Do it mostly in trot if possible, run on either side of the horse, changing when you can and remember to ‘HAVE FUN’
1) Hula Hoop over horses head
Take this slowly, make sure you can put a hoop of rope over first, this can be quite scary to some horses!
2) Trot through 2 poles on the ground, halt after poles, back up through poles and then trot through again
3) Horse to fig 8 around 2 barrels – handler to stand one side
Use any two obstacles, barrels are just bigger but cones, electric posts, tyres, cola bottles…whatever you have…this task is all about equality of draw/drive
4) Horse to trot through some form of arch, decorated if possible to represent tree branches
if you happen to have two trees close together with branches then fab, if not then try using some old water/drainage pipe with wood in the sides OR whatever you used for a curtain last month would be good but with maybe soft tree branches or plastic flowers around the edges! be creative but keep it safe
5) Horse to push a ball 10′
Horse can use front feet or nose, any size ball from a large tennis ball to a NH ball…your choice
6) Small jump and halt within 2 strides after jump
Try to just use your energy/breathing for this task, see if your horse and you are connected!
7) Horse to circle around you in walk or trot
This goes together with task 8….circle inside the cone circle then go to task 8 afterwards
8) Horse to weave around cones put out in a circle around you – walk or trot
6 cones works well. Again this is about connection, draw and drive in equal doses
9) Walk through a labyrinth of poles
Takes 6 poles, keep them a good distance apart and work over the year on making those distances smaller
10) Horse trot to halt and then familiarisation with an umbrella
You may only be able to walk around horse with umbrella closed. You may be able to work on opening/closing umbrella by horses side. Ultimately you want to be able to open/close umbrella pretty close to horse whilst walking around him/her.
- Shelley – HorseSavvy
