There is nothing worse in the horse's training than performing the same exercises every day. Horses are like little children and they constantly need new stimulus, so they won't get bored. Taking this into consideration, our main purpose of training should be to focus the horse completely, so that he can give a hundred percent from him on each workout.
Working on cavaletti will not only make your workouts more interesting, but will also help your horse to build muscles and make his joints more elastic. What is more, exercises on the ground poles help in relaxing and eliminating stiffness, especially at horses that are being broke in wrongly. Horses jump over the poles with neck placed low when they arch their back, at the same time realising muscles, and they are forced to raise their legs higher than usual, and next, put them on the ground harder and more decided. Dynamic straining and relaxing particular groups of muscles, build them up. What follows is that each leg and joints are more burdened - let's not forget then that working too long on the poles, or working on them when they are set incorrectly, may cause injuries, whereas well-prepared cavaletti and adequate time of exercise will only bring us benefits.
It doesn't matter whether we train our horse in dressage or we want to make a jumping horse out of him - for both cases, cavaletti might be the key to success. Putting the steps in particular intervals requires attention and precise evaluation of distance - that is the indispensable ability in jumping. In dressage training, the ground poles are exceptionally useful while developing walk and trot. Even spaces between them serve improving the rhythm and evenness of movements. Additionally, they may be a perfect prelude to learning passage.
The most important advantage of working with cavaletti - more solid limbs bending and raising, and stretching the neck.
Benefits for the rider
It's not only our steed that benefits from working with cavaletti. A lot of them might get also a rider, especially the beginning one, who faces the problem of not disturbing his or her horse with their seating. Almost every entrant of horse riding automatically backs the hands and upper body, when the horse makes any rolling move. Meanwhile, what we should do exactly the opposite - we should "give" the hand so that the horse could balance his neck. What is more, a sudden move back of our torso blocks his back, instead of unburdening it. The rider must learn to flexibly "follow" the horse in such situations. Working with cavaletti helps us drill maintaining balance, due to pressed knees and calves, regardless of the movement that is performed by the horse.
For the rider - jumper, working with the poles develops ability of evaluating distance and measuring length of a step - shortening or lengthening.
The one for whom the priority is dressage, can work with cavaletti on his or her seat, especially riding in a full seat over the poles, when the horse's steps precipitate us from the rhythm.
source: www.suggestkeyword.com
Introduction to working with cavaletti
First of all, you should define the goal of your work and choose that arrangement of the poles that will help us realise our goal. The horse should be properly prepared - that means warmed up and necessarily with boots or wrappers on all four legs.
Various typed of cavaletti. In the A height 50 cm, B - 15-20 cm, C - 25-30 cm.
Workout schedule
WARM UP
10 min walk
15 – 20min trot
PROPER WORKOUT
15 - 20 min work on cavaletti
FINISH
5 min walk on a long rein
10 min trot
Note!
Let's not forget that we cannot overburden our steed. Working too long with cavaletti not only will discourage him to work, but may also surpass his physical abilities, which will, unfortunately, end up with injury. Regardless of the amount of trainings during a week, it's not worth training on the ground poles more than 1-2 a week, for the sake of saving the joints and ligaments from overloading them. But it is worth to work with cavaletti regularly.
Arranging cavaletti
The easiest arrangement, which we recommend for all those who begin their work with cavaletti is a straight line - namely, arranging the poles collaterally one after another. Horses riding on cavaletti on the track are less likely to pass the obstacles, and that allows the rider to focus on his or her seat - hence, it is best to place them near a wall in order to eliminate at least one way of escaping. From the other side you may place a pole which you will put diagonally on the end on a trestle. That will prevent your horse from escaping and from riding straight on cavaletti. Slightly more difficult might be riding over the poles on "the other track" - that is parallel to the track, but closer to the manege. The advantage of this is that we don't have to ride on the set poles during each lap.
We start with one pole, gradually adding another ones. It is good not to exceed the amount of four poles, as especially the young horses will be discouraged by their number. For the older horses you may put four poles right away.
A slight variation may cause the arrangement of poles on the middle line, which is very practical, as you may jump through them in both ways, at the same time training the ride in straight lines and riding over the middle of obstacles. More attention is required in the diagonal line, as it's harder to keep it straight while riding through the poles.
Possible arrangements: A - on a track, B - on the second track, C - on the middle line, D - diagonally.
Work in a walk
The generally accepted spacing between each poles is 80 cm, while for ponies the spacing should be adequately reduced.
First attempts to work with cavaletti should be performed at a walk, while it is the easiest to lead the horse, and he or she would have more time to take a look at the new, awe-inspiring objects. Start with one ground pole on a loose rein. Remember that first jump is the most important - so it has to be outright, if needed, help yourself with voice. For all the next attempts, the horses usually go boldly themselves and you won't need to activate them.
Ingrid Klimke in the photo - an author of the recommended by us book entitled "Cavaletti - For Dressage and Jumping".
The upper body of the rider should be slightly bent toward front, so in case of the possible attempt of the horse to jump over the ground poles, you won't "squat" his back. If the horse calmly approach the task, soon you can add more poles, to the total number of four.
If the steed moves rhythmically over each pole, it means that the spacing is correct. If not, you should rectify them. While working appropriately on the poles, the horse should end the exercise with his head low, so it means also, with his back muscles relaxed. While jumping over cavaletti, the reins should be loose to allow the horse to find the balance - when the horse lowers his neck, approximately 2 meters before the ground poles, our hands should move towards the muzzle's direction.
Of course, not in every case it is possible to obtain the right contact of the horse's muzzle with a bit. Some of the horses stiffen, especially flexing the muscles of neck and back, at the same time defending himself from the rein's action. In such cases, it is advisable to make a circle or a figure eight before jumping over cavaletti, while using the adequate aids and trying to make the horse "let go" on a turn, lowering his head, preferably by chewing from a hand. Next, you should lead him from the turn right on the poles, requiring him to keep the desired position.
Note!
A sudden loosening of the rein to the horse might scare him. Do it gradually, adjusting its length to our steed's needs.
Let's remember that each completed task should be rewarded with patting or stroking the horse's neck. Exercise in a walk should be performed until a full success.
It is worth to use cavaletti in teaching the horse how to lengthen and shorten his steps, and that would be a good lesson for the rider as well. The spacing between each pole ground can be reduced up to 60-70 cm and extended to 100-110 cm, of course dependently to our horse's abilities. If the horse makes additional step between the poles, it means that the spacing is too big or that the horse hasn't been appropriately "rode forward". If the pet takes two poles in one jump - the spacing should be bigger, as it is already too small.
Due to the load on the muscles and tendons, exercising with extended steps should not be performed more than 10 - 15 times.
Work in a trot
A rider who began work with his pet on cavaletti in a walk may, due to that preparation, continue it in a trot right away on four ground poles.
If you're starting from working in a trot, you should start with one ground pole, gradually increasing the expectations, up to a few poles. Spacing for the trot is 1,30 - 1,40 m, for the lowest height of ca. 15 cm.
Exercising on poles in the walk mainly focuses on the horse, while in the trot, the rider is also trained. And that applies not only to the beginning but also to the advanced riders.
First attempts of going over poles in the trot should be performed in a jumping position in order to unburden the horse's back and be prepared for the possible jump. This seat is best in terrain and for jumping. The rider slightly leans forward, shifting the weight through his thighs and knees onto the horse's sides.
The beginners should approach the poles riding to the trot, and only then change to the jumping position, at first leaning on the neck or holding to the horse's crest, due to which their hand will be stable and the rein will be loose so the horse can balance. At following rides over cavaletti, the beginning rider may try to stick one hand out, then both, until he or she feels completely sure.
Riding in a jumping position. Source: horsejunkiesunited.com
When the rider learns to keep the balance and flexibly go with the horses movements, it is worth trying to ride with complete letting go of the rein and spreading heads to the sides or crossing them on the chest. Of course, this exercise can be performed only on the horse of whom we have full trust that he will ride on the middle of the first ground pole and the last will also be rode through the middle, not straying from the straight line. It is also worth to knot the rein so the rider can use it for approaching, and that will at the same time prevent them from tangling and being stepped on by the horse.
The next stage is training the rider in ride to the trot on cavaletti, what may occur in analogy to exercises in the jumping position. The goal is achieved if the rider doesn't stay behind the horse's motion, flexibly hovering above and sitting in the saddle with unhanded rein and a steady hand over the poles.
Training trot on the collected horse. Ingrid Klimke in the picture.
The most difficult task is to ride over the ground poles in a training trot. This exercise can be performed only by the advanced riders, who don't disturb the horse with their seat. Maintaining the full seat on the poles excellently teaches the rider to feel the swaying movement of the horse's back and forces him or her to much more engaged work of the spine, legs and abdominal muscles. The ride should be performed in a shortened trot, namely the collected, most comfortable to "seat".
Proper execution of exercises on the ground poles may be harder than it initially seems to be. It is quite often that the very rhythmical approaching cavaletti with low position of the horse's neck causes troubles. Those more lazy steeds can be easily lead on the poles by activating them. However, more of them speeds up when they see the ground poles, even trying to gallop. Then you should keep a steady pace, helping yourself with a half-parade. It is worth to performed the aforementioned volts, sometimes few in a row, before riding on the poles, in order to calm the horse down and so he doesn't have time to scorch again.
Some of the horses raise their heads before the obstacles and ground poles, to see better what they have in front of them, but on the poles they lower their noses again. In this situation, it is wrong to forbid the horse to raise his head before cavaletti, because it not only causes his reluctance, but may also result in losing trust to the rider.
If the horse's excitement appear in some later moment, it is a sign that something is wrong. Our pet might be overloaded with work and feel pain. Then you should stop the training right after moderately satisfying outcome of the exercise or apparently lower our requirements in order to successfully finish the training.
Just like in working on ground poles in the walk, in the trot you may lengthen and shorten your horse's steps, adequately extending or reducing the spacing between the poles. While extending you may go up to 1,50 - 1,60 m, and reducing to 0,90 - 1,00 m. Everything depends on our horse's abilities, of course.
If you want to prepare your horse for jumping or ride in terrain, it would be a good idea to work with the ground poles in the trot in double spacing, which exercises the middle stride. To do that, remove one pole from the middle of straight line of the parallel poles. It forces the horse to concentrate more and teaches judgement, which help him to move better on the parkour and rugged terrain.
Work in a gallop
Working with cavaletti in a gallop really means jumping over low obstacles placed one after another in specified spacing - it means that the horse after landing on the first pole, springs again on another pole. The spacing between each pole for gallop is around 3 m. Although, it is worth to adapt it individually.
Proper gallop on the poles is the one with dynamic lunges and clear phase of suspension. Cavaletti teaches the horses to take on the croup a bigger load during a gallop and they increase the expression of gait.
A more interesting exercise is jumping in the circle. We place four ground poles in the circle with 2 m spacing from the centre and 3 m from the inside. During this task, the rider is responsible not only for the rhythm, but also the drawing - proper leading the horse on the curved line. Training on the poles in a gallop is extremely exhausting, especially for young horses.
It is worth remembering that working on poles in a gallop relaxes the horse. Especially the horses who are full of energy, relax better in a preferred by them gallop. Of course, we should properly prepare our pet for this kind of workout by warming him up in all three strides.
Gallop through the poles. Source: www.bitmagazine.nl
Note!
Remember that during work the horse might stumble and loose balance. At the beginning it will be happening quite often, as the pet must learn how to steadily put his steps. We shouldn't worry, as in jumping the possibility of falling down is more common and may have way worse consequences. If the horse will get injured while working with cavaletti it only because the poles were inappropriately arranged, or the horse was working too long as was getting too little help from the rider. All of the mentioned above causes can be prevented.
Accidental hitting of the hooves or fetlocks on the poles is harmless and we shouldn't be bothered by them (unless, we didn't put the boots on our horse!).
Working with cavaletti is an easy exercise, but it requires patience and attention both from the rider and the horse. The rider has to overcome the variety of poles' arrangements and must focus his or her attention on performing particular tasks, and that automatically causes him or her to forget about discomfort, thereby relaxing. Relax seat that follows the horse's motion provides safety in terrain and constitutes the best basis to the later achievements in jumping or dressage. Cavaletti is also a perfect solution for the horse's stiffening and correction of those who are wrongly rode.
But first of all, introducing work on the poles will protect us from routine and boredom during our everyday workouts. Let's not forget that horseback riding has to be a pleasure for both sides - as well for the steed as for the rider. If we only set clear goals at the beginning of training, cavaletti will surely help us achieve them.
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source: bitmagazine.nl
The most important advantage of working with cavaletti - more solid limbs bending and raising, and stretching the neck.
source: www.suggestkeyword.com
Various typed of cavaletti. In the A height 50 cm, B - 15-20 cm, C - 25-30 cm.
Possible arrangements: A - on a track, B - on the second track, C - on the middle line, D - diagonally.
Ingrid Klimke in the photo - an author of the recommended by us book entitled "Cavaletti - For Dressage and Jumping".
Riding in a jumping position. Source: horsejunkiesunited.com
Training trot on the collected horse. Ingrid Klimke in the picture.
Gallop through the poles. Source: www.bitmagazine.nl
