Straight line exercises?

[camilouwho]

Help!

My mare is currently living at a place which is free but ring/arena-less. That means we ride in the yard or the pasture. But with all the nasty, nasty weather lately it’s been really hard because it absolutely tears up the ground. With three horses on three acres we really can’t afford to lose any pasture and obviously I’m not allowed to just tear the yard up. So lately I’ve been doing hill sets on one tiny strip of pasture and trying to keep the damage minimal. However, I’m thinking about branching out to the dirt road beside the house.

My question is, any suggestions for straight line exercises? The road isn’t even big enough to do 10 M circles and I don’t want to do anything too intense because it’s very hard packed and I worry about her knees. I have to do SOMETHING though! No work is driving us both crazy!

[Halt_Near_X]

Lateral work appropriate to the level you are schooling at. Transitions within and between gaits. Shallow serpentines. Put some poles or cavalettis out.

[merrygoround]

A wave from one side of the road to the other and back,using just your legs. LY, L LY R,Turn on haunches, Turn on forehand, H/I, S/I.

What ever you do, you will still be cross-eyed with boredom though. Can you trailride?

[camilouwho]

[QUOTE=merrygoround;7410814]
A wave from one side of the road to the other and back,using just your legs. LY, L LY R,Turn on haunches, Turn on forehand, H/I, S/I.

What ever you do, you will still be cross-eyed with boredom though. Can you trailride?[/QUOTE]

There aren’t great places to ride around me really. I could trailer out probably at least once a week but for my everyday schedule it just isn’t realistic There is a large church yard across the street that there are kids in all the time except for early in the morning. I could probably get away with riding over there a couple times a week if I picked up her poop…

[2tempe]

I’ve been in the unfortunate position of rehabbing a mare from two colic surgeries in less than a year. We have spent a LOT of time walking under saddle and then adding trot, yada yada.
I will say that I’m amazed how much can be done at the walk, even on a road. Few steps - 5-6 - of straight walk, few steps shoulder in, straighten, then SI the other way. Add haunches left then straight then haunches right. Add 1/2 pass at the walk. BUT the trick is to keep the horse at very steady pace and contact, with no variation as you move from one position to another. Keeping them all at just a few steps keeps YOU thinking re seat, aids, half halts. Then same kind of thing at the trot. You can do this type of thing one way on the road, turn around and do transitions on the way back. Do them close together, require the horse to stay round and soft and move only off the lightest aid.
Yes, it can get boring, but look at it as a challenge and see how good you can make it. Horse will end up more supple and more responsive.