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Khall's post got me thinking about pole exercises and I wanted to share a simple, yet challenging one that I found a few weeks back. I haven't had a chance to play around with it given my foot fracture, but many of my friends have and they all report that it is HARD.

The idea is to basically flow seamlessly from trot poles to canter poles and the reverse with just the space of a canter pole to do the transition. That explanation is probably not VERY clear, but hopefully this video helps:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/equestr ... 173916916/

the rider makes it look very easy, but I imagine it's tricky because you can't get ahead of yourself. if you start planning for your transition too soon, it can be hard to ride the poles you're currently on. So you really have to be consistent and clear on your timing. I imagine this is also great for keeping the horse uphill through transitions, establishing a clear hh, improving transitions, and getting prompt responses to aids.

That’s a beautiful demonstration! But I can imagine that it’s difficult even though the rider and horse make it look so easy.

That looks fun to ride! But, yes, balance, timing, quick response to aids ... that's so far out of Maia's wheelhouse right now. We'd need 4-8 strides between the set of poles!

That's a great exercise. It's similar to jumping a grid. It looks like a super way to get the horse quick and attentive and really on the aides.

I'm excited to try it this weekend with MM-- maybe I can even get some video. Though I can already guarantee it won't look as lovely as the demonstration I posted--which really does make this exercise look so simple. I need to introduce him to canter poles first though!

@Heddylamar--it's funny because a friend of mine felt she needed more space between the poles at first and so set it up with 2-3 strides and it actually threw off her striding when going from trot to canter. So she either needed enough space for several strides, like you said 4-8 would probably work, or to keep it tight.

That's a great exercise, with so many "tells" built into it. Thanks!