by Jenny Richardson BHSAI

During the spring and summer months, it is just so lovely to ditch the schooling in favour of lovely ambles in the countryside but if you’re not careful it’s easy to neglect the carefully structured regime of training and discipline that keeps our horses structured and well behaved in their work.

Keep it interesting

It is very easy in the arena to be too repetitive and we must avoid the possibility of boredom setting in for both horse and rider. Here are a few changeable and interesting routines to keep you both on your toes and enjoy the sessions.

Flatwork techniques

It is very easy just to stick to your twenty metre circles and riding large around the arena, but there is plenty of unexplored territory! How about you try to ride a square instead of a circle, using pivot turns and a diamond shape is another good one. Use the letters and sides of your arena to pinpoint your shape. Always start in walk and progress on through the paces. Try a spiral where you begin with a large circle and slowly make the circle smaller, say, to around five metres and then leg yield out until you are back to your original size circle. A good straightening exercise is to ride down a three-quarter/centre line as straight as possible. Horses do tend to drift and this is always one of the more difficult tasks to perfect.

Mix it up

Often, exercises will be aimed at trot or canter but how about mixing it up a bit and setting up some trot poles along one three-quarter line, canter poles on the opposite side and the same across the two diagonals. This will keep you both alert and thinking ahead and will involve plenty of trot/canter transitions both up and down and in both directions. You can even include walk transitions in between the poles if you want to be a little more advanced.

All exercises should be performed on both reins equally to produce flexibility and rideability and will improve the enjoyment of your hacking days for you both. You will enjoy your beautifully behaved horse and he will be very happy pleasing his rider.

As you will see from our main website, Castle Leslie Estate is one of Europe’s finest equestrian playgrounds. If you need to hone your skills, why not investigate Castle Leslie Estate’s fabulous ‘Get Back Your Confidence’ riding trip? Our dedicated team of experts, which includes myself, coordinates a five day package that includes three hours’ of daily lessons. Guests can choose the type of lessons they want, based on their individual needs. Visit www.castleleslie.com

For articles and info on equestrian matters please visit www.pegasus-magazine.co.uk . This is the website of the UK’s Pegasus Magazine. Visit http://pegasus-magazine.co.uk/magazine to Discover More and read articles.