
While riding, I love to make up jump courses and patterns to spice up my ride. However, with my limitations on space and number of poles available, finding patterns that I can do safely and completely can be a little challenging. After many google searches for different exercises, most of them require more space or poles than I have. So, here are some of my favorite exercises that I like to do with not much arena space and a maximum of four poles/jumps.
Two Stride Lines
The ring that I ride in happens to be on a hill, so finding jump exercises is always a bit tricky for me. But with one straightaway side, its easy to set up a simple line with two strides between the jumps. While setting up, I mainly eyeball where my first jump will go, then I count eight walking steps (four walking steps per stride) for the second jump. Depending on your horse’s stride, this may need to be longer or shorter than eight walking steps. This exercise can be done with more than two strides as well.
Bounce
Bounces are one of the best jumping exercises for a small space, in my opinion. They are small, two-jump lines that have no strides between them. It is a great alternative to just one jump, and it only takes up a little more space. They are great for warm up jumps and can be added to many other kinds of jump lines.
Gymnastics Line
One great exercise to work on striding and makes you and your horse think is gymnastics lines. Gymnastics lines, also called grids, are lines of multiple jumps right after the other. Many layouts for these exercises can be found online, but often times they include far more poles than I have access to. So, with my limitations, I have found that setting up four small verticals (size can vary depending on you and your horse’s ability) with no strides, bounces, between them has worked for me.
Two Jump Splice
I show in the beginner hunter division, so while I haven’t faced any splices in a show, they are still a great jumping exercise. They make you focus and use you legs to push and direct your horse over the jump. I love the set up of a splice in my ring since it can also serve as two jumps to go over at different directions on their own.
Rollbacks
Rollbacks are great for practicing balance around a turn, turning your body and eyes to the jump, and getting straight to the jump after a tighter turn. I find setting up rollbacks with the first jump of the splice set up works great space-wise, since it’s towards the center of the ring and I don’t have to worry about running into the rail or other jumps.
Diagonal Jumps
When it comes to using all the space I can for jumping, jumps on a diagonal are great. They help to learn where to turn to be straight to the jumps. They are also good for lead work since there is a direction change after the jump.
Weaving
This is a great exercise for working on steering and learning to use your legs to direct the horse. Special weaving poles can be purchased for this, but I find that using my jump blocks work just as well. I set up my blocks about 10-ish feet apart, but you can change the distance depending on your and your horse’s level and size.
“Barrel Racing”
The reason for the quotes around “barrel racing” is because (when I do this) I don’t use barrels and I’m not necessarily racing. One of my favorite things to do during a flat ride is to set up three jump blocks in the way barrels would be set up for barrel racing (cloverleaf pattern). Its a great way to work on sharp turns and steering.
Poles
This exercise is typically better with more poles, but just four poles is enough to get the most out of the line. By simply setting out poles on the ground, you can work on keeping your horse’s stride constant and thinking with every step. These can be done at the walk, trot, or canter. Poles can be done on their own or they can be added to jump lines.
Circle Work
By setting up four poles in a circle, you can work on turns, striding, or even rollbacks. You can walk, trot, or canter these poles in a circular pattern, using leg amd body direction to direct the horse. To get more out of the set up, you could play with striding between the poles, getting more or less than your horse gets at their normal pace. With this setup, you could also do a rollback (turning right if going counterclockwise or left if going clockwise) as the approach to each pole.
Let us know if you use any of these exercises when you ride! Do you have any exercises that I didn’t mention that will work great with limited arena space and just 4 poles or fewer? Drop us a comment and tell us about them!
