Challenge – Page 2 – Horse Savvy

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

Liberty Challenge 5

Published on February 14, 2016

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