Creative schooling
Schooling at home need not be boring. Dressage rider Kate Cowell looks at three exercises to develop suppleness, submission and balance while keeping the session interesting for you and your horse
Three key exercises to improve engagement and self-carriage
NOT GOING OUT to compete during the pandemic has meant I’ve spent more time at home training. Being able to fine-tune my horse’s way of going has been great, but finding ways to keep training sessions interesting for the horses has been a challenge. However, with a little inspiration and planning, you can tailor sessions to make them more challenging while working on your horse’s submission to the aids, balance and suppleness.
When training my horses, I use the Equisense Motion, a piece of kit that monitors various parameters so I can track the horse’s training. It also gives over 300 exercises. These are my favourite three 15-minute ones. They vary in difficulty, but all can be ridden in walk, trot or canter.
EXERCISE 1 HALF TURN ON THE HAUNCHES
This low-impact exercise develops the horse’s suppleness, submission and balance, and the rider’s independent aids.
❶ Start at walk on the right rein and perform a half turn on the haunches to the right (a working pirouette). Turn your body in the direction you want to go. Keep your contact pliable and soft in the walk.
❷ Once back on the track, proceed in trot on the left rein into a half 20m circle and allow the horse to slightly stretch its neck.
❸ Do a trot-walk transition and develop a turn on the haunches to the left.
❹ To help you do this, begin by riding a 5m circle with haunches in. With practise you’ll be able to ride a smaller, more demanding turn as your horse becomes more supple.
EXERCISE 2 CHRISTMAS TREE
This exercise helps to improve the horse’s lateral work and reaction to the rider’s aids. It develops suppleness, engagement, effectiveness of the aids and quality of the gait.
❶ From one short side, turn on to the long side and leg-yield inwards a couple of metres. Ride forward for a few steps. Use your opposite leg to straighten your horse and not the reins.
❷ Leg-yield again, away from the arena fence.
❸ Ride forward for a few steps and ride a half 10-12m circle at the top of your arena so that your horse is facing the opposite way.
❹ Now follow steps one to three again, this time leg-yielding out towards the outside track away from your other leg so that you mirror the work you did on the other side of the arena.
❺ You can ride this in walk, trot or canter.
❻ If you have them, use poles as tramlines to ensure your straight lines are truly straight.
EXERCISE 3 FOUR CORNER CANTER CIRCLES
This is quite an intense exercise that develops collection. It is great preparation for collection, and I’ve also found it really helps the horse develop an even contact in each hand, preventing one-sidedness. It’s also a great rider-straightener. The combination of straight lines and circles develops your horse’s selfcarriage. Don’t feel daunted, it’ll still help even in walk.
❶ Start in walk or trot. Ride on the ¾ line and in each corner, ride a circle.
❷ Continue on the ¾ line and perform another circle in each of the corners.
❸ You should always remain on the ¾ track in between your circles.
❹ Develop an equal contact on each rein and think about your own balance on the horse. Aim to keep each circle the same size.
❺ Once you have established this in walk and trot, do it in canter. Keep the rhythm consistent. Keep it steady to start with and then develop the energy as the horse builds confidence.
❻ For more developed horses, increase the degree of difficulty. Try the exercise in canter with a simple change or flying change to the outside lead every time you go down the long side.