.
• Play with the canter. Strive to maintain one lead through the whole exercise. Or determine where you will make your lead change—whether it be before the middle lane of poles, right in the lane, after the lane or anywhere on the course. Or, make sure you trot exactly five steps between the lane of poles and then change your lead. 
• Add circles. If you or your horse rushes to the fence, add circles anywhere and everywhere throughout the course
• Try trot or walk steps. Mix in a certain number of trot or walk steps at different places on
  the course.
• Fix your position. Almost any position exercise you can do on the longe line, you can do through this exercise because it’s so controlled. If you tend to sit and drive or if you do the opposite and perch, use this as an awareness exercise and make sure you are touching the saddle between the tennis balls and middle lane of poles, then get out of the saddle through the middle lane of poles, and the touch the saddle again between the middle lane and tennis balls. If you tend to pull on one rein to steer, ride it one-handed. 

Subtract the Noise for Success

If you struggle while practicing this exercise, think about how you’re communicating with your horse. Riders sometimes try so hard to get it right, they end up crossing too many wires with their horses. Are you overusing your aids? Are you sending conflicting signals?

Try doing less. If you’re still struggling, try doing even less. See how little you can do in this exercise. I’ve never seen this exercise achieved with force. There’s no way to kick and pull through it—you have to guide your horse. If you have to walk the exercise to be able to do it in harmony with your horse, that’s OK. 

I hope this exercise helps you find ways to get on the same team with your horse. You should always be striving to simplify your relationship and build a better partnership with every exercise you do.

For More:

To watch training videos with John Michael Durr, click here and subscribe to EQUESTRIAN+. Use code JOHN15 for 15% off your first month’s subscription.

About John Michael Durr

John Michael Durr has competed successfully in eventing, show jumping, dressage and hunters, developing horses to the upper levels and achieving top results. Mostly recently he switched his focus from eventing to show jumping, with successful grand prix results. He is the youngest person ever to achieve the highest level of certification through the USEA’s Eventing Coaches Program (Level 5) and is an FEI Eventing Level 2 and USEF Senior ‘S’ Course Designer. He also serves on USEA’s Licensed Officials Committee, Cross Country Safety Committee and Course Designer and Builder Committee. He is based at his Durr Eventing & Show Jumping in Tyron, North Carolina and Ocala, Florida.

Here’s why: Our national and international competition committees are continually raising the technical requirements of our sport, and our elite riders keep raising their proficiency. Part of their proficiency is based on the number of hours they spend daily in the saddle—most of which are sponsored. They are getting paid to practice. At the same time, the rising cost of riding and training makes it more and more difficult for you to develop your talents and perfect your skills.

Although it’s generally accepted that 10,000 hours of practice is necessary to reach elite levels of performance, the sad fact of the matter is that if you’re able to ride one horse a day, five days a week, it will take you a long time to log that 10,000 hours. Instead, you are going to spend a lot of your time hanging over the arena fence watching other riders while wishing you could be out there competing and improving.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that, as Yogi says, you can observe a lot just by watching … and thereby improve your riding. There’s a catch, however: You have to make sure that you’re observing and not just watching because there is a difference.

It Begins With Books

If it’s a given that you’ll have to develop the ability to learn by observation, then you must make sure that you’re watching the right things. Let me put it to you in a different way: If you want to develop your skills, you must learn to short-circuit the usual heuristic (learning by trial and error) process historically associated with learning to ride at an elite level.

There are several steps toward developing the ability to observe, to learn and to apply what you have learned. First, it will accelerate your learning process greatly if you have a sound understanding of the technical basis for modern riding. For example, what are the leg and rein aids? Where, when and how are they applied? Even though you may not yet be able to apply what you observe, you need to understand why certain things are happening.

You can find the answers to your questions by endless trial-and-error on your own, by taking extensive and expensive lessons or by reading books on the subject. While you cannot learn to ride solely by reading books about riding, you can certainly take advantage of the advice contained in good books.

Why not videos? Most of the videos I’ve seen are excellent, but most assume prior knowledge on the viewer’s part, which means you need to turn the pages in a book before you turn to videos as an aid to learning. Once you understand what is good and bad, video is an excellent learning tool. It enables you to watch the same exercise or competition again and again, using slow-motion and stop-action functions to analyze each step or stride of the horse and each action of the rider.

If the video is about a high-level show-jumping competition, and a horse has a knockdown or refusal, watch it again and again, trying to observe what happened to cause the mistake. When you watch videos of your own riding, avoid the temptation to concentrate on the winning performances; instead, watch your errors endlessly. The next time you ride, make sure you can prevent that mistake from happening.

Learning to Observe

One of the best things I ever learned from former U.S. show-jumping coach Bert de Némethy was to analyze what caused a mistake and to recognize when in a series of actions the mistake occurred. I was standing behind Bert one day, watching as usual, and a horse jumping a schooling course knocked down the front rail of a square oxer.

“So, Jimmy, where did the knockdown occur?” I immediately answered, “At the square oxer.” Bert replied, “No, it happened three fences before that, at the triple bar. The rider did not rebalance his horse after the big spread, and he was too much on his forehand to jump the oxer clean.”

At that moment, I understood that it was possible to observe far more than I had previously realized. My observational powers started to develop, and I no longer had to make a mistake in order to learn from it.

If you are one of those people who must learn everything yourself, all I can say is “good luck.” It is a positive attribute to learn from your mistakes, but you should not insist on making every mistake yourself because there are too many possibilities for error as we learn to ride. When you read a book, watch a video or observe a good rider, you are learning from someone who has already made innumerable mistakes. Profit from their experiences!

Before we get down to specifics, we need to discuss how to observe. When you first start to watch for the purpose of instruction rather than enjoyment, everything is a blur. The horse and rider have a knockdown or a refusal or a dressage movement goes badly wrong, and you are left to ask yourself, “What happened?” What happened is that you tried to see everything at once—and consequently ended up not seeing much of anything.

Instead, practice at first watching one particular part of the whole system. For example, concentrate on watching a horse’s left hock for several moments while you ignore the rest of the dressage test. Chances are that you will, for instance, notice a loss of regularity in the hind legs just before the horse comes above the bit.

Next, watch one front foot and try to determine how it and the opposite hind foot work together, and what happens when they are not harmonious. If you isolate various parts of the horse’s body and concentrate your observations on each aspect alone, you will eventually be able to “see” the whole body of the horse and understand how each part interacts to produce the performance you are watching.

Then, the next time you train your horse in dressage, you might feel the irregularity of his hind legs and know he is about to come above the bridle. This time, however, you will improve his engagement to keep him on the bit rather than pull on the reins in an attempt to “keep his head down.” You learned this valuable lesson without going through the hours of instruction that would have otherwise been necessary.

Education Through Observation

If you are unable to compete, go to an event as a spectator and sit on the rail of the warm-up arena. Devote 10 minutes to observing each horse’s eyes as he approaches an obstacle, ignoring the rest of the horse’s body. Try to feel what the horse sees and when he decides how he is going to meet the fence. Most horses make their decision long before the average rider “sees her stride,” which explains why coaches who insist that riders keep the rhythm in the final approach are successful. A horse traveling in rhythm is in balance, and balanced horses jump to the best of their abilities.

When does a horse jump well? Does he jump well when he is brought to the fence on the bit, just as in dressage? Or is he better when he has the plane of his face at roughly a 45-degree angle to the ground as he approaches? I think you can find the answer, but you have to observe carefully, not just watch.

When you watch cross-country, make sure to observe riders over both a combination and a single “fly” fence designed to be jumped at a high rate of speed. Again, concentrate on one thing at a time. Try to decide the correct place for the necessary speed change before the combination and the correct approach speed. At the fly fence, watch the riders’ actions in the approach. Do they sit down or do they sit back, and why? Which works better?

In all of these instances, make sure you imagine yourself in the saddle and mentally rehearse your actions based on your observations. I think this technique of observing explains in part why a skilled rider can get on a totally strange horse and immediately ride the horse better than his usual rider. The skilled rider has been watching—observing—hundreds of horses like the one she just got on, and she is mentally prepared to ride it.

We cannot spend all our time in the saddle, but we can observe carefully while grounded so as to be ready when the chance to ride presents itself.

For more with Jim Wofford, click here.

“Flat is the basis for all of it. This is where you build your habits and where you learn. This is where you develop the skills you need for jumping,” he said. “There’s no question that at certain times you just want to warm up and jump. But if you really want to improve, then you have to work and get things organized on the flat.”

In trying to better all your skills in the saddle, Teall advises to keep it simple, start at the beginning and take care of the details. “Figure out what you need to work on first in order to slowly and gradually get to the end of the story to where you can comfortably gallop and jump a course,” he said.

Here, Teall offers tips on how to establish good habits during your flatwork by finding the proper rein length and contact and correcting your hand and leg position. He also explains how the angles that make up a rider’s position affect your balance and in turn influence your horse.

Flatwork: Rein Length & Hand Position

“When we’re talking about rein length, you have the right length when you have contact with your horse’s mouth and your hands are at or a little in front of the withers. Your elbows should be a little in front of your body. If you’re not sure if your reins are the right length, they’re probably too long.

“Once you establish the right rein length at the walk, start trotting and find something you don’t like about your reins. Once you decide what to work on, go back to the walk to make adjustments or think about it. Riding is a balance between going, thinking, reviewing and going again.

“Your fingers should be closed and your hands should be slightly inside the vertical—not on the vertical, but just inside it. You can also think of it as following the slope of your horse’s shoulders with your hands.

“A lot of riders carry their hands a bit low and wide, but I’d like to see you carry your hands a little bit up and together. When I ride, I actually have one hand touching the other and carry my hands higher for two reasons. Number one, when your hands get low and wide, it makes it more difficult for you to balance. Two, if your hands are up and together, it will position your reins on either side of your horse’s neck, which will help you maintain steady contact.

“As you start to get the position of your hands more accurate by being up and together, you’ll naturally find the right rein length. Ideally, this will help you find steadier contact that your horse can accept and trust. Always think about maintaining very smooth, steady and even contact with your horse’s mouth. And in order to do that, you have to find balance through your leg and your base.”

Leg Position Is Key To Balance

“Your balance and the most important part of your position starts with your legs. To establish that base of support, your heels must be down, your leg is back and underneath you and your toes should be slightly turned out. Constantly think leg back, down and in. Everything that you’re doing at home in your flatwork is about building habits.

“A lot of people ride with their toes straight ahead. But I like for the toe to be slightly turned out at a natural angle; it should be just enough to free up your ankles, which in turn will allow your knees to relax. Once your knees relax, you can get your leg down and more around your horse. The longer your leg, the more secure you are.

“If you ride with your leg too open, you’re constantly going to be losing your balance backward and catching it in your hands. You should have a bit more of a closed feeling.

“Ultimately, you want independent hands and an independent seat. This starts from finding balance through your leg and your base during flatwork and then working with your hands out in front of you and not using them for balance.

“When trying to make changes, you’re better off working at the walk first. Get things exactly where you want them, walk, adjust again and then go back to trot. This way, you’re building good habits instead of just going around and around practicing bad habits.

“Another great exercise for leg position is to hold your two-point position at the walk or trot. Try to avoid looking in the mirror to see if you’ve got it right because that prevents you from developing feel. Instead, keep your eye up and feel where your leg is and where your toes are so that your balance starts to get better.

“Even in your two point, maintain feel with your horse’s mouth. You don’t want to go back and forth between no hands to heavy hands to no hands to heavy hands. The contact needs to be light but steady.”

Understanding Rider Body Angles

“An angle is the way two straight lines intersect. While riding, our position has four different angles: ankle, knee, hip and elbow. These angles can either be open or closed.

“The angle of your ankle is formed by your foot and calf; the angle at your knee is formed by your calf and thigh. Your thigh and upper body form the angle at your hip, and the angle at your elbow is formed by your forearm and upper arm.

“To lean forward on your horse, you must close your hip angle. You don’t want to lean forward from your waist because that will create roundness in your back, which is not only hideous but puts you in a weak position. You want a slight arch in the small of your back. That’s your strength on your horse.

“Practice leaning forward by bending through your hips at the walk. Keep your eyes up, lean forward and keep your back flat, leaning forward from your hips.

“At the posting trot, you should be inclined forward about 50 degrees inside the vertical to follow the motion of the trot. So, as you go to the trot, close your hip angle about 50 degrees in front. But as you close the angle, you must bend at your hips. This will allow you to stay down in your legs.”

For More:

• To watch the full video series with Geoff Teall on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• For Teall’s five exercises to develop your eye for distances and boost your confidence on course, click here.

~ Elle K., North Carolina

A: First, if you haven’t done so already, ask your veterinarian to check your horse for any medical problems that might be causing his thinness and lack of energy. The latter may be contributing to your posting style, encouraging you to press your weight deeper into the back of the saddle in an effort to drive him forward. This is more characteristic of the balanced seat taught in dressage than the forward seat taught in hunters and jumpers. Both are correct for their own purposes.

Dressage riders maintain a more upright upper body by swinging their hips forward during the up phase of the rising trot. Hunt-seat riders incline their upper bodies slightly in front of the vertical at all times, maintaining two straight lines perpendicular to the ground: one from hip to heel and the other from ear to shoulder to knee to toe. If you focus on maintaining these two straight lines, your body will post automatically in the forward-seat style.

During the sitting phase, instead of contacting the saddle with three points (two seat bones and the imaginary extension of your tailbone) like a dressage rider, sink down through your thighs, settling lightly into the front of the saddle. Be careful not to roll onto your back pockets. This will round your spine and collapse your upper body. It will also throw your hips behind your heels, destroying your alignment.

When you contact the saddle, distribute roughly one-third of your body weight into your seat, one-third into the insides of your thighs and one-third into your heels. Putting more weight into the saddle may be tempting—especially when you’re trying to push a lazy horse forward—but this driving seat should only be used sparingly in the hunters and jumpers, for example when reacting to a spook. In fact, some horses shrink off the pace when ridden with a deep seat. You may find that your horse’s stride opens up after you lighten your seat.

Finding Your Ideal Posting Position

Practice at the halt first. Ask a ground person to hold your leg still while you slowly rise out of the saddle. Concentrate on stretching your Achilles tendon (the back of your ankle) downward while stretching your hamstring (the back of your thigh) upward. Then recreate the same feeling at the trot. Imagine your horse is the ocean and you’re a cork bobbing on the surface, always following the motion and never impeding it. Allow his impulsion to trampoline your body up out of the saddle, naturally unbending your knees, then let gravity bring you back down.

Ask your trainer or a friend to tell you when your position looks properly aligned while you’re posting to help you recognize that feeling. Have someone video you during lessons, standing next to your instructor so you can see what she sees and hear her comments on the video. Dismount several times during the ride to review the video.

Once you’ve identified the feel of the new position, own it! Retraining your neural pathways requires frequent, correct practice of repetitive motions. Take about 10 minutes during each ride to focus strictly on your posting. Then relax and move on to something else. Be careful not to overdo it and freeze your body into a stiff position.

Making position changes like this can take a long time, especially if you’ve been riding this way for years. It is harder for adults, whose neural pathways are already established, than for children, who are still developing their neural pathways. Adding a fitness program to your routine can help. Anything that improves your body awareness and strength will also enhance your riding skills.

Meanwhile, re-educate your horse to your leg aids by following them up with an immediate cluck and tap of the crop. The moment he moves forward, reward him with a “good boy” and scratch on the neck. With repetition, he’ll learn to respond promptly to a light squeeze.

Be patient with him as well as yourself. Instead of trying to pursue perfection—which inevitably leads to frustration—pursue excellence!

About Mary Babick

Hunter/jumper trainer Mary Babick began her riding career in dressage and eventing while growing up in Washington, D.C. She traveled to the United Kingdom in 1979 to earn her British Horse Society Assistant Instructor certificate. Since then, she has also become a USHJA certified instructor and has helped riders from the lead-line to grand-prix level achieve their goals, both as horsepeople and competitors. Her students have earned many top honors at zone, regional and national competitions. Mary and her team combine riding and stable-management skills in their comprehensive teaching program based at her Knightsbridge Farm in Middletown, New Jersey. Their successful students include Whitney Roper, Abby and Meg O’Mara, Tilden Brighton and Maria Schaub among many others.

This article originally appeared in the May 2015 issue of Practical Horseman.

“This exercise can really help your horse become more adjustable,” he said. “And it’s an excellent training tool for riders because it keeps your eye moving and teaches you how to use your track, pace and momentum—all those good things that we need for the show ring.”

To set this exercise up, position three raised cavalletti (the height isn’t important here; you just want them slightly raised so your horse creates a little shape over them) on a curved line in the center of your arena so you can easily ride it from both directions. When you walk it, Hesslink notes that it should walk a very forward four or a very tight six, so it’s right on the half stride.

“The footage between the jumps stays the same,” he said. “But you’ll learn how do a variation of different stride numbers between each by collecting and lengthening your horse’s stride and by changing your track. I hope you have fun doing it.”

Here’s a highlight of Hesslink’s top tips on how to navigate this exercise in five, four and six strides and how to increase the difficulty with stride and track variations. Try incorporating this exercise into your regular training routine to improve your and your horse’s overall performance in the hunter ring.

Warm Up on the Flat

“When you’re warming up on the flat, practice collecting and lengthening your horse’s stride to make sure he’s listening to you. I ask Stewie to lengthen his stride by getting into a light seat or two-point position and then encourage him to almost go on in a hand gallop. Then, I’ll sit up and ask him to collect.

“Next, I’ll do a few upward and downward transitions to make sure he’s on my aids and doesn’t break to a trot when I ask him to slow and collect the canter. I don’t want him going sideways or looking around. He should go straight and forward when I ask him to extend. If you do this flatwork correctly, it will set you up for success when doing this exercise.”

Finding Five, Four and Six Strides

“To begin, I have my riders practice doing a set number of strides riding this exercise in both directions to encourage the horses to use the muscles on both sides of their bodies evenly. Like we talked about in the warm-up, this exercise requires you change your pace. You need to have a forward canter for the four, a collected canter for the six, as well as what I call a normal or ring pace for the five.

“Doing the exercise in five strides is going to be the more natural stride. In the six stride, your horse will have to collect himself and sit more on his hind end to add the extra stride, so you’ll want to slow your pace and use the wider track. The four stride will be the opposite. You’ll want to ride a more direct line and take the bend out of the curve per se. It’s also important that your horse is engaged, paying careful attention and looking for the next jump for those more forward rides.

“Ideally, you want your horse to land on the lead you’re tracking on, but if he doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world. You’re not going to get the lead you want every time in the show ring, so it’s important to practice and work through those moments.

“When collecting a horse for this exercise, it’s crucial that you don’t lose the quality of your canter. While it’s tempting to just pull on your horse’s mouth to get him to go slower, you want to make sure he continues to engage his hind end. You don’t want him to ‘tranter’ where he’s going more in a four-beat canter. He needs to maintain a true three-beat canter, which requires him to use his core and back muscles to make his stride physically smaller with sacrificing the quality of the gait.”

Up the Challenge With Stride Variations

“After doing the four, five and six strides in both directions, I have my riders start to do different variations of those strides to make the exercise more challenging. So, we might do four strides between the first and second cavalletti and six between the second and third. Then, we might do a five to a four. This is where your track really comes into play. The more direct the line you take the less space you have to make the four stride. When you take the wider or outside track, the more space you have to fit in the six strides.

“Again, make sure you establish a true canter for the forward four stride, but here it’s even more important that your horse is balanced. You don’t want him too low or inverted. Make sure he’s focused and his attention is on the jump in front of him. That way, he’s able to do the more direct track. If he’s a bit distracted going in at the more forward canter, he’s more likely to land on the wrong lead than when he’s collected.

“Riders of all levels in this sport utilize this exercise or some variation of it because it’s so beneficial for finding your pace, eye and track. But it’s not easy. It’s a very difficult exercise, so it’s important not get frustrated. It might seem simple, but every horse is different and tends to prefer one way of going over the other.

“When you work on bending lines like this, your approach to the first element is very important. For example, if I’m doing a six to a four, I might approach the first jump from the outside track and then move to the inner track across the jump to eliminate some footage to make the second part of the line in the more forward four strides.

“On the other hand, if I’m doing a four to a six, I would approach the first element from the inside track and then hold him straight or even slightly out on an angle to ensure I have more space to kind of exaggerate the line to allow the collection for the six to appear almost invisible.

“From the rider’s perspective, it’s essential that you remain balanced and centered on your horse to help him land on the correct lead after each jump. If you’re unbalanced or meet the jump at an awkward angle or you’re out of stride, your horse is more likely to land the outside lead which will through you off and create a domino effect. From that point, it’s going to be pretty hard to complete the exercise correctly. I hope these tips were helpful to you and your horse!”

About Geoffrey Hesslink

Geoffrey Hesslink owns and operates Hesslink Williams farm in Wellington, Florida, with his partner Brendan Williams. He is one of the leading hunter riders in the country and is a top trainer for juniors and amateurs in hunters, jumpers and equitation. Some of his most recent accolades include being named 2023 Pennsylvania National Horse Show Leading Hunter Rider, winning the 2023 $100,000 WCHR Central Hunter Spectacular at Traverse City Spring and placing second at the 2023 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship, both aboard Drumroll. And in 2022, he piloted Mon Tresor to the win in the prestigious $100,000 USHJA/WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular. 

For More:

• To watch Geoffrey Hesslink’s full lesson on changing your pace and track on a curved line of three raised cavalletti on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• To check out his lesson on how to ride gymnastics to improve your hunter rounds, click here.
• You can also watch his brand-new training lesson on how to execute proper hunter lines here.
• Learn how Hesslink fosters a positive training environment to instill confidence in both his students and horses here.

Coming soon: Be on the look out for more video training lessons with Hesslink, a barn tour of his stunning facility in Wellington, Florida, and for our exclusive interview with him and his longtime friend and business partner Bethany Lee, founder of My Equestrian Style.

Five-star eventer, natural horsemanship advocate and performance coach Chelsea Canedy uses groundwork in every aspect of her training program and finds that quality work from the ground carries over to your under-saddle work.

In Part 2 of Canedy’s groundwork series from her video collection on EQUESTRIAN+, she demonstrates how to introduce your horse to lateral work and circle transitions from the ground and explains how these exercises translate into valuable training tools in all your work. She also shows you how to navigate groundwork with a horse who’s on the less-motivated side.

Groundwork to Move Your Horse Laterally

“Teaching your horse to move laterally in response to pressure from the ground is an extremely useful tool to prepare him for under-saddle work. Under saddle, we might call this exercise a leg yield to the wall. You’ll approach your horse from a 45-degree angle with his head pointing toward the wall so that he’s moving away from your pressure on the ground or what would be your outside leg under saddle. I prefer to use a wall for the exercise because it provides a boundary so that when you go to apply pressure with your hand or stick, your horse understands you don’t want him to go forward. You want him to go sideways.

“This exercise also helps loosen your horse up a bit and by getting him to use and cross his hind legs over, and it keeps him light in response to the pressure you’re adding to his side.

“To start, I move my horse toward the wall at a slight angle and when I start to apply pressure with my stick, I do it up in front of his eyes so he starts to notice that I’m going to be stopping the pressure to prevent forward movement. Then as he paws and attempts to do something different—which is totally logical on his part—I just wait until he moves away from the little bit of pressure I’m applying near his flank.

“In an ideal world, I would get one movement from the small amount of pressure I apply. This horse tries really hard and will do a lot of things with a little pressure. But I would really love to be able to apply a small amount of pressure at his flank to get him to take one small step to the side. He tends to overdo it a bit, which is fine. Some horses are just that way. With other horses you might have to increase the pressure to get a response.

“If your horse tries to barge ahead or misinterprets your stick cue, apply pressure from the halter to indicate you don’t want him to go forward. The moment he’s gotten something right, make sure your body posture is very calm and relaxed. You’ll see how my horse here licks and chews and relaxes his eyes and ears, and I give him a little rub so he doesn’t get worried or overly sensitive.

“In the long run, I’d like to keep my horse more at a 45-degree angle rather than having his hips swing around, but I’m still going to reward him for moving laterally in the way I’ve asked him. Even though he’s a little distracted by the door here, I love that simple, quiet movement of his hip, so I’ll reward him by just letting him be for a bit.”

Transitions On a Circle From the Ground

“I use circling from the ground as a tool to continue building the connection with my horse and not so much for exercise or getting excess energy out. When you start circle work, keep your horse relatively close to keep his attention focused on you. The farther away your horse is, the more likely you’ll lose his attention.

“I start by backing my horse away from me, so I can send him on a circle around me without him intruding into my space. On circle work, always start with the lightest pressure or signal you can use and only increase that pressure as necessary. For my horses, I use one cluck for walk, two clucks for trot and a kiss for canter.

“I don’t use a barrage of aids because that’s like constantly putting your leg on and getting no response. I want one aid and one response. If I don’t get a response from the aid I’ve chosen, I back it up with a stronger cue until I get my horse to try. Then, I immediately go back to the lightest aid I was hoping to utilize.

“During circle work, I want to be able to stop my horse in his tracks or draw him back into me, because I’m always trying to balance the drive of my horse with the draw of him to me. When I draw my horse toward me, I take a step back and look for him to follow me with eyes and ears until he wants to walk toward me. When I feel like he’s in the right space in relationship to me, I ask him to stop. If he doesn’t, I put a little pressure on him until he does.

“To practice downward transitions, I simply slow my body down and breathe out. This is also a great way to see if your horse is paying attention to your intention. He should read my body language to understand we’re slowing down and stopping.

“You can change directions on your circle work without making any major adjustments. Simply ask your horse to come toward you by getting a little bit in front of him. Then, I’ll use my hand to lead him in the new direction. It’s about bringing your horse in and then pushing him back out based on your body position and where you’re focusing your energy. This requires you to have confidence in your energy and pressure. You can’t come in with hesitancy like ‘I don’t know if this really going to work,’ because your horse will read that and doesn’t know if you’re really sure about what you’re asking and if he should respond.”

Navigating Groundwork With a Less-Motivated Horse

“Here, I’m demonstrating how to manage groundwork with a horse who’s less sensitive and maybe a little lazier than the gray horse I was working with earlier. This guy, by nature, is slightly less self-motivated. For this kind of horse, the stick and string is a really good tool. It’s different than a longe whip because it’s shorter and has less flexion, but it has a nice, long string attached to it, so it allows you to reach out touch your horses’ hind end if you need to.

“I ask Kenny to move out on a circle by leading with my hand and adding a little pressure behind where my leg would go. Nothing happened, so I’m going to add a little more pressure. Then, I get a livelier walk and am careful to keep my energy behind what I refer to as the drive line or where my leg would be on the horse. Pressure behind this line will send the horse forward, and anything in front of that line should slow the horse down.

“When your horse is doing a good job, keep your arm relaxed, the stick down and stay quiet with your body. If you want to increase his pace, add a leading motion with your hand and double cluck. There he didn’t go, so I reach out and give him a light touch with the stick. Here, I’m demonstrating it slowly so you can see, but in real time, I would lead with my hand, cluck and apply pressure quickly if he doesn’t follow through the first time. This way, the horse associates the touch with the stick and string with the aid I just gave.

“What you don’t want to do is start throwing a bunch of aids at your horse all at once, pulling on him or saying ‘whoa’ over and over again. Settle your energy until your horse thinks he should slow down and stop. Then, quietly send him back out with a double cluck and he reacted much quicker.”

For More:

• To watch these episodes and Chelsea Canedy’s full EQUESTRIAN+ video collection on groundwork, click here.
• Read Part 1 of Canedy’s groundwork series on how to improve your connection with your horse by building trust from the ground here.
• For her tips on introducing cross-country obstacles from the ground, click here.

Dressage trainer and USEF “S” judge Melonie Kessler answers a reader question about the advantages of going sans saddle every once in awhile, and then we look at eight bareback exercises that your can incorporate into your riding. Plus, going bareback is tons of fun and a great way to change up your regular training routine.

How Bareback Can Improve Your Riding

Q: I watch kids at the barn ride their horses bareback, and they seem to have such secure seats. It makes me wonder if I should start incorporating some bareback rides here and there.

— Becky E., Vermont 

A: Bareback riding has many benefits for both horse and rider. Getting back to basics by developing your balance through effectively following the mechanics of your horse’s gait is invaluable to the discipline of dressage. The blending of two beings into one in order to perform smooth, harmonious exercises is only achieved when the rider has complete control of her own balanced body.

As in other sports, riders must rely on strong muscles and supple joints in order to support their balance, but with horseback riding, one must be constantly aware of the movement of the horse through the most elastic, supple seat and steady, supportive leg aids. This is what is referred to as “feel.”

Developing your feel through riding without a saddle is the easiest way to learn to comprehend the natural movement of each gait. The horse moves differently in the trot than in the walk and canter. Bareback riding can help you learn to catch the beat of the trot (a two-beat gait), which, for many riders initially, is their biggest challenge. If you are able to catch the beat of the trot, you have learned to use the right amount of isometric muscle tension.

An additional way to practice suppling your seat and coordinating your timing is to straddle a large yoga ball and bounce gently to emulate the motion of your horse in a steady, rhythmic trot. Work to keep the ball in motion with the rotation of your hips as you practice “sitting” the trot.

More Bareback Benefits

After successfully being able to sit the trot without bouncing, you can learn to influence your horse’s gait by understanding the principles of a closed seat and thighs to slow or stop your horse, and then to drive the horse forward by opening your hip angle and pushing him with your seat and back muscles. As in bareback riding, there is no saddle to buffer the aids, and you will learn to use smaller aids to achieve a greater response. Remember, this can be a difficult lesson to learn as your horse is a very sensitive creature and your legs without the additional layer of the saddle between your horse and your body might frighten the horse and create a nervous, tight back, resulting in negative tension and bad behavior.

When you are ready to work on the canter, remember it’s based on the same mechanics as the walk. This means that you swing your seat from back to front, and the bigger the swing, the bigger the stride. Bareback riding will open your hip angles and allow you to feel as if you are sitting “in” the horse as opposed to on top of him.

Bareback riding can be a lot of fun and it is a great workout for the hips and lower back. As you learn how to turn, start and stop your horse from your seat, the pieces of the puzzle will start to fall together soon and you will learn why the seat is the number-one aid.

I highly recommend that anyone interested in beginning to learn to ride bareback start on a school horse with experience in this style. If your own horse has not been ridden bareback before, you will want to have a helper steady him until he is comfortable with the feel of your legs and seat. After he accepts your weight without the saddle, he can be taught to understand your muscles’ meaning as they contract and relax, and his response time will become quicker.

Lessons from a qualified instructor with experience is also important as the safety of you and your horse is always most important. As with all sports, it looks easier than it is, so take it slowly and steadily, and enjoy the bonding you will have with your partner as you embark on developing and refining your aids.

Melonie Kessler is a USEF “S” dressage judge and a USDF bronze, silver and gold medalist. She is a graduate of Pleasant Hollow Farms Horse Career School in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. A successful competitor and trainer through Grand Prix level, she trains out of Spirit Equestrian in Somis, California.

For Safety & Success Going Bareback

• Helmet: Always wear a certified helmet to reduce your chances of head injury.
• Enclosed area: It’s always safest to ride in an enclosed space while bareback. You might feel more comfortable starting in a round pen and then progressing to an enclosed arena.
• Suitable mount: If your horse tends to be hot-tempered, spooks easily or he’s otherwise unsuitable to ride bareback borrow a more suitable mount.
• Bareback pad: If your horse has pronounced withers, an uncomfortable back or you’d prefer a little added grip for security, start in a bareback pad.
• Start sans stirrups: In preparation for going bareback, practice riding at the walk, trot and canter without stirrups. You might have underestimated how dependent you are on your stirrups for balance.
• Grab mane: Get in the habit early on of grabbing your horse’s mane for balance or consider a neck strap. This will help keep you anchored until you develop a more secure seat.

Bareback Exercises to Get You Started

Bareback demands superb balance from both you and your horse. Your weight and any small shifts in your weight will feel different to him without the barrier of your saddle. When riding bareback, make sure to sit upright and directly in the center of your horse’s back. Maintain a slight bend in your knees and allow your legs to lengthen and drape naturally around your horse, making sure not to pinch with your knees.

The below exercises start off super easy and then get progressively more challenging, and for many, you can increase or decrease the level of difficulty depending on your balance, skill level and progress.

1. Toe-Touches

At a standstill, hold both your reins in your left hand; extend your right arm above your head, reach over your horse’s withers and touch the toe of your left boot. Hold the stretch for several seconds. (If you can’t touch your toes, go as far as you can until your balance and flexibility improve.) Now, reach up with your right arm again and stretch down to touch your right toe. Repeat with your left arm.

• Benefits: You’ll learn how to balance in the center your horse’s back while shifting your weight from side to side.
• Up the challenge: Practice at a walk.

2. Walk

Simply practice walking in straight lines to get a feel for your balance while your horse is in motion. Continue walking straight until you gain confidence.

• Benefits: You’ll learn how to balance and get in rhythm with your horse while he’s moving and you’ll start to understand how your movement affects his balance.
• Up the challenge: At the walk, incorporate wide turns, circles and half-circles to feel how your balance changes as your horse turns.

3. Airplane

At a standstill, extend both arms directly out from your sides and slowly twist your upper body from side to side. Now, place your reins in one hand and extend your free arm forward toward your horse’s ears; then, stretch the same arm back toward the top of his tail. Repeat with your other arm.

• Benefits: Twisting at the waist will help you balance while your upper body moves; the stretches will help you balance as your weight shifts forward and backward—and both will help stretch and relax your lower back, which will allow you more freely move with your horse.
• Up the challenge: Practice at a walk.

4. Paddle & Scissors

Tracking to the left, hold both reins in your inside hand and extend your right arm directly out from your side. Each time your horse’s outside (right) front leg comes forward, bring your arm up above your head. Reverse and practice to the right. Next, instead of extending your arm up when your horse’s outside leg steps forward, bring it directly across your body in front of your chest so the motion is back and forth instead of up and down.

Benefits: The arm movements while in motion will further test your balance.

5. Ground Pole Square

Use four ground poles to build a large square in the center of your arena, leaving around 6 feet between each pole. Walk a large circle around the entire square in both directions; then, practice smaller circles inside the square. Next, circle each pole. You can circle in the same direction at first; then, circle right around one pole, left around the next and so on.

• Benefits: You’ll learn to balance while guiding your horse around circles of varying sizes, and the specific tasks will help you and your horse stay focused while riding in a larger area.
• Up the challenge: Once you get comfortable at the trot bareback, you can also practice this exercise at the faster gait.

6. Trot

Once you’re confident at the walk and are ready for a new challenge, add some speed. To get a feel for the quicker pace, start by trotting a short, straight line, from point A to B (use cones or elements of your arena to mark points). As you feel more secure, trot from point A to C, and so on until you’re comfortable at the faster gait for longer periods of time.

• Benefits: You might feel a little unstable at first, but learning how to remain centered at the faster, bouncier gait will help solidify your bareback seat, preparing you for more challenging work.
• Up the challenge: Practice collecting and extending your trot and try posting to really give you inner thigh muscles a workout. Then, practice trotting wide turns and circles to get a feel for the faster gait as your horse turns.

7. Ground Pole Chute

Place two poles parallel to each other about 6 or 7 feet apart and walk through the middle of the “chute” using your legs to keep your horse straight. After several passes, have a helper gradually move the poles closer together so that each time you have to navigate a narrower space.

• Benefits: This will show whether you’re sitting in the true center of your horse’s back. He’s going to have a difficult time remaining straight if you’re leaning to one side or the other. If you lean left, for example, it will be easier for him to “escape” your weight by moving to the right; as a result, he might hit or step over the pole to your right.
• Up the challenge: You can also do this exercise at a trot or canter.

8. Serpentine

A basic serpentine, this pattern involves walking a series of connected S’s back and forth across the width of your arena. Pick up a walk along the fence line at either end of the arena; if you’re tracking to the right, slightly bend your horse to the right as you approach the end of the arena and then execute a smooth half turn so you’re now walking in the opposite direction. Straighten your horse back up; this time, as you approach fence, bend your horse to the left in preparation for a half turn to the left. Continue until you reach the end of the arena.

• Benefits: Even though it’s crucial that you remain centered on your horse while bareback, this exercise will teach you how to sit slightly to the outside of his back in order fluidly stay with his motion as you execute smooth, balanced turns. It will also sharpen your rein and leg aids, because it forces you to focus on setting your horse up for a new turning point with each loop of the serpentine.
• Up the challenge: Once you master this at the walk—and well after you’re confident trotting bareback—you can do this exercise at the faster gait. At the trot, make your turns wider at first and then challenge yourself by making them tighter

Over time, as you gain confidence and solidify your bareback position and balance, you can progress to canter work and even going over poles or small jumps. However, if you’re still new to going sans saddle, it’s always best to ride bareback under the supervision or your trainer or another professional. Above all, have fun!

For More:

• To check out several bareback riding demonstrations and training exercises, watch this video series on EQUESTRIAN+.
• Learn more about the biomechanics of riding bareback here.