In today’s 20 minute workout you’re going to teach your horse — and yourself — not to cut corners.
The exercise
First ride a square in trot at one end of the arena, turning across the middle of the school at E or B. Then two strides before each corner, ask your horse to walk. Imagine the horse’s whiskers touching the wall so that you ride well into the corner, before trotting out of it. This is a good way of teaching horses to use the corners. It will also help build your horse’s balance and improve your transitions.
Keep in mind
Think about pushing the horse sideways a little with your inside leg so that he bends his body through the corner – think about pushing the quarters towards the outside of the arena. As the horse becomes confident and consistent, instead of walking in the corners simply slow the trot instead.
Progress
And as both your balance builds, build up to riding a consistent trot rhythm on the whole square, making sure you don’t cut a single corner. And if you do, enter the next one at walk.
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