My instructor and also Angela, the woman who gives Pea his massages, have both suggested previously about doing some pole work in hand with Pea. So today, after being at work and knowing the arenas would be rather busy to ride, I decided to do some in-hand pole exercises. I might need to do some research for more exercises though!
We started by walking over some individual poles before moving on to a row as seen in the picture. The row consists of a couple of poles spaced a bit apart, some closer together and also a raised pole. There are also a couple of poles dotted around which are two poles together to encourage him to pick up a little bit more. I also placed a fan of poles out to walk over and also lunge him over but he finds them a bit more difficult! Definitely something to work on!
It's a nice change to do some in hand work as I seem to end up either riding or just lunging which he gets a bit bored of! This way, it also lets me have a look at him and try different exercises as well as giving his brain something else to focus on. It's also a good exercise to do if your horse is injured (though check with your vet first!) or if you don't have time to ride as you can just spend 10 minutes or so walking over them.
I'm going to try and do some in hand work like this a couple of times a month, especially now with winter coming. However, I am going to research some more exercises to do and their benefits, so if anyone has any then please send them my way!
Thanks for reading,
Laura xx
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