SUPPLE UP OUR RIDER
Pony Nuts Pony Nuts, aka Gracie, is an eventing blogger who has more than 150,000 followers on Insta! She owns Bella, Johnny, Rocco and Danny.
Check out this awesome exercise from social media star Pony Nuts
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’m a big fan of riding over poles. I like that they give me something to focus a schooling session on, and they’re great for keeping my horses and ponies interested in their work, too. There’s loads of ways you can use them to help improve your own pony’s paces, and I find them especially useful for working on suppleness and straightness. The exercise here’s one of my faves because it’s easy to set up, and you only need three poles.
Set it up
tre line, Place three poles down the cen rox (app rt each two canter strides apa can you a, aren an e 6m). If you don’t hav eld. fi at fl a in e rcis ride the exe
10M
Before you start
Top tip
Remember to approach the poles from both reins, to make sure you work your pony evenly.
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PONY magazine
Spend 10-15 mins warming up your pony in walk, trot and canter before trying this exercise. It’ll make sure his muscles and joints are prepared for work. You can introduce the poles to him in your warm-up by walking and trotting around, over and between them.
How to ride it 1.
2.
Begin in walk, making sure your pony’s marching forward, and approach your first pole. Try to keep as straight as possible and aim for the very middle of the pole. As soon as your pony steps over the pole with his front feet, start to ride a 10m circle to the left. Look up and ahead to where you want him to go, and open your inside hand a little to guide him. Press your inside leg on the girth to ask him to bend and place your outside leg just behind the girth to
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support his quarters. Keep a steady contact on your outside rein to control how much bend he has. Complete your circle by riding over the centre of the first pole again, then head straight to your second pole. This time, circle 10m to the right as you step over your middle pole. Complete the pattern by riding over the third pole and circling to the left. When you’ve ridden the exercise a couple of times in walk you can also try it in trot.
Up the challenge
Have a go at circling to the left, then to the right, over each of your poles. This means you’ll be riding six 10m circles, which will really test your pony’s flexibility!
Top tip
Try to guide your pony round the 10m circles by using your legs more than your hands. This will stop him bending too much to the inside.
More ways than one
The great thing about having the poles set out this way is you can ride over them in loads of other ways, too! • weave between the poles in a serpentine shape to work on straightness and bend. You can add in transitions each time you go through the poles • practise straightness by going over the very middle of the poles in trot. Then approach again, but choose a path that takes you takes
you to the left or right of the centre and try staying as straight as possible. Using stripy poles will help • ride lots of transitions by asking for a change of pace each time you go over a pole • improve your pony’s canter by riding over the poles and thinking about the rhythm they’ve helped you create. Then try and keep those energetic, even strides all the way round the arena
PONY magazine
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