Riding with Whole Horse Awareness, Introducing Trotting Pole Courses

We have all seen the really amazing jump riders on TV and YouTube. Some of my favorites include Peter Leone, George Morris, Eric Lamaze, Jessica Springsteen and Beezy Madden. But have you ever wondered how these people started out? What makes them stand out from the rest of the jumping world? Why are their horses so happy to jump those giant courses?

Eric Lamaze with Hickstead, was a great example of developing, nurturing and maintaining the relationship between horse and rider. Hickstead had a reputation for being difficult to ride and manage and Eric made it look easy. He did this by knowing what his horse needed from him to be feel successful and happy with his job. Helping the horse to feel successful with every ride is a major factor in developing your relationship. What this means literally, is never ending a ride or training session “making” the horse do something to difficult physically, or too hard to understand mentally, or letting them go away emotionally wrung out or angry. Always end your session on something positive that your horse can do with ease.

The most important tools in riding successfully are usually the ones that apply to every discipline. For me, this is riding effectively and with my horse’s well-being at the forefront of the entire process. At the end of the ride I want my horse to feel better physically and emotionally than when we started. I want my horse to feel proud of himself after our time together. To attain this I use these simple, yet complex ideas when I ride and train.

Key Concepts

• Ride the whole horse.
• Ride the horse as correctly as you can from back to front.
• Use individual aids in the correct order.
• Follow the Training Scale.

Ride the whole horse, not just the physical aspect. Engage his brain. Consider his emotions. Begin to help him feel better physically. Each ride should be a bit like physical therapy to help him learn how to function at his physical best. But, you need to ride the horse that comes out of the stall that day. This means listening to him on the emotional level. Horses can have “off days” just like us. So as you are riding remember to ask the question, and listen to his answer. Learn how to keep his rides fresh and fun, nobody enjoys boredom.

Ride the horse correctly from back to front. If you control the hindquarters or the engine, the front end will become lighter and more manageable without any “extra” effort. You will also hear, see and feel your horse become lighter as his feet touch the ground. This will help save his joints in the long run, leading to a longer riding lifespan.

Use all of your aids individually and in the correct order. When training your horse use your voice, the voice is a very powerful aid and talking keeps you breathing. There is a reason why you lose marks in a dressage test for talking to your horse! Remember the cycle of the aids. Individual aids are the voice, seat or weight aids, leg aids, hand or rein aids, lastly your stick or spur which should be just a slightly sharper leg aid. Your hands are the least important! The seat or weight aid is the rider’s most influential aid, how effective it is depends on the upper body position, rigidity and/or suppleness. Learn to feel your horse’s footfalls and have a forgiving and supple seat.

To keep the rides and training sessions fresh, new and enjoyable, I often use poles or small jumps. These “props” help to keep the horses moving forward both mentally and physically. But, remember the Training Scale and ride the poles or jumps with rhythm, relaxation, contact, impulsion, straightness and lastly collection. Jumping is essentially just a larger stride within the gait. So using the Training Scale during this work will help your horse gymnastically much more than bombing around from element to element all the while hoping you don’t die in the process.

Trot poles are designed to increase the horse’s athletic ability, to help establish relaxation and rhythm to the pole or fence and as preparation for jumping. The turns before the trot poles are as important as the actual trot pole. Relaxation, rhythm, contact and impulsion should all remain consistent throughout the exercise. This requires planning and preparation on the rider’s part.

Trot poles and jumps should usually be jumped in the middle, but the lines to and from the element can change, ie bending line vs. direct line to an element. For safety, I generally lay the poles out in odd numbers, so that they do not look like a giant spread fence to be jumped. I usually start with a single pole on the ground, then progress up to three poles in a line. From that point on you can begin to add poles, change distances between elements and have some fun. There are unlimited possibilities in designing a course of trotting poles.

As the horses and their riders become more comfortable and efficient with trotting poles you can begin to design complex courses that utilize changes of rein, shortening and lengthening stride, accurate corners, bending or direct lines into and out of the elements just to name a few training ideas. When setting up a trotting pole course it is always a good idea to have an instructor and or ground person who can replace poles that have been jostled, help you correct common faults, and be able to change the course as the lesson or ride progresses.

To help you get started I have a few generalized “related distances”. These distances are calculated from the rearmost pole of one fence to the first pole (exclude ground pole/placing pole) of the next fence.

Now, safely go out and have some fun playing over trotting poles with your horse.