Team Rider Mira Oliva Høidal describes a flatwork exercise she uses to work on her horses’ rideability. Take it away, Mira!

This is how you do it

“This is an easy exercise that everyone can do, with all types of horses. The idea of this exercise is to train the horse’s rideability.

You put three poles on the centerline. You can vary the distance between the poles depending on how many strides you plan to ride between them. Fewer strides will make the exercise more difficult. I like to keep the distance between the poles to 18 or 17.5 meters, which is usually about four strides for horses. 

I try to vary between four to six strides. One way to do the exercise is to first ride four strides between the first and the second pole, and then six strides between the second and third pole. To be able to do that, the horse needs to be balanced and rideable. 

During the exercise, it’s important to ride over the center of the poles and not let the horse drift to the sides. You can also use the exercise to check your horse’s responsiveness to your gas and brake, which are important tools in the ring.

To increase the difficulty, you can use cavalettis instead. If you wish to simplify the exercise, you can ride on five strides.”

Download Mira’s exercise.