I’m looking for jump exercises for the winter. I have 3 jumps and a bigger cavaletti, right now (that I can move, have some natural fences and a zig-zag). Are there any good exercises I can do or a way to set that keeps us both entertained?
try 101 jumping exercises book
Nothing like grid work to bring on a horse. lots of combinations and ways to be creative.
We loooooove gymnastics at my barn in the winter. We do lots of in and outs, putting 2 or 3 cavaletti before a grid, and on flat days do work over canter poles. One of my favorite exercises (as an anxious rider) is a long approach to a single with a canter pole set around 5 strides out on the approach. We also go through a gymnastic and then take a long gallop around the ring to a line. Another favorite of mine is a gymnastic, usually just an in and out, sometimes with a small oxer and then a pole after 6 strides. I’m a very anxious rider and tend to ride defensively, so grid work and poles really help me find distances/where I am in a line and develop a stronger position over jumps as well as challenging me and my horse to work together.
If you have a tiny arena like the barn where I ride and not many jumps to work with, it’s a great time to work on flying changes over jumps if you and your horse are at that level. Just set up one jump right in the middle and do figure eights over it. Add some other stuff in too (circles, change direction, transitions) so the horse doesn’t get board.
Another exercise I’ve done in a lesson, though I’m not sure how useful it is, was setting up 3 jumps in a row. Not like a line but side by side. You can make a little course out of it.You can have more combinations by jumping the middle one on a diagonal which would be a good exercise if you do jumper.
Other than that, I like grid work too.
Don’t forget the “ring of death” - 4 fences (or poles on the ground), each at 90 degrees to the next:
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2-4 strides between, depending on your masochism level. You can also use the same setup to do cloverleafs (jump, rollback right, jump, rollback right, etc; repeat doing the rollbacks to the left).
Endless hours of fun.
Ah! Thank you everyone. I like the ‘circle of death’ type exercises. We have been doing a bunch of grid work this summer. I will continue to do it, but I want to set up something different for a little while. We both need to keep entertained.
If you have anything to help me, I am a more experienced rider (no professional or anything), but I went through a lack of confidence period after being a WS and crash testing all the babies. Luckily, I’ve had two great horses that jump anything after that. They helped me build my confidence back up, but now I have trouble second guessing my distances. I’ve been riding a lot of grids to help get my horses feel, but I still have a bad habit of second guessing myself. My horse is really a saint… Thank god he can get us out of anything.
Right now, I have a trot in cavaletti to a long three or short four verticle (or oxer if I want). I’ve been drilling this for a while, because he needed adjustment exercises (which he has been doing like a seasoned vet), and I needed distance exercises. We also have a single that gives us a short time to make a decision of which way we are going, left or right… because he likes to go WEEE after fences! We are both just getting bored.
I’ve been wanting a circle of death, but I never knew exactly how to set it up. Anything else fun like that, that I can do with four-ish jumps?
