hello everyone today i'm going to show you three simple dressage exercises that you can do with
your horse on the trail so whether you're a trail rider at heart or a dressage rider at heart these
exercises will help you out well if you're a trail rider it's really important that your horse is on
the aids and supple so that you can stay safe on the trail if you're a dressage rider it's really
great to mix it up and get your horse out of the arena and do little things on the trail and you'll
find that you know playing around with your horse on the trail will help with your dressage so give
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want to see more videos like this one let me know in the comments also in the description i have
a free rider assessment quiz that you can take to discover your strengths and weaknesses as a
rider so this is kensington he's my six-year-old and we're stuck out here on the trail because
our rings are too wet from the rain huh buddy so let's get started i'm just going to work
up and down along this path to make it easier for my video person so the first exercise i'm
going to show you guys is just i'm gonna walk a serpentine so i'm just gonna kind of weave from
one side of the trail to the other side of the trail this is a really good exercise because
it's gonna help to keep my horse focused on me like if my horse is tense and nervous and spooky
i'm just gonna make him focus on this little weave that we're doing back and forth
this is also a really good exercise because i'm working on my bending aids i'm working on
getting my horse more supple so i'm like bending and turning you can also like if when i used to
live in colorado we would go out in pastures and there would be sagebrush and so we'd do
these serpentines around the bushes around the sagebrush if your horse is really stiff like
he doesn't really want to bend to the right you could even do a full circle around hey wake up get
off my inside leg good boy and then continue with your turns so you can vary like if your horses
is um being pretty good or they're just warming up your serpentine loops might not be very steep
if your horse is being really naughty then you're gonna make your loop super steep so like
if i'm worried i'm gonna get bucked off i'm gonna be doing this i'm gonna be turning bending turning
bending i'm basically never going to let my horse get straight the age that i'm using
to make this serpentine happen inside leg at the girth i'm giving him like there you see i'm giving
him a little kick with my right leg outside leg a little behind the girth inside rain is for bending
and outside rain helps to bring the shoulder around so
i'm doing these tight little ribbon candy hairpin turns to work on getting my horse supple
and to keep him focused good boy so that's the first exercise that's a great one for you guys to
practice on the trail now the next exercise like once i feel like okay my horse is good
is to really work on a combination of like sometimes when you're on the trail you want
to just let your horse enjoy like i want to just let him walk out and look a little bit around
but i also need to be able to check in with him so in this exercise you're just gonna
alternate between like walking on a loose rain free walk with taking up the reins
and asking your horse to get connected on the bit so i'm gonna take up my reins i'm
suppling with my fingers so i'm moving the bit and i'm saying keep that same activity
what i really want is that i want i'm just to do a little circle here
so when you go from the free walk to the medium walk you want to really focus
that you keep the same march in the same rhythm so like if i'm counting here
i'm feeling that one two three four one two three four one two three four and when
i take up the reins again i'm doing them i'm taking them up gradually
in such a way that i keep that same march and that same activity so it's this is a really good
exercise if you have trouble with your walk in the dressage arena like if your horse wants to jig
or if your horse just doesn't really walk out it's really great to practice it on the trail where
you practice either free walk or extended walk following following following feeling that rhythm
and now i'm taking up the reins i'm working on my ability to shorten and lengthen my reins i'm
moving my fingers and i'm working that he when i shorten up the reins that he just
compresses like an accordion in his neck and his body but maintaining that same activity
so that's a really great exercise that you can play around with good boy
okay so the next exercise
that you can work on is start doing some lateral work on the trail so a really great exercise is
to just work on your leg yield so i'm over here on the right side of the driveway i'm going to flex
him to the right and leg yield him to the left say hey get over there good boy when i get to
the left side of the driveway i'm going to flex him to the left and leg yield him to the right
so this is just like a fun little game to play because on the trail it's really like obvious
it's like okay i'm going from the left side of the driveway to the right side of the driveway
i'm working on keeping him occupied and you can also work like at the end here okay i'm going to
practice a walk pirouette i'm gonna make it big but that he's bending and stepping and turning
and now i'm gonna leg yield off go back to my leg yield exercise so you can be really creative and
you can actually get a lot done with your horse when you're out here on the trail and it can be
a lot more fun for your horse because they don't feel like you're just in the arena drilling them
good boy but that you're really like mixing things up and keeping it interesting for them
so do one more walk for what bending turning you can also work like
haunches in and shoulder in on the trail so like here i'm doing haunches in left
i'm going to straighten i could do either ron vare to the right good boy but basically any dressage
move you can do it out on the trail and it makes it really interesting and fun for your horse
now i think i only was going to give you guys three exercises but we'll do one more
so another really fun one to work on is your transitions like you can do walk hot walk you can
do trot walk trot i'm just gonna do my walk out walk transitions walk on good boy halt walk on boy
halt good boy levi so confused why we're just going up and down good boy
good boy good boy so those are just some ideas to
try out on the trail i think it's really important to remember that even when you're on the trail
you need to stay talking to your horse like it's great to just let them have a loose rain
and hang out and that's an important part of trail riding but you also need your horse to be
on the aid so that if they spook or if something happens that you can get the control back so you
know for sure like let your horse have a loose rain let your horse enjoy the trail ride but
check in like when they get distracted or just every now and then check in pick
up the reins can you get them soft can you bend them can you turn a little bit
and that's going to help you to stay safe if something does spook them and likewise you know
if you are a dressage rider it's good to give your horse a little mental break go out on the
trail and you can still work on a lot of things you can work on bending and suppleness and leg
yields and walk pirouettes so it's not a complete waste of the day so be sure to like this video
sign up for my email list in the description and have fun with your horse on the trail
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