Pole Work Exercises For Horses

Pole work can really be an addition to your horse training and riding routine, keeping things interesting and fresh for you and your animal. Plus you get to use more advanced pole work exercises with the kind of resistance your horse is more comfortable with. Best of all, you don't even need a special surface to work with. And best of all, you can usually do all of this without any special equipment. You simply need a flat, level ground and some simple poles, and you're good to go! Here are some basic pole work exercises for horses that you can do at home.

One of the most basic exercises you can do is the walk. With this exercise, you'll build the topline and strengthen the front legs. Start out by setting the pole in the center of a circle, then walk forward, balancing on each pole as you pass. As you build topline, you'll be able to add a little bit of distance as you get stronger. You may need to check out this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_horse to get more info on the topic.

Another of the pole work exercises for horses is the body brush. It's similar to the body brush exercise you do with your hands, but instead of using your hands to brush the hair, you use your pole. To perform this exercise, start by standing directly over a flat surface. Brush your horse's body with a light, even stroke using the back of your hands.
The final two exercises we'll discuss here are the heel strike and the forehand shank. Both these exercises are performed exactly like they sound. When done correctly, these exercises will strengthen the front leg and toughen up the entire body. You can even train for a cross country race or a drag by doing these exercises regularly.

The heel strike requires you to bend at the waist and then drive your front heel into the ground as you swing through on your front foot. When doing this exercise, it's important to keep your shoulders squared with the horse. The forehand shank requires you to bring your right leg up to meet the left as you bring your arm back around your head. Both exercises will toughen your legs and develop strength in your riding, especially your stride, click here to discover more.

Of course, there is more to learning how to work on poles than just the exercises listed above. For instance, there is the safety equipment such as the safety pole, the horse jumpsuit, and a helmet. These items should never be ignored. They should be kept in a place where they can easily be reached and used when needed. Even the most dedicated rider will fail if they don't have a piece of equipment in place to prevent them from being hurt if they happen to fall off of their horse during an exercise.