excersises

[BRAMBLE]

I tend to get bored doing flat schooling, - and so does my pony and he gets destracted! - as i run out of ideas on what to do!!!
I do cerpentines, circles, leg-yielding, direct transitions, flying changesetc.
But are there anythings that i could do to make it more interesting...
Ohyeah by the way i don't have any poles to use!!! :o

[Leksi]

Hmm.. start doing some lunge work before you get on. Get him moving and challenge him, push him to start using his hind end (urge him forward, but don't allow him to break his gait) and begin working things like the canter from the walk, etc. Refine the things he is good at, make his lead changes faster and smoother, work on your own riding. Do balance work and practice making your riding more quiet and subtle. Try to make him canter without the cues being visible. (Apply pressure with outside leg, use your fingers to pull the inside rein instead of moving your whole arm to pull).

Do you have any kinds of poles? Any type of large stick you could set as a trot pole? Put a few down and trot him over. Read up on pole work, it can harm the horse if not set correctly.

I also like playing games with my students to keep them from getting bored also, do you have a friend you could school with?

Some easy ones are "red light, green light" which works on halt and stand while having fun, "follow the leader", and "transitions".

In transitions, one person says a gait or movement (hopefully not someone playing the game), and the first person to get into that gait wins a point. They must exhibit correct riding style, and not flail and kick about to get their horse into the gait first! First to 10 points wins.

I hope this helps! Schooling can become boring, and make you and your horse ring-sour. I hope this gives something to challenge yourself on, and some games to keep you entertained.

[FreedomStar]

Well, you can always gather some friends and play mounted games. Simple games, like egg and spoon, water in a cup, etc. Or you can always work on you. :D Things like driving reins (when riding), backward stirrups, jockey stirrups, reins in opposite hands, no stirrups, etc.

[kedwards]

Sometimes it is the frequency, precision, and combination of exercises that makes them interesting.

Just doing some leg yields down the long side and random circles in the school is boring, but doing a leg yield across the diagonal to H in trot, picking up the canter and doing a half-circle to M, then dropping to trot and leg-yielding across the diagonal the other direction is much more interesting. Doing figure 8's can be boring, but if you did one circle of the figure 8 in trot, transitioned to canter in the center for the second circle, then halted to complete the figure, it becomes much more interesting and challenging. For another example, doing a leg-yield down the long side away from the wall to a turn-on-the-forehand to a leg-yield back down the long side toward the wall, is more challenging than doing either of these exercises on their own. If that's easy, add a canter transition in the corner after the second leg yield, drop to trot at C or A, and repeat the whole exercise down the opposite long side with the leg yeild starting away from the wall.

These are just random examples that may or may not be appropriate for you, but the basic point is that all of these sorts of basic figures and exercises can be made more interesting if you plan ahead to make combinations that will be moderately challenging for you and your horse.