You're Riding in the Arena. Now What?

I used to not be so thrilled about having to ride in an arena. Now I view it as an essential part of my training regimen. So, when you ride in the arena, what is it you're trying to accomplish? As riders and horse owners, we are always training our horses (hopefully for the better). So, when you and your horse enter the arena, how are you planning to get better that day?

When I ride in the arena, there's several things I like to work on. In this post I'll discuss my top 5 arena exercises.

1. The primary thing I focus on in the arena is that my horses is using himself correctly. What I mean by that is I want his hind end and core engaged. Without these muscle groups engaged it's like standing flatfooted while playing basketball. It just doesn't work. You take an extremely athletic animal and lose all athleticism without proper frame and carriage.

   
   

2. The next goal of mine is to work on bend. If you as the rider aren't controlling the bend, it's like driving a car without a steering wheel. Without being able to control the bend (with primarily your legs, not your hands), you and your horse will be swerving all over the arena. To control the bend, this means having a horse that views your legs as controlling their shape, not speed. Most people think legs mean "go" and they do, however legs more importantly control the shape of your horse.

   
   

3. The next thing I like to work on is transitions. Transitions build our horses muscles and are a great way to get a sense of how well they are using their hind end. If your horse's head comes up and they get heavy on the forehand, you will struggle to get a good transition. A solid transition can only happen when your horse is using his body properly, and a good way to build strength for proper carriage is to do transitions.

   
   

   

   
   

4. The other key component of my arena riding is stopping. Similar to transitions, you can't have a good stop on a horse that isn't using himself properly. To get a nice solid stop the horse needs to have their hind end engaged and have the core strength to not lose their frame when stopping. A key indication that a horse needs to gain core strength is if their head comes up when stopping.

   
   

5. Lastly, I always try to incorporate some counter bending. Counter bending is when your horse is bent the opposite direction of travel. This is a great way to get a sense of how well your horse is responding to your leg shape cues. This is an unnatural movement, just think about how often you see a horse out in the field trotting to the right but bent to the left. It doesn't happen but it is a very important part of my training regimen and

   brings together points 1. and 2.

The next time you ride your horse in the arena, pick one of these exercises and have some fun!