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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 2

Published on February 11, 2016

There is a lot of scope for changing, rearranging things as you want them but make sure whatever you do is within your horses scope for now and we’ll build on things as we go to incorporate more familiarisation with strange things and higher gaits.

It can be done in walk or trot or a combination of both…build things up slowly and keep your horses confidence. Also if you’ve not done any liberty yet or are having teething problems there is nothing wrong with practicing online to help you and your horse. Try to keep the horse with a slight ‘smile’ in the rope (ie. not tight but not too loose) and have the horse beside you so you are more shoulder to shoulder…not behind you.

1) 2 front feet into a hulahoop. (it could also be a bicycle tyre or a , the aim is to help confidence putting feet into things)

2) Weave around 4-6 cones, this month try to stay one side yourself and ask your horse to weave in and out

3) Horse walk through ‘L’ pole shape (stay out of the shape yourself, give the L lane all to your horse)

4) Small jump (doesn’t have to be big, if horse is confident you can make it bigger, if horse unconifident just stepping over it is good)

5) Walk through a ‘Scary Corner’ (make the corner up with posts and bunting or plastic bags flapping..anything that could be scary to a horse…now, if you’ve not done this before just put up a couple of things into the corner and walk by it or squeeze by it. If your horse has done this before then put up two ‘lanes’ of bunting or plastic bags and ask the horse to walk through it with you on the OUTSIDE. Not until your horse is truly confident, calm and happy about scary plastic things, flags, banners etc should you go in before the horse. Keep safe with this one and stay out of being in front of the horse until you are very good at this!)

6) Transitions: walk a straight line doing transitions: walk/halt/walk/halt/walk/halt…as many as you want or can. Keep confidence and relaxation throughout and a tip to use your breathing for these transitions. Big breath in and go, big breath out and halt.

7) Familiarisation with a flag. Either on a safe, short stick or free flowing in your hands (you can use a flag, towel, sheet, whatever you have available). With a horse new to this make the flag small and rub him/her all over. When more confident try opening it up and draping it over the horses back, neck, head. If very confident and horse is calm and relaxed then flap it all around the horse and you can move around too. See how much you can do, this is one of those things where you can start small and build up over weeks to where horse will stand still whilst you walk around it waving the flag!)

8) Sidepass along a fence line. Go slowly with this, go online if it’s hard at liberty. Do a few steps to start and more when confident.

9) Tarp: walk onto the tarp, halt in the centre for 5 seconds and then walk off.

10) Pick up feet one at a time. Either walk around the horse picking up one at a time or if more confident can you pick up the feet from one side!

Have fun with the challenges, build up each one individually and then string them together more and more until you can do it with true confidence.

Shelley – HorseSavvy