Get the Most Out of Your Hack Time

Lessons with our horse are what many of us look forward to. The magic lesson where "the switch" gets flipped and I REALLY learn how to ride has been elusive but I keep trying nonetheless! If you are like me you take 1-2 lessons a week if you’re lucky, hacking in the ring or along a trail the rest of the time. Creating value out of those hacks can really help with the progress of your lessons. Simply trotting and cantering around a ring in a circle is boring for all involved. Try some of the following exercises the next time it’s just you and your horse:

Warm Up (Always!): on a loose rein walk, trot and canter once around in each direction.

Get your horse to engage his back end: leg yield off the rail (or trail path) and back again, shoulder in, and haunches in are very effective suppling exercises. Do this at the walk first if you or your horse have not done a lot of it.

Sharpen your horses’ response time to your aids: do lots of transitions, upward and downward, every eight strides, gradually reducing the number of strides between transitions.

Sharpen your eye and practice straightness: cantering over a single ground pole often makes it harder to find a distance than an actual jump. Do this in a circle at first then begin to figure eight--stay straight on the approach through the center of the pole and land straight for a stride or two before changing direction.

Practice Rhythm: Set 2-4 ground poles up so that the distance allows for a working trot or relaxed canter over the exercise. Set 3 ground poles up in the corner of your ring on an arc and practice cantering over them at the top of the arc (longer distances) and bottom of the arc (shorter distances). See sidebar diagrams.

Work on Your Strength and Balance: Stand in your two-point at the trot. At the posting trot try staying out of your saddle 4 beats before sitting, then reduce this to 3 and finally 2. Drop your stirrups at the trot and post for as long as you can. If this is too uncomfortable, sit the trot. It is amazing what this work can do for your legs and other body parts!

None of these exercises are breakthrough ideas; just basic drills that I have found really work. Professional riders describe how they're done in detail in many of the popular equine magazines. Please share any exercises that have been fun and/or helpful for you and your horse. We’d love to hear about them.

Have a good ride!
Mel-