Training Exercises

I am going to tell you about some training exercises to try at home. The first one is to improve your hip angle and to not get left behind. You start posting the trot but you go up for two beats and down for one. In order to keep your balance you have to flex your hip and lean slightly forward. This helps you improve your balance and it can also help your jumping position. After a little practice you should be able to stay on the rhythm and feel comfortable without straining at all. The second exercise is to set up four poles in a circle with even spacing in-between. This is called the circle of death, because it is very hard to get the right number of strides going in a circle. This helps the horses become more soft and responsive as well as helping them reach a wider range of flexibility in their stride and a nice rhythm. The last training exercise is a figure of eight. You do a figure of eight and halt every time you cross the middle. Bend your horse around your inside leg with a lot more bend than you would normally use. This exercise helps get your horse soft on the bridle and they will become more responsive to your aids. I hope you use these training methods effectively and have fun with them!