Two as One Horsemanship

Get Off the Rail!

By Bob Jeffreys & Suzanne Sheppard

When riding in an arena, whether indoors or outdoors, most often you'll notice a shallow rut located about one to two feet off the rail surrounding the entire arena. This is caused by the riders staying "on the rail" and simply following the fence line all the way around the arena. Riding the rail actually sucks the training right out of the horse if that's all we do. It becomes a mindless exercise for the horse, and boring for you both, as teaching and learning are not taking place.

We need to incorporate exercises that not only work the physical part of the horse, but the mental as well. Let's add circles; but circles that look round and uniform, not four straight lines connected by curves in the arena corners. Add diagonal movement across the center of the arena; use multiple serpentines going from one end of the arena to the other. Here you'll be changing directions six to eight times during one pass down the arena; the horse will have to concentrate more, give to the bit and become supple more often in a shorter period of time, and therefore start to pay attention to your requests. He may even have some fun doing different things.

You could also start riding down the rail, but break off into many small circles as you traverse the long sides. This is useful in keeping your horse from speeding up in the trot or canter, as well.

A series of figure 8's is an excellent exercise in teaching the horse to "give", arc his body, break at the poll, follow his nose, or "step out", spiraling to increase his circle's size without losing the arc in his body. Or, if you must ride on the rail because of too many riders in the ring at the same time, then try to stay 5 - 10 feet away from the actual fence line. This will aid in teaching your horse to stay straight unless you ask him to turn, rather than simply allowing the rail to guide your horse.

The same theory applies to trail riding. Don't just let your horse follow the beaten path. If you do, he'll figure that his job is to go where the trail leads, and not necessarily where you lead. Just move him to the right or the left occasionally; ask for a give to the bit, stop or back him up once in a while, or go around a tree instead of just passing by. Your horse will keep "thinking back" to you. Otherwise he might think you're not paying attention and he'll start looking out for all the boogie men lurking on the trail. Mixing things up will also be more fun for you as the proactive partner in your team. Remember to keep the fun in your riding. Think of your time together as "playing" with your horse instead of "working" him.

©Two as One, LLC 8/07

Articles

Get Off the Rail!