Posts Tagged ‘3-to-4-year-old horses’

The following simple loosening exercises are suitable for 3- to 4-year-old horses in the first five to six months of training;

1. As a general rule, about 10 minutes in walk on a loose rein. For safety reasons young horses who have only just started ridden work should only be ridden on a contact, but without flexion at the poll. Horses in whom the four-beat walk is not properly established, those who overbend slightly, or have poll problems, should be worked on a long rein in order to control flexion in the poll area.
2. Rising trot on a circle.
3. Changes of rein in trot – out of the circle, across the short and long diagonals.
4. Frequent transitions between trot and walk.
5. Transitions between trot and canter on a circle (about every one or two circles).
6. Lengthening the stride (on the long side) – maintaining the tempo.
7. Allowing the horse to stretch down and chew the reins out of the rider’s hands in rising trot.
8. One shallow loop on the long side.
9. Three-loop serpentines in rising trot with large, round loops.
10. Leg-yield to the outside (head to the wall).
11. Turns around the forehand.

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