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Boost the quality of your horse’s canter with this straightforward poles routine

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • Poles are a useful tool to improve the quality and balance of your horse’s paces, strengthening the core and boosting cadence. You don’t need intricate patterns and dozens of poles to work on the canter – this polework exercise to improve canter quality requires just three or four poles.

    Aims

    • to improve your horse’s canter quality
    • work on the quality and balance of your horse’s canter
    • help the rider to feel the canter rhythm and see a distance

    The setup

    You need: three or four poles

    Setup:

    • Place three or four poles on a straight line with approximately 3m between each (adjust this according to what suits your horse or pony, aiming for an easy, balanced canter).
    • If setting up in an arena, place the poles in the middle of the long side, so that you have sufficient space both to approach and after.

    Diagram of horse being ridden over four poles.

    Adjust the distance between the poles so the striding is set at a comfortable canter for your horse

    How to ride the exercise

    1. Once warmed up, ride a good corner to give a straight approach to the canter poles, counting your horse’s strides out loud.
    2. Focus on the centre of the poles and aim to canter smoothly over them in the same rhythm, without your horse having to stretch or chip.
    3. If your horse is rushing, sit up and half-halt. If your horse is struggling to reach each pole, keep your leg on, and if that still doesn’t work, shorten the distance so he is comfortable.

    You can repeat this exercise several times on each rein, aiming for a regular, relaxed canter rhythm without resistance.

    Tips and troubleshooting

    1. I can’t see a stride

    If you keep getting the distance to the first pole wrong, the whole exercise can disintegrate with poles flying everywhere. It may be too much for your horse to handle mentally, so start with just one pole and practise cantering into that. Once you’ve nailed meeting a single pole correctly, build back up to three or four poles – avoid two as that encourages your horse to jump the lot.

    2. My horse rushes towards the poles on the approach

    Sit up and ask your horse to halt and stand as soon as he grabs the bit. Reassure him, then quietly turn away and approach again. Keep asking him to stop and stand until he approaches on your terms.

    3. My horse jumps the poles

    Some horses just do! Repeat the exercise a few times until hopefully he relaxes and canters through quietly. Don’t worry too much if he jumps them, so long as he’s maintaining his canter quality.

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

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