Agility – Page 2 – Horse Savvy

Liberty Challenge 8

Published on February 17, 2016

Remember to do it at you and your own horses pace and level, the horse owns the time you take for this so don’t push, just encourage for more effort, lightness or precision as you go along. If you need to do it in walk online then do so but remember to progress as much as possible and practice it over the whole month to see improvements. Come back to the challenge at liberty and ridden when you are ready to do so.

1) Liberty & Ridden: Push a ball through two raised poles

2) Liberty & Ridden: 4 x trotting poles (any spacing you think best for your horse)

3) Liberty & Ridden: Canter down a bunting corridor (liberty: handler to stay outside corridor)

4) Liberty & Ridden: Turn on the forehand (front feet pivot whilst hindquarters turn 360*)

5) Liberty & Ridden: Trot a clover leaf pattern around cones (Pattern explanation below)

6) Liberty & Ridden: Jump/halt/sidepass off jump (if you do not know this move or don’t wish to teach it then jump and halt straight after jump then sidepass a few steps)

7) Liberty & Ridden: Transitions (whatever 2 or 3 transitions you are good at)

8) Liberty& Ridden: Use cones to ride the outside and/or inside of a square….forwards / sidepass / backwards / sidepass

9) Liberty & Ridden: Familiarisation on the move (try at walk but trot if you can)

10) Liberty & Ridden: walk into water tray, halt in the tray then walk off (or a foot in a bucket with water in it! I have a plastic jump water tray I will be using…you could also put an intact tarp on the ground and roll up the edges around jump poles to make a pool and put some water in it!)

ENJOY

NB…CLOVERLEAF PATTERN: this is walking/riding a shape like a 4 leaf clover. First set up 4 cones at equal distances from each other in a square. To walk at liberty or ride it you need to then choose to either just do left or right turns around the pattern…you shouldn’t do both unless you do the pattern twice!

The first move is to walk/trot straight through the centre, then turn left and do a left circle around 1st cone back through the centre of the square then circle left around 2nd cone, back through the centre and then circle left around 3rd cone, straight through centre and then circle left around 4th cone and then onto next task.

To do the cloverleaf outside this challenge I usually always start and stop in the centre of the square of cones so that the horse is always searching for X at the centre, Picture of map of tasks below hopefully will help too.

Shelley – HorseSavvy

Liberty Challenge 7

Published on February 16, 2016

Try this Challenge at Liberty and also Ridden, preferably bitless or even bridleless if you are that advanced.

If you are just starting Liberty work you can play around with these tasks online. All tasks are changeable and do what is best for your horse and your abilities. If something is too hard then do something similar and then progress to the harder tasks as you practice over time.

1) Liberty or Ridden: Open gate, squeeze horse through any way you want, close gate.

2) Liberty or Ridden: Trot through narrow gap, halt just before end and back up through gap. Trot on out of gap.

3) Liberty: Trot weave around 6 cones in a straight line with flags (or something flappy) in them. Horse to weave, handler to stay on one side and direct horse in weave.

Ridden: Either trot weave or weave using leg yields in walk

4) Liberty & Ridden: Jump small jump, handler to run alongside with liberty one

5) Liberty & Ridden: Drag an object for 10′, you and horse side by side, and then turn horse and yourself to drag with you and horse backing up together.

6) Liberty: Trot onto tarp and halt then turn the horse 180* any way and trot off again.

Ridden: Trot onto tarp, halt then 180* turn on the forehand (ie. turn the horses hindquarters and pivot forehand)

7) Liberty & Ridden: Ask horse to follow you around a Labyrinth pattern

8) Liberty: Trot your horse through some sort of ‘washing line’ with clothes hanging of it.

Ridden: Same (or if you and horse not used to going under things then go to washing line, take one item off the line and ride with it around the line where you put it back up on the line without horse worrying)

9) Liberty & Ridden: Trot fig 8’s twice around two barrels or tall obstacles. Obstacles close, about 5-6 paces apart.
NB. Large obstacles could be 3-4 tyres stacked on each other or a tall jump wing!

10) Liberty & Ridden: Sidle over a largish pole, left feet on one side, right feet on the other side. (Try to use a pole thicker than the average jump pole)
NB. If cannot sidle one side of horse over then do 2-4 feet over then back up over it.

11) Liberty: Get a flag and wave it about whilst walking around your horse.

Ridden: Wave flag whilst sitting on horse.

Shelley – HorseSavvy

Liberty

Ridden bitless

Ridden Bitless and Bareback

First time EVER ridden agility bridleless on Solly

Liberty Challenge 6

Published on February 15, 2016

Remember this can be done online if you’re just starting liberty work yet but as you go along maybe test liberty or put the rope around the horses neck and don’t touch it but a good way of getting the horse back if they walk off. Then when things get better take the halter off and just have the rope around the horses neck…soon you’ll be working totally at liberty.

1) Trot to a hula hoop, transition down to a walk and put hind feet into hula hoop

2) Walk to gate together, open gate then back horse through gateway, close gate and walk off.

3) Transitions: walk forward 3 steps. halt. walk back 3 steps. halt. walk sideways (towards or away) 3 steps. halt. walk off.

4) Front feet on a pedestal. halt. Move hindquarters around the pedestal keeping front feet on pedestal 360*

5) Weave at a trot through 4-6 cones. Up to you how you position the cones, straight line or circle!

6) Trot through scary corner, but halt before leaving it. Back all the way through SC and then trot forwards out of it again

7) Halt horse inside a square made of posts and then walk around horse familiarising to some noise, either extreme friendly game with stick/string or swishing of flag or coins in your pocket even…you find what you horse is okay with and use that. Remember this is not about frightening your horse, it’s about allowing them to gradually get used to scary stuff.

8) Trot over a bottle bank (crushed bottles put inside a square made of poles). Try to make it so that horse doesn’t jump it and actually touches/crushes some bottles.

9) Fig 8’s x 2, using jumps.

10) Trailer load or simulate trailer load. Either squeeze horse in from outside or lead in normally, horse must be relaxed and rope must be in a nice ‘smile’ (slightly loose). Halt then back up any way you want.

Shelley – HorseSavvy