How to spice up our workout?

[amanti20]

We tend to get a bit bored when we flat around most days. I typically like to work him at the walk, trot, and canter. I will ask him to make figure of eights and to periodically stop and back up. However, there is only so many times one can do this without getting bored.

Does anyone have any tips that could help challenge us, both physically and mentally? I would even appreciate any stretching tips I could use on him. Just something to break the cycle.

Thanks!

[canadianbeaver]

try shoulder-in, travers, half-pass, leg yielding the wrong way(so it's more difficult for your horse) there are some good websites you can find to show you how to do them.

[kedwards]

Which exercises will be appropriate for you depend on the level of the horse and your current goals of training.

Poles and cavelletti are great for schooling and exercising. At the simplest level, you can just walk and trot over a single pole. If the horse is already comfortable with poles, a trot grid (set correctly for your horse's stride) is a great way to encourage him to lift his back and stretch out. You can also use poles to mark certain points in figures, concentrating on keeping even striding between them and riding exactly through the center of each.

You can work on accurate transitions. If you have letters in your arena, plan to ask for transitions at specific letters. If you don't have letters, practice at markers or do a certain number of strides in each gait before asking for a transition. You can also incorporate figures and transitions together, for example, trot a circle, then come back to a walk as you head down the rail (or vice versa). Do a 3-loop serpentine and ask for a halt in the center of the ring after each loop. If you do a figure-8, try cantering the first circle, trotting the second (with the transition right in the center), then halt exactly in the center as you finish the second circle.

You can work on exercises of the rider. For example, you can work on your galloping position or you can work without stirrups. If your horse is agreeable, you could also do stretching and balancing exercises without stirrups. You can bring your legs off the horse for brief periods or scissor your legs back and forth to stretch. Holding the reins in one hand, you can hold the other up, then touch the small of your back, then circle it around in a big circle... to work on balance and lengthening your body.

[wanabe]

A lesson is only an hour, max, right?

I don't know how advanced you are but I assume you can sit and post the trot, 2-point the trot, "sit" the canter and 2-point it, and do these in both directions, do jumps, flying lead changes. I'm just a beginner but I know there is a lot more than that to learn. How can you possibly run through practicing all that in an hour?

That said, maybe it's time for you to take a break from lessons. I know when I get to a certain point (a long time from now!) I'm going to have to get away from the arena to learn how to sit and 2-point the gallop. After that, I plan to go on our local endurance rides which are 75 miles and include all forms of riding.

[Slewster05]

My favorite thing to do is take a radio out with my horse and I into the arena and we turn it on and work out. We start of with some equine pilates and then ride our flat work. Then we move on to ground poles and then jump. After jumping we walk out a bit without stirrups and strech some more. Most of the time it is just myself riding so going around and around in circles gets really boring. The music has a calming effect on both horse and rider and it is a good time judge. Example: Active walk two songs each way, Trot three songs each way, Sitting Trot one song each way, Two-point one song each way, Canter one song each way, Two-point canter one song each way. My horse is also anhidrosis so commercials he gets sponged down from saddle position and told what a meat head he is. LOL