Pole Work/Gridwork/Cavaletti Challenge!

[StraightForward]

This thread is for anyone who would like to use weekly cavaletti, grids or ground pole exercises. I know Chisamba already comes up with some really creative exercises. I will need to haul my jumps back out of winter storage.

In my last riding lesson my instructor had us canter up to trot-spaced poles raised at one end, then transition to trot within a couple strides, trot over the poles and pick up canter again with the goal of staying more together but also keeping the swing in the back through the transitions. So that is my first contribution.

For this weekend, I think I will set up a small jumping grid as we have barely jumped this winter other than tossing over the odd x-rail when someone else has happened to set it up.

Goal for Tesla - 2 trot poles.

Next idea: 3 raised cavaletti to trot over, and then 2 ground poles at canter distance, working towards going over both on a 20-m circle, trotting half and cantering half.

Horse and Rider UK - Challenging Cavaletti Exercises with Ingrid Klimke
Horse Sport - 8 Great Four-Pole Exercises

[StraightForward]

Horse Journal - 9 Best Cavaletti Exercises
Practical Horseman - Cavaletti Training for Every Horse and Discipline
Pinterest - 34 Cavaletti Patterns

[heddylamar]

When I'm riding (side eyeing Ms. Maia), one of my fellow boarders and I regularly set up grids and cavaletti.

One of my favorites for Anzia (and friend's mare) is a walking exercise with four poles set similar to in the Bow Tie fan (SF's Horse Journal Link) set at 4' apart at the center of the poles. The end where all the poles come together gets propped up on a standard with 2 cup heights, and 2 poles propped up on the foot of the standard. Neither of our mares like to bend their hocks.

For Maia, I like to set pole-raised cavaletti-pole across the diagonal, or down the middle of the arena, to canter through. The goal is to get her to respond quickly to my half halts. Some day, when she finally gets that, we'll graduate to a similar exercise on a circle.

[Ryeissa]

yes! I love cavaletti. Some of it can be quite hard. I have some of the books that are available online.

[Ryeissa]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/equestrianpoleclub

[Chisamba]

fabulous thread and contributions

[Ryeissa]

https://www.equinepolework.com/

[StraightForward]

We have our homework done for the weekend using stuff that was already set up in the arena. On a 20 meter circle, a single pole at 3:00 and 9:00, and a little towards the inside of the circle at 6:00 3 trot poles. First I did shallow counter canter loops going over the single poles. That went well to the right, but on the left A would get flat and rush over, or leap and switch leads. So we went to cantering over both directions on a 20 m circle (going outside of the trot poles obviously). Still have the L/R lead switching problem until I got her more straight and connected into the outside rein. Eventually got some nice canter over both directions and she started to learn that she could shorten and adjust her stride instead of falling apart and leaping. Good practice for me ensuring I'm not overbending her to the left, and maybe we can work up to poles at 12, 3, 6 and 9 eventually.

The trot sequence with the single pole, then triple then single was also good for getting her to stay together and not rush. Next time I think I will try doing 2 poles at each quarter and see how it goes.

If we do some grid work tomorrow that will be extra credit.

Tesla was having one of those days where being caught from the pasture was the entire training session, so no poles for her.

[blob]

Thanks for starting this thread, SF!

I did the bow excercise in that link above with MM and it was quite tough. Getting the right level of bend on that curve. I think I might have set up for too tight of a bend--which was more of a challenge than we needed.

I did a variation with RP, where I walked the poles and then trotted the rest of the pattern. He still has some residual anxiety from his hunter days with poles. So trying to make them nbd.

Tomorrow or Monday I'd like to do a standard line of trot poles for MM and work on increasing distance between the poles over the next few weeks to help with our extended trot work

[Chisamba]

I tend to invent seasonal designs and then plan multiple ways to use them.

so we have done a Christmas tree, a star ,a key, a shamrock, a candy.. the fantastic thing about this is the horses do not get bored with repetition. most often you can silly go straight, or serpentine or loops

[Ponichiwa]

Have had a couple cavaletti days this spring. Accidentally set a line too close together and ipso presto, baby passage. Not repeatable, but still adorable.

Every time I lay out a grid (or, if I'm honest, ride something that someone else has already put up because I'm lazy about arena accoutrements), I'm humbled by the lack of accuracy that I evidently have in my riding. So this is a good reminder.

[Kyra's Mom]

I ran across this article several years ago. I haven't really set it up much but the few times I did it was amazing.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/543387511263504182/

It isn't all going over poles but a lot of exercises and usable for all training levels. I need to make me a "measure" rope/twine so I get the dimensions right and try it again soon.

[Chisamba]

we are doing a candy this week the simplest version, straight through in trot.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=369779850736725

[Kirby's Keeper]

Kyra's Mom, I have used those patterns over the winter with my students. They love the challenge and work on it outside of our lessons. Sure helps get us through the winter in the dark arena. My students are all older newby riders who at this point only do walk and trot. Using patterns like this has really helped them improve their riding to the point that they now have the confidence and skills to begin canter. It has also given their horses some novelty to keep them engaged during the lessons. Lots of good pattern ideas on Pinterest and some new ones to try from you all!

[StraightForward]

No patterns yesterday, but we did jump some crossrails including a canter bounce. Annabelle has gotten so much better at finding a spot and cantering in to a jump. God knows I don't give her much help. I need to schedule a couple jump lessons.

[StraightForward]

Today we did four trot poles, making sure to HH before the poles to develop cadence going over, then moved on to the cantering in/trot over/canter out exercise. Also started out with 2 canter poles and worked up to 3 canter poles. A handled it so much better than when we attempted canter poles in the fall. Next up will be cantering raised cavaletti.

[blob]

Lunged MM over trot poles today. Tracking right, I was able to get them 7 heel to toe feet apart. But going left 6 was her max, which I found interesting.

Rode RP over normally spaced trot poles and struggled to keep his back up through all 5. First 3 ok, last 2 he just wanted to drop the back and lift the head. Not naughty, I think just a strength and figuring it out thing. Next time will try to see if I can get him to take them in stretch trot without getting stressed

[Chisamba]

I do not change the distances on my poles when I change direction. for example when I put up my " candy" exercise I used the same for every horse, from 13h pony to 17 h DHH.

but I love the triangles because if you cross near the point there is one one step in the gymnastic. you can challenge yourself as a rider to see if you an choose which step you place. can you ride it inside leg on left Bend, can you ride it outside leg on left bend. it makes the gymnastic have multiple variables. if you ride in the middle it's a stride, if you ride near the base its 3 steps . because the pole is at sn angle the horse has to step higher and deeper with the hind leg . in parallel poles the horse has enough room to not track up behinf

lengthwise it keeps you straight, can you ride 3 sides to two in the square to three, most of the army riders did two 3, 3. . after repeating enough times to get the striding. they then had to get the striding and the connection. I am up to 8 a day. I just don't have time to change the gymnastics to every horse.

like, how do you do a 20 m circle in a ten are field with no markers to parse from. six strides on each quarter. 24 strides on the circle. it's the only way I know. lol

[Chisamba]

For example with Kimba I half pass into a 2 strp through the squares and half pass out. the.line of the triangle keeps my half pass accurate. the triangle out starts my next half pass in the same angle and makes me ridebthe change of bend right in the square, in other words quickly and accurately. the great thing is the visual it gives Kimba gives her a reason to be quick and accurate, because she can see that she has to negotiate poles to succeed.

[Chisamba]

anyway, carry on.

[blob]

I do not change the distances on my poles when I change direction.

Oh I don't change distances when I change directions either. But I like using poles to help horses with extended trot work. So, I do often use poles that are extended further than a standard trot stride.

So, first I do the standard measurement both direction. Then I extended a bit and did it both directions. And then I extended a bit more and did both directions. On the final extended out she had no problem one direction but struggled the other, which i found interesting given that she was technically on a straight line either way.

[Chisamba]

in what way have you found it to help?

[blob]

in what way have you found it to help?

Encourages a longer stride with lift and push. Spacing the trot poles out further apart, simply encourages them to take a longer stride.

I've also set up poles what grow in length, so the first few are distance of collected trot, then working trot, then medium, then extended. So within the grid the horse has to grow the stride in the pattern. First time I did this exercise was in a clinic

[Chisamba]

I was encouraged to try this but my experience was they flatten, and run off balance on the forehand. to me it doesn't translate to the engagement and lowering of the hips to develop an actual medium or extended trot.

I am interested that you like the exercise

it sounds interesting to gradually lengthen the distance.

[blob]

That's interesting, Chisamba. I've found that at least with MM the poles help her from getting flat and on the forehand like she wants to do when i work on extended trot work in the arena. It's either poles or hill work that gets the quality of push and cadence that ideally want all the time.

I will try to get some video of the 'growing' exercise, which I have been meaning to set up sometime soon.

[StraightForward]

A little jumping day for us today. I'm happy to say that all the dressage work over winter has translated into better jumping. Annabelle is much more able to find a spot cantering into the fences. We are doing tiny jumps, mostly cross rails and a couple verticals that are probably under 2'. We did work up to cantering through a grid of 2 cross rails and then a vertical with one stride between each. Doing some work in 2-point is a good workout for me as well, and we practiced some tighter canter circles with simple changes around the various jumps as well.

I set poles out for Tesla, but it was just getting dusk by the time I got on, and apparently there was a coyote skulking around the adjacent field, so I decided to just stick to trotting some circles at the end of the ring closer to the barn.

[StraightForward]

Gridwork/mini jumping course done for the week. This is good for Annabelle's self-reliance. Sometimes she spaces out and it's challenging to get her to focus on the fence, especially if it's a single fence. With the grids she gets excited and locks on much better. I'm going to try to get a jumping lesson scheduled for next week.

Last lesson my instructor said she was moving better through her back and she thought it was due to the cavaletti work. We'll do some raised trot poles this weekend, I think.

[blob]

Have been doing basic straight trot poles with RP just to get him comfortable and strong. Tried doing the pattern with MM where poles are in a zigzag shape. I intended to do it at the canter, but woof I found it VERY difficult and never got past trot

[piedmontfields]

Well, although we are in rehab mode I'm finding your exercises and reports inspiring! Pole work is so help for building strength and balance. We are just at a stage of variable poles at walk, but it is good to make Emi hold a hind leg in the air longer during our slow road back to strength.

My favorite exercise is when a "pick-up sticks" style mess is left in the arena---and we walk our way through it. Emi takes pole work very seriously (kind of like every thing!).

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Lynx went over his first, single pole today. Just walking and trotting. He seemed to really enjoy it! I'll definitely start using more poles in our work.

[StraightForward]

Today we did four raised trot cavaletti at a closer spacing, which Annabelle found challenging. She tends to flatten out and rush, so the idea was to maintain the cadence and bounce the trot up a little. Interestingly, she did much better going to the right than to the left. She kept coming in crooked to the left, and it was difficult to get her LH carrying. Eventually we more or less got it done. I think we need to work towards the cantering in/out of this setup, though I might cut it down to three poles for a bit. A few nights ago some other boarders had a line of 9 trot poles set up, so we took a couple turns at that. Annabelle handled it quite well; I don't think she'd ever done more than 5-6 prior to that.

[blob]

Raised poles are tough! I need to set them up, good reminder. MM often tries to jump them as a set!

[StraightForward]

We did some cavaletti in our lessons on Friday. The jumps were already in these positions, so I put the poles on the ground about 4.5' apart, then we had the three raised poles. This was the first time I'd done more than just two ground poles with Tesla, but she caught on pretty quickly.

For Annabelle, the objective with the raised poles was to build some cadence and get her sitting and lifting from behind instead of heaving herself up with her neck, then we added in the lengthen over the diagonal poles. I think I might incorporate this on my own next week with the cavaletti a touch closer and fully raised, and then 4-5 wider spaced poles on the diagonal, or 2 sets of 2-3 poles trying to get her to sit and reach.

For Tesla, we did some kind of figure 8's through the angled jump lines, but the ground poles are pretty inconsequential for her, so I probably need to use raised poles and try this again. The idea for her is to get her to let go a little more in her back to help with the muscle blockages and to be able to shift into canter easier.

Annabelle:
https://youtu.be/5g9kaYmSYzs



Tesla:
https://youtu.be/L096DW2bcY8

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Sf, gorgeous photos of Annabelle! She's stunning. It looks like this type of work is really good for her.

I really like how you ride both your girls!

[blob]

Thanks for sharing video and exercises, SF! Tesla looks really comfortable and fluid through those poles!

I've been boring with my poles, but at least I am doing them at least once a week.

RP has not totally figured out to lift his back and stretch forward into the poles. He tends to hold his body back behind and fling his front legs forward rather than letting his body meet the poles. Maybe raised ones will help. I did 10 in a row for MM and played around with doing some with a much slower tempo and more hang time

[StraightForward]

A little pole and grid day today.

Tried setting up a trot corner with four poles, and I think we only made it around to the left properly once. Right was easier since she falls over her right shoulder. Next time I think I will try setting the poles on a more gentle curve and see if we can do a little better.

A got pretty flat over the grid; I mostly used what was set up, which was a longer distance that I usually use for grids. Decided I needed another jumping lesson before cantering to verticals, so instead I worked on cantering over a single X-rail on a circle both directions, trying to get us both more comfortable cantering to the jumps. I had also set up 3 canter cavaletti, but A seemed tired and just as I was debating whether to try them, they started loading manure right next to the arena, so I decided to call it a day.

Cantering the circle with the jump to the left seemed to be a good exercise for Annabelle. I have been working on getting her left hind under and carrying more, and this definitely does the trick. Next time I might start building towards more x-rails on the circle, or maybe do an oval with a bounce on each side.

[StraightForward]

Grids from our jumping lesson this morning. I'm getting calmer about jumping verticals. Annabelle sometimes suffers ADD until she's up to the first jump, but I didn't let it freak me out when she crashed through the red and white poles, and we eventually made it through both grids without excessive level of chaos.

I'm finding that trot poles really encourage Tesla to loosen up in her back, so I am incorporating them into most of our rides now, but just simple lines of cavalletti so far. Once we are cantering again I'll start thinking about popping her over some cross-rails, but need to see how she does in my AP saddle in the meantime.

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[blob]

the grids look very fun! What is the spacing--one strides or bounces?

Today I did an exercise I found online with both of mine. I set up four poles at each end of a long side. One set of 4 was set at wider than normal space and the other was set at narrower than normal spacing. Basically designed to help the horse lengthen and shorten stride between. Interestingly my horses reacted in opposite ways than I would have thought! MM did really well going from the collected poles to the lengthened poles, but struggled more with the reverse. RP did well going from lengthened to collected, but struggled to navigate his spacing some when going from collected to lengthened. With both I did some lateral work on the opposite longside, SI for MM and LY to the rail for RP.

In general it was an exercise that energized both horses.

[StraightForward]

The top one is a bounce (the stacked cavaletti are not fully in the photo), and then 2 strides, the bottom one is a bounce and 1 stride.

Interesting exercise changing the distance and going both ways! I forgot to mention that last time my instructor was here she put some pretty long-spaced cavaletti on the diagonal. I didn't think A could do it, and it was definitely hard for her, but she eventually did lengthen out and get it done. We also had two ground poles farther down the diagonal as a little reminder to keep bouncing and lenghthening.

[Sue B]

Tio LOVES all things cavalletti and jumping and always has, Rudy has always stressed over anything cavalletti related. So because of this challenge, I have changed out my raised cavalletti for trot poles on the ground and one random pole to canter (or trot) over in order to finally get Rudy to accept trotting over things on the ground. Happy to report, he will finally trot through the 4 poles without stutter steps, weaving back and forth, or sticking his head straight in the air. I think I have finally convinced him that, if he just maintains the lovely, balanced trot he's in during our approach, that he can simply continue trotting through the poles without making any adjustments. I have the poles set for his working trot stride length (4.5') to make things as easy as possible for him. Cantering over the single pole is also getting better for the same reason...convincing him that not changing his canter stride during approach will cause him to canter over the pole perfectly in stride. Tough nut to crack for Mr. Type A, but I THINK I've finally done it. Meanwhile, Tio is just happy he has poles to play over.