So Much You Can Do With Two Poles: Series #4

Our TWO POLE training series explores the variety of exercises you can practice to improve both horse and rider, simply using two jump poles. Brought to you by experienced trainer and ReadySupp’s co-founder Didi Verdina, the series covers exercises for all levels of horse and rider and begins with the easiest level.

Didi quotes a famous horseman when offering advice for using these training exercises which are designed to help improve your riding, your horse and your enjoyment, so remember this:

“Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect” – George Morris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Series #4: Riding better corners will help develop all aspects of your horse’s going!

When we ride a corner we generally tend to focus on the dressage exercise, or jump we will be doing next, we often forget how essential it is that we prepare for and ride the corner correctly, ensuring we are always in full control of our horse’s shoulders and back end.

Practice this exercise weekly to improve your riding through corners and maintain better rhythm and balance. This exercise is suitable for all levels of horses and riders.

Exercise: Place 2 poles on the ground as shown in the diagram, one should be at C and one at S, if you have 2 extra poles you can add them at A and P, so you can execute the exercise equally on the other rein.

Remember, from the first time you trot over the poles make sure your horse is well channeled between hand and leg, bear in mind you won’t be riding on the track and you must ride over the centre of each pole. This requires accuracy, especially when going round the corner as your horse will naturally drift towards the outside track and arena rails.

Don’t ever let your horse drop his shoulder and fall out in the corner, use the first pole you are going over as a marker to start using your outside leg as you are approaching the corner and concentrate on keeping your horse’s neck from over-bending to the inside. Don’t forget to support with the outside rein! For horses that particularly struggle with this you can approach the corner with a little outside flexion, this will help you keep your horse from falling out.

Once you have good control and you are in balance with a good rhythm in trot you can progress in to canter.

Tips:

• Remember to use outside flexion if your horse tends to over bend – the neck should be always kept straight with a little flexion over the pole
• Remember you are NOT riding on the track in this exercise and you are aiming for the CENTRE of each pole
• Make sure your rhythm doesn’t change throughout the exercise. Many horses tend to slow or speed up when asked to ‘push straight’ and use themselves properly
• When you start cantering over the poles and have achieved balance with good rhythm, count the number of strides, then maintain this number of strides with your horse pushing straight and forward

Remember: Perfect practice makes perfect!

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Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our ‘training’ expert, she continues to teach in her spare time, competes, and she is qualified to BHSI level (Italian equivalent). Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Rider Balance: Simple Steps Will Benefit Your Horse

ReadySupp rider Flora Harris shows how good balance can help avoid further trouble in sticky situations

There is always plenty of discussion on rider balance and how it can affect our horses and the way we ride. Here’s 7 important tips to remember:

• Our horses react to our weight and balance so it’s important we have control of them at all times!
• Good posture on the ground will improve position in the saddle, so think about it when you’re walking, lifting and relaxing
• Remember we can cause imbalance and stiffness in our horses if we are unbalanced and asymmetrical ourselves, see a physiotherapist or chiropractor to help with this
• Supple up! If our hips and pelvis are stiff and locked, much of the horses movement will transfer to our back resulting in pain and associated problems
• Don’t forget to work on core strength and stability, this will benefit balance and biomechanics greatly
• We are all ‘wonky’ somewhere so work on using your weak side more often to help reduce any muscle imbalance, things like using your left hand when you’d normally use the right will help improve muscle tone and coordination. We know our horses often favour one rein, we do too! Regularly stretch to improve flexibility. Work on quads, hamstrings and calf muscles in particular

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for more useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from the experts. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Training Tips: 5 Thing Nervous Riders Should Avoid

Struggle with nerves when riding but love it too much to stop? Develop in to a happy and relaxed rider with these confidence building tips:

1. Avoid hacking or schooling a fresh horse. Horses are incredibly sensitive to a rider’s attitude and when fresh may well be over-reactive. If a rider is nervous he may be particularly tight, grip with his legs and hang on to the reins, which could make the horse even more nervous and ‘reactive’
2. Don’t buy (or ride) a young horse. Young horses need to be given confidence and direction, a nervous rider may not be able to provide this and could be unknowingly creating a nervous/nappy/worried horse
3. Avoid riding horses you don’t know.  If you are a nervous rider don’t just ‘hop on’ and ride a horse you have never ridden before, or have never seen ridden by another rider. If you are trying a horse you’d like to buy ask the seller to demonstrate the horse’s capabilities and make sure he can do everything you’d like him to do before you decide to take him home
4.  Don’t ride out of your comfort zone unsupervised. When trying something new, or something that you are not comfortable with make sure you do it with an expert on the ground who can help, advise and support you. Remember to maintain a positive ‘I can do it!’ attitude, believe in yourself and your horse, and try to keep negative feelings away. Repeat the exercise over and over again, it’ll soon become easy for both yourself and your horse!
5. Avoid riding when you are stressed or tired. If you’ve had a hard day at work or you are particularly stressed choose your most relaxed riding environment.  A happy and relaxed horse will perform much better, he will be more receptive and willing to please.

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our ‘training’ expert, she continues to teach in her spare time, competes, and she is qualified to BHSI level (Italian equivalent). Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Training Tips: Improve Your Hands

It’s easy to forget that our hands are directly connected to a horse’s most delicate area, and because of this we can completely compromise performance, attitude and paces with poor contact. Bad hands are one of the most common rider challenges faced so we’ve provided 5 tips to help reinforce good habits…

• Inconsistent hands. The most obvious and common problem is an ‘inconsistent’ hand. It’s essential that your hands communicate with the horse’s mouth all the time and the hands follow the bascule of the horse, without interfering. The contact should be consistent all the time. A hand that keeps losing the contact and retaking it provides a constant ‘surprise’ and can create stiffness, bad direction and inconsistent rhythm. Make sure you communicate with your horse’s mouth all the time, imagine riding a bicycle, if you keep taking your hands off the handle bars you lose control of direction and if you hit a bump you wouldn’t be able to correct the direction of the front wheel… not much difference in controlling the horse!
• Slipping the Reins. Another very common problem is letting the reins slip because your hands are loose and not gripping the reins properly.  Constantly changing them causes inconsistency in the way you communicate with your horse. Bear in mind that gripping is NOT pulling, it’s only giving a secure and consistent contact. A fantastic tool to avoid this, while teaching the rider the benefits of consistency, is reins with loops. These are never to be used to increase strength, but to provide an understanding of ‘feel’, and of what a difference a consistent contact can make. It works wonders on young horses, provided the loops allow you the correct length of the reins
• Heavy, strong hands are another common problem. Never pull or grip the reins to support a lack of balance! If you can’t hold yourself in the saddle without holding the reins your balance is not good enough. When safe to do so practice riding without reins as much as you can, and work hard at it, as it will pay off! You should be able to trot, canter, do sitting trot, 2-point position, and jump grids all without the reins

• Hands on Hips. Another very common mistake is the ‘hands on the hips’ contact. This is the result of reins being too long, once the hands are blocked against them there’s nowhere else they can go and inevitably the shoulders fall forward to compensate, the horse will end up on the forehand then the rider will lose control, balance and rhythm. Here’s a useful tip to prevent this, whatever your discipline: When you are thinking of using your hands, especially to slow down or for a transition, ALWAYS engage your core first, sit up and push your hips in front of your shoulders. The rein action MUST then start from your shoulders, followed by your elbows, and finally your hands. If you imagine this exercise now in front of your computer you will already notice how much bigger the range of movement is, resulting in a softer action on your horse’s mouth. Once you’ve tried this, then try to use your hands only. They will end up on your hips as there’s nowhere else to go

• Lowering the hands to lower the horse’s head. Always remember the hands and forearm should be an extension of the reins and there should be a straight line from the bit to the elbow to allow for a softer, more direct contact with the horse’s mouth. Lowering the hands will produce a short lived success by lowering the horse’s head and making the horse rounder, but this roundness won’t come from behind and won’t last, as it is simply just pulling the head down and bending the neck. Sit up, give with the legs and take the impulsion created with the hands, then let the horse trust your hands (with all the above tips) and you will end up with a happy horse, working for you!

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our experienced ‘training’ expert and she is qualified to the Italian equivalent of BHSI level. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

5 Key Exercises Guaranteed to Improve Your Riding

Whatever your goals are, make yourself a better rider by including these pro tips to establish a more secure seat…

1. Work on developing position and balance – these are two key points you must focus on to improve your riding. Exercises such as trotting in a light/two point position around the school (or the field if you do not have an arena) are useful. Incorporate a cavalletti – still in trot, as you improve. Move on to jumping a small grid (in the arena) with your hands on your hips to further develop balance (secure the reins with a knot!) Ensure you use a sensible horse to perfect these exercises, a run out without reins might not be so productive!

2. The third key point that must not be overlooked is “feel”. Once you know the basics and you are secure in the saddle learn to “listen” to your horse.
Riding is not automatic and requires more than just physical ability and talent, remember every horse is different and understanding ‘feel’ is important. Exercises such as quick transitions from walk/tot/walk, then trot/canter/trot, progressing on to canter/walk/canter will help you gain understanding of your horse’s way of going. Listen to your horse and the way he is reacting to your aids, feel where he likes or dislikes to feel your legs and how much (or little) pressure he responds to, and gauge the amount of ‘weight’ he likes you to have in your hands.

3. Lunge work is extremely beneficial. Get an experienced person to assist so while they are lunging you on the horse they can help you with direction. You can practice riding without stirrups, without reins, then without both. This will help increase your balance and strengthen your muscles and your position.

4. Once stronger in the saddle try a new exercise.  Add a small amount of rising trot without stirrups in to your routine, although don’t over do it or you will start to grip with your legs. This is a useful exercise to strengthen your leg muscles.

5. Learning to ride in rhythm is the key to every discipline. Try this exercise. Place two jump poles one after the other with an average of 21m between them. Ride over them in 5-6 strides (this will depend on size and stride length of horse), once you know how many strides feel comfortable for your horse, shorten your stride to add one. Then go back to ‘comfortable striding’ for a round. Then lengthen again to take a stride away. Keep varying the distance so you learn to adjust the canter in order to achieve the correct rhythm and length of stride to get it right. Make sure you adjust early enough to be balanced and rhythmical by the time you reach the first pole.

Work these exercises in to your riding routine and in a short time you will start to feel improved balance, confidence and awareness of your body.

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from our experts. ReadySupp Co-Founder Didi Verdina is our experienced ‘training’ expert and she is qualified to the Italian equivalent of BHSI level. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Our show jumping team riders feed ReadySupp Ultra Calm, Moody Cow and Performance Joint as their favourites from our supplement range.

Want Faster Times Against the Clock? Spencer Roe Tells You How

Spencer shares his training tips

Jumping a perfect double clear is what most of us are ultimately aiming for, but jumping a fast, clear second round and coming home with a rosette is even more rewarding. With the help of good training and the right amount of practice this is within reach.

Spencer Roe

ReadySupp rider and one of Britain’s brightest future stars Spencer Roe picks out his TOP 5 TIPS for riding a good ‘jump off’.

1. Keep it as smooth as possible, make sure you’ve visualised the route you’ll take carefully and be realistic about turns and approaches

2. Always start off with a good rhythm, and try and maintain it through the round

3. Don’t get too physical with your body – it comes from the leg

4. Flow through your turns, it’s more balanced and ultimately faster

5. Know your horse – don’t try to do too tight a turn if you know your horse isn’t ready for it, it will only surprise him and will likely result in a refusal

Keep this advice in mind when riding and it will eventually become second nature, your rounds will be smoother and faster with less errors.

 If you have any questions on equine supplements, and want to improve your horse’s health, performance, or attitude give our friendly team a call 01672 541 157 for advice. We won’t try and hard sell you anything – we promise.

Follow ReadySupp on social media and via our newsletters for useful (and interesting) articles on nutrition, training, events and equestrian news from the experts. Visit our homepage to subscribe.

Sports Psychology: 6 Things Happy Riders Never Do

Getting the best out of yourself is as important as getting the best out of your horse. Be conscious of channeling the right mindset and staying away from potential negativities as they will only find their way to the horse. Remember happy riders NEVER:

1. Worry about what others are doing – Don’t focus on what others are doing, how well they are riding and what they have achieved. You are riding your own path on your own horses with your own goals. Put your energy in to that 100% and none will be wasted. Use other riders for inspiration and admire them, but refrain from comparison, ignore distractions and mind your own business in the best possible way.

2. Worry about what others think – You know what’s right for you and your true friends will never judge you. Do your best, and keep riding the path that feels right under your feet.

3. Rely on others for happiness – The greater part of your happiness or unhappiness depends upon your outlook, and not upon our situation. Things don’t always go our way but there is always a reason to smile, especially where horses are involved, try it.

4. Hold on to resentment – Forgiveness is the remedy to much. Always move on and up.

5. Spend too much time in negative environments – Protect your spirit and confidence by spending time with positive people and avoid too much negativity. Horses are often the best source of comfort and inspiration.

6. Resist the truth – It takes courage and strength to admit the truth, whether it be about riding or anything else for that matter, but it is the only way to enjoy and develop your skills. Accept what is, define your weaknesses and embrace them fully, then live for the possibilities that lie ahead.