Favorite Ground Pole Exercises

[hj0519]

Does anyone have some favorite/fun ground pole exercises to share (or even just flatwork exercises without poles)?

My horse and I are going to be on our own for a couple of weeks while my trainer is away, and I know if all we do is trot and canter around in circles for two weeks straight, we’ll both be bored silly!

I’d like to work on managing her stride (it gets huge!), transitions within gaits (we’re good at going at an average pace and pretty good at extending, but not so good at collecting), and straightness (she’s a wiggle worm down lines!), if anyone has any ideas for those kinds of things.

I’ll be asking my trainer for exercises to work on as well, but thought I would see if anyone here had something fun to share.

[KateKat]

Get the book 101 Jumping Exercises. A lot of very good ground pole exercises in there.

But some of the basics I always like to do is setting up a strided ground pole line (lets say 6). Ride it in 6, then 7, then 8, then back to 6 etc etc. Its great for your eye, adjustability, feeling when you’re on a 12 ft stride versus 9, etc. Super simple but hard to do well.

Also, if you can I used to love doing ground pole courses. I would just drop all the poles on the fences already set up in the arena, and then make up my own course. Almost felt like I was doing the real thing :lol:.

[nenomit]

Jec Ballou’s book 101 Dressage Exercises is a great resource for exercises involving ground poles. I ride some hunters, but mainly western, and am never bored for lack of stuff to do with my boy.
My personal favorite is a circle with a pole on all four “sides”. I work it on a trot, controlled canter.

[IPEsq]

What Kate said.

4 ish Trot poles set for different length strides are also good working on in-gait transitions.

Bending lines are a good place to start with the changing the step exercise. Then you can work on some straight lines. Lines that have bounce poles on either end also can help adjustability.

And the 4 pole circle.

[pryme_thyme]

Definetly get the 101 Jumping exercises.
I really like poles set in a fan. Whether it is set for trot 4.5ft -5ft spacing or canter 10-12ft depending on your horse.
I typically choose a slightly more collected spacing since I use this to work on my and my horse’s flexibility and coordination.
It really helps with suppling.

Ask me how difficult it is to maintain the proper bend on a circle of poles… Ha! I swear my brain is ‘single core’. I can only think of one thing at a time, maybe two if I am having a good day.

Raised canter poles are fantastic as well, really helps with balance for both rider and horse. Set 10-12ft apart.

For a horse with a larger stride, it would benefit them to do more work in a collected stride. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between large stride and getting strung out.
Any form of pole work will help with straightness really. You may also want to work on transitions before and after the pole exercise. Really encourage the horse to listen to your aids and since going through the poles will straighten the horse it is a good time to ask for transitions.

[norcalammie]

You can also have the 4 poles set up as described above but lets say you start on the left lead, canter over the pole, turn left and circle to the next pole, canter that pole and circle to the next pole, etc. The do it on the right lead. Make it harder by getting the same number of strides between the poles. (Hope I explained it well.)

[RugBug]

“Joe Fargis” poles are AWESOME for transitions. I do them almost every ride

Put two poles out, parallel to each other. I like to do them standard trot distance apart so I can also use them as trot poles, but you can go narrower, which will help with staying straight in your transitions.

You can start at the walk and just walk between the poles.
then walk and halt in the middle
then walk through but trot at the end.
then trot and walk at the beginning of the poles
Then Trot, walk at the beginning of the poles and then trot as you are exiting.
then Trot and pick up the canter as you are exiting
Then canter, trot
Then canter walk
Then canter, walk, canter
ETC until you can’t think of another type of transition to do.
If your horse starts anticipating the transition, do a different type or just canter through. Keep mixing it up.

Basically, the poles help keep you straight, they give you a place to target and don’t let you cheat (oh, I’ll walk at the sprinkler, but you don’t get the walk until 5 strides after). They make you be prompt and accurate.

*I call them Joe Fargis poles because I learned them in a clinic with him.