German dressage legend Christoph Hess suggests this flatwork exercise to help your horse work towards collection, without losing impulsion.

First you ride a small, balanced circle, in trot, in a corner. Then you move straight into shoulder-in down the long side, which is useful for testing your horse’s balance, energy and suppleness.

Christoph says: “Collection without impulsion is worthless, and I’ve yet to see a horse at any level who has no issues with straightness.”

Aims

• Collection with impulsion
• Suppleness
• Straightness

The setup

No setup required. You can ride this in an arena or a field, but you’ll need markers to help you stay disciplined on straightness and circle sizes.

How to ride this exercise

• Approach the short side of the arena in an active trot. Before the second corner, half-halt and, instead of a normal corner, ride a very small circle (6–8m) keeping your horse in balance.
• You’ll need to bend your horse around your inside leg, controlling the shoulders with the outside rein. You want to keep the trot’s activity but ask for more engagement. This helps collect your horse.
• As you finish the little circle and return to the long side, straighten your horse’s body while keeping that energy you have created.
• Immediately ride in shoulder-in down the long side. This asks your horse to maintain the balance and engagement from the small circle while moving forward and sideways.
• This lateral work can help with straightness as the horse needs to align his shoulder and quarters rather than drifting or falling out.
• Straighten up and do the same exercise at the opposite end of the arena.
• Repeat several times on each rein.

Troubleshooting tips

1. Losing impulsion

Make the exercise a little easier. Don’t force it – a slightly larger (8-10m) but correct circle followed by a few strides of good shoulder-in is more productive than a messy circle and the lack of balance that follows.

2. Falling on to inside shoulder

Use your inside leg to support the bend, and the outside rein to control the shoulders, do not try to lift with the inside hand. Make the circle bigger so that your horse can stay in balance.

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Even when you don’t have time for a full ride, you can keep developing your horse’s way of doing with this simple groundwork exercise.

All you need is two poles and 10 minutes – and you will reap the long-term benefits as your horse develops his foot-eye coordination and activates his core.

Aims

• Fine tune horse’s motor control
• Activate postural muscles
• Improve rideability from the ground

The setup

You will need: a training halter, lunging cavesson, or your horse’s usual bridle.

Place two poles at a right angle to each other, with one end touching.

You can raise the outside end of either or both poles on to a block to create a slightly more demanding groundwork pole exercise.

How to do these exercises

Exercise 1

• Position your horse with his head in the corner, adjacent to and parallel to one of the poles
• Ask him to move his hindquarters round, stepping underneath his belly. He should keep his head in the corner and step round with the hindlegs to stand parallel to the other pole. It should take three to four steps.
• Keep the front feet in the corner; he should not pull backwards or step over the poles.

Exercise 2

• Position your horse in a square halt, with this front feet just behind one of the poles (you can stand just in front of the pole and slightly to the side).
• Ask your horse to take a step forward over the pole with both forelegs, then step back over the pole.
• Do this five or six times.
• You can also ask the horse to step just one front leg over, pause for a few seconds to stretch the shoulder, then step back, alternating front legs

Exercise 3

• Ask your horse to do a small circle, over both poles. Stand outside the setup and, as if you were lungeing, ask him to do a 5m circle around you, incorporating the poles.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Knocking poles down

The whole point of these groundwork pole exercises is to help the horse lift his core, and fine-tune his proprioception so he knows where he is putting his feet. His foot-eye coordination will develop through practice.

Make sure you are not restricting your horse’s head and neck with your lead rope, as he needs the release in front to drop his head and look at the poles.

These are simple exercises at a slow pace, so keep practising – little and often, rather than drilling him in one session.

If possible, use heavy wooden poles rather than lightweight ones which the horse will be less aware of hitting. Raise both ends of the pole on to blocks to encourage him to lift.

2. Ride it

This exercise can also be ridden in walk. As you have practised it from the ground, your horse should understand what you are asking from the saddle with your seat, hands and legs, which consolidates your aids.

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Back pain is a common problem among equestrians, but a spinal expert has shared three simple core exercises for horse riders that can help prevent these issues.

H&H spoke to consultant spinal neurosurgeon Anthony Ghosh about why the repetitive nature of riding puts equestrians at greater risk of disc disease.

“The repetitive axial loading – that means vertical impact forces that are repetitive where the spine is sort of upright and going up and down – does mean we see a much higher prevalence of disc disease [in equestrians],” he explains. “But this doesn't mean you have to be a back pain sufferer.”

Mr Ghosh recommends the “McGill big three” as useful core-strengthening exercises that may help prevent back pain.

The McGill big three core exercises for horse riders

The “McGill big three” refers to three exercises highlighted by Stuart McGill, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada for 30 years, who is a leading figure in causes and rehabilitation of back pain. These are the bird dog, curl up and side-plank.

The below can be varied and tailored to your situation by a good physiotherapist. If you are suffering from back pain, seek appropriate medical advice before undertaking any of the below exercises.

1. Bird dog

The bird dog is good for activating the lower lumbar back muscles.

• Start on all fours
• Lift one arm up ahead of you, almost like a superman post
• Stretch the opposite leg out behind you
• Repeat on each side

2. Curl up

The curl up activates the abdominal muscles – it is not the same as a crunch.

• Lie on your back – bend one knee and keep the other leg stretched out.
• Place your hands under your back to support the natural arch of your spine.
• Lift your head and shoulders a few inches off the ground as one and hold.

3. Side plank

A side plank activates the oblique muscles.

• Lie on your side with your knees bent at 90 degrees, and prop yourself up on your elbow, positioned under your shoulder.
• Lift your hips off the mat until you have a straight line from your knees to the top of your head and hold.
• You can up the intensity by keeping your legs straight, instead of bending your knees.

Take care: With any new form of exercise, your body needs to build up gradually to avoid strain. Seek the advice of a chartered physiotherapist if you are unsure if you should do any exercises due to underlying health conditions. Particular caution applies if you have any cartilage injuries in your knees or joint replacements; avoid the cardiovascular exercises if you have any unstable cardiac health problems, acute disc bulges/prolapses or referred leg pain, pins and needles, numbness, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, gynaecological conditions – or if you are pregnant or undergoing cancer treatment.

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Joe Stockdale shared this simple two-fence jumping exercise with H&H. He often uses it as a warm-up because it helps builds connection between horse and rider, checking all the buttons are working and your horse is listening to your aids.

The two fences – while built on a related line – are jumped on an angle as single obstacles, which gives multiple options for different lines, angles and patterns.

The angled approach focus here is more demanding than the usual straight lines. This requires your horse to be more engaged and connected, listening to your instructions rather than jumping on autopilot and going through the motions with a lacklustre canter.

Aims

• Jump fences on an angle
• Dictate which lead to land on
• Increase responsiveness to aids

The setup

You need three sets of jump wings and poles for an upright and oxer. You can do this in an arena or field.

Set up a one-stride double, with an upright and square oxer, across the diagonal to give you maximum space around the fences. Both fences can be jumped from either direction.

This jumping exercise is suitable for all levels, so build the fences at the height at which you are comfortable. Joe demonstrated this with his 1.60m jumper Cacharel, over fences at about 90cm-1m, and says he “rarely jumps more than 1.10m at home”.

How to ride this exercise

• Warm up in walk, trot and canter on both reins. Make sure your horse is listening to the aids, with plenty of transitions.
• You may want to jump a warm-up fence before starting the exercise, such as a cross-pole – whatever you usually do at the start of a jumping session.
• For the exercise, both the upright and oxer should be approached on an angle and jumped as single fences, not as part of a double. You can play around with the lines.
• Always approach the fence you want to jump as the second part of the double. This is so that you are not asking your horse to run past a fence it has already locked on to, which would be more likely if isolating the first fence, with the second fence in their vision. This means you always have to come in on an angle.
• Try circles, turn-back and figure-of-eights, dictating which lead you land on, as shown in the diagram.
• At the end, jump straight through the double a couple of times to reset.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Back to basics

For young or green horses, you can set the double on two strides to make it less demanding. This makes the angle of approach less sharp, and gives horses more time to see where they are going.

2. Work on the weak spots

Each horse will naturally have a favoured lead on which to land. You can play around with approaching and landing on different leads. Avoid leaning, but look in the direction you want to go and open the inside rein slightly, which should influence your horse’s landing lead.

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How to help fields recover from drought will be a question that resurfaces more and more frequently as climate change continues disturbing weather patterns and unleashing hotter, drier summers.

We have all witnessed the UK turn from a green and pleasant land to a consummate Sahara, with our horses’ fields withering away into hot, dry plains. Grass, unable to grow, has been in short supply. With the 2026 hay yield diminished, many of us have been putting out forage from our winter stocks and are now not only worrying about how to reduce the upcoming hay bills, but how to help our paddocks recover.

What happens to fields during a drought?

• Grass stops growing to conserve moisture.
• Soil becomes compacted, which prevents air, moisture and nutrients reaching the roots.
• Rain runs off the surface instead of being absorbed, which can contribute to flooding.
• Bare areas develop where grass is overgrazed (also weakening the roots) and in high-traffic areas.
• Opportunistic weeds grow before grass has chance to re-establish.

How to help fields recover from drought

Is there anything to be done to help fields recover from drought? Experts at Posh Pastures, suppliers of field maintenance equipment, say yes in many cases.

Rehabilitating your paddocks means waiting for moisture, assessing the damage and working the land appropriately. Here is Posh Pastures’ advice.

1. Wait for moisture

Helping fields recover hinges on moisture.

Before you do any paddock maintenance, the land must be workable to avoid damaging equipment. This means you do unfortunately need to wait for that long-awaited downpour before rescuing your field.

If you can push a spade or soil probe (like this one) into multiple areas across your field without excessive force, the land is ready to work.

2. Aerate or slit compact ground

This makes openings in the soil, helping moisture, air and nutrients reach grass roots. Concentrate on the most heavily compacted areas first, but expand if compaction is widespread.

3. Harrow to remove dead grass and improve the surface

This will also make more productive conditions for overseeding where necessary. You may need to harrow badly affected paddocks more than once.

4. Overseed bare or thin patches

Overseeding speeds up the recovery process where grass has died. You should seed after harrowing.

Ensure:

• You choose a seed specifically formulated for equestrian paddocks (like this one) and apply at the recommended rate.
• The seed makes firm contact with the soil – rolling can help with this, but only when conditions are suitable (i.e. not too wet).
• Moisture is sufficient for germination.
• Horses are kept off while the new grass establishes.

7. Apply fertiliser once the grass is growing

Adding fertiliser to dormant grass will not help, but when growth has restarted with sufficient moisture, a suitable fertiliser (testing your soil will help you find the right one) should improve recovery.

8. Allow the paddock to rest and recover

Before allowing horses to graze, you should ensure the grass is established well enough so that the roots of new seedlings are not pulled up by horses grazing.

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Riding round in circles can seem pointless, unless you create an aim and focus. The goal in this flatwork exercise is connecting simple 20m canter circles and 10m walk circles, with canter to walk, and walk to canter transitions.

The emphasis on precise upward and downward transitions provides huge benefits in terms of accuracy, which helps your horse to be more responsive, lift the forehand and move better overall.

While the focus is on accurate transitions, you’ll also be working on rhythm, balance and bend, which should remain consistent as you change pace and continue on whichever size circle.

It also helps with engagement, suppleness and collection, because of the use of the hindleg when riding a circle and the horse bending his core around your inside leg.

Aims

• Improve walk to canter transitions
• Develop engagement, suppleness and collection
• Help lift your horse’s shoulder

The setup

No setup required. You can do this exercise in a field or an arena.

How to ride this exercise

• Canter at 20m circle at either C or A.
• At X, make a transition from canter to walk and, staying on the same rein, walk a 10m circle.
• When completing the circle, at X make a walk to canter transition and ride a 20m circle again.
• Repeat the sequence five times.
• Change the rein and repeat.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Level up

If you’ve nailed your walk to canter transitions and vice versa so that they take place on X, without drifting, losing balance or outline, the next step is to do one set of circles on the left rein, then change leg over X and repeat a set of circles on the other rein in a figure of eight. Switch leads either through a couple of steps of trot or a flying change.

2. Late transitions

Preparation is key. For the downward transition, prepare three to five strides before X, quietly rebalancing the canter, sitting up tall, and thinking “soften and walk” rather than pulling down into it.

For the walk to canter transition, make sure your walk is forward on the 10m circle but not hurried. Ask for a clear aid up into canter, rather than rushing through a few strides of trot.

3. Anticipation

Your horse anticipating is partly useful because it enables you to use lighter aids for a more accurate transition. However, if your horse is acting before you’ve given the aids, change the exercise slightly. Continue over X without making a transition or switch the moment from X to A or C so that he waits for your aid rather than assuming what comes next.

4. Back to basics

If the walk-canter-walk transitions are too advanced for your level at the moment, swap the canter for trot. You’ll still be working on your transitions, bend and accuracy.

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This hourglass polework exercise only requires four poles, but provides multiple options to improve your horse’s straightness, suppleness, transitions and adjustability.

Sometimes in a training session, you want to work on a variety of things to benefit your horse, rather than focusing on a specific issue – and this polework exercise does just that.

Aims

• Improve balance and straightness
• Develop suppleness and rideability
• Hone accuracy

The setup

Place two poles on the quarter lines between H and M, at a 45º angle as shown in the diagram. Do the same between K and F.

It doesn’t matter if they are not precisely placed – they represent focal points rather than exact markers.

How to ride the hourglass exercise

• There are many different lines you can ride in this hourglass exercise and you can do all the patterns in walk, trot, or canter, which all have different demands.
• First try the loops, incorporating the poles as you leave and return to the track. You can vary the depth of the loop as you fine-tune your aids. A bigger, sharper loop – as far as X – requires more bend and balance, while a gentle curve is easier for a horse to maintain its rhythm.
  • You can go from loop to loop on the same rein, or turn directly up the centre line after finishing a loop to change the rein, and repeat on the other side. This works on both bending and straightness and helps stop your horse anticipating.
• Elongated figure of eight: rather than a classic figure of eight made up of 20m circles, the poles dictate that you ride into the corners before making a straight line across the diagonal to change the rein. This works on accuracy into the corners, balance on the turns, straightness across the diagonal and maintaining rhythm through the change of rein.
  • Within this figure of eight, you can practise transitions on the diagonal line, for example, halt at X, trot-to-walk and so on.
  • If doing the exercise in canter, you can do simple lead changes through trot over X, or more advanced partnerships can execute flying changes.
  • You can also practise shortening and lengthening between the two poles across the diagonal, counting a different number of strides.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Back to basics

If your horse is losing balance on the turns, falling out through the shoulder or swinging the quarters, take it back a step. Don’t get hung up on completing the pattern.

You can break up the patterns so you do segments, such as one loop then go large. Or go through the lines in walk first, so that he understands the challenge at a slower pace.

2. Level up

Raise the poles or add cavaletti to add to the challenge.

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This simple flatwork exercise is a favourite of H&H deputy art editor Sophie Cheeseman to do at the start of a session to encourage your horse to be supple, off the leg and to “get your own legs working too”.

This is a great suppling exercise to do at the start of a session to warm you and your horse up, and is great for practising riding accurate circles.

It entails consecutive 10m circles off the centre line, on alternate reins. This works on your horse’s suppleness, collection and connection with the rider.

Aims

• Suppleness
• Collection
• Connection

The setup

No setup required. You can do this exercise in an arena or a field, though it’s best to mark out an arena to help you stay disciplined on circle sizes.

The diagram below shows the exercise in a 20x60m school. If you are riding in a 20x40m, just do one circle fewer.

How to ride this exercise

• Establish an active walk working into a contact and go large on the left rein. Turn down the centre line and almost immediately ride a 10m circle to the right.
• On returning to the track, walk a few strides straight then ride a 10m circle to the left.
• Establish straightness again on the centre line, then circle on the right rein, and so on.
• Continue with these alternate circles until you reach the end of the arena. You should aim to fit five 10m circles in a 60m school – adjust according to the length you have available.
• You can repeat this exercise in trot.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Space out the circles

When you start doing this exercise, you may want to space out the circles so you’re not rushing your horse. Work on ensuring you have the correct bend on both reins.

Equally, it’s beneficial to practise a few strides of straightness in between the circles as well as the tight turns.

2. Build up slowly

Your horse needs to be established and balanced on single 10m circles before attempting this sequence, which requires significant suppleness and multiple changes of rein in quick succession.

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The butterfly jumping exercise was first developed by showjumper Luciana Diniz. It uses more fences that we usually set up for a daily training exercise, but it’s worth it as if offers some 60 different lines. You can leave it up for the week and revisit.

The focus is on riding through the turn and concentrating on landing on the correct lead. At the same time, you’ll be building your canter rhythm as you jump from fence to fence.

There are several different version of the butterfly jumping exercise. Here, we outline the simplest version.

And it’s not just for jumpers; it’s a handy pattern for those who enjoy polework exercises, too.

Aims

• Land on the correct lead
• Course visualisation
• Link fences in a good rhythm and quality canter

The setup

Set up five jumps in a butterfly shape. One obstacle forms the butterfly”s body in the middle, and four obstacles as its wings.

Build the fences at a height at which you are comfortable. It’s best to start small, as you will be jumping a lot of fences in a session. It’s less about the height, more about the quality of canter through the turns.

Although the butterfly is primarily used as a jumping exercise, you can do this with poles on the ground, cavaletti, or fences that you can adjust. You might also want to incorporate an oxer on either side to give a variation of uprights and spreads.

How to ride the exercise

• Start small – even with poles on the ground – and only once you are taking the lines you intend smoothly and confidently should you consider raising the fences.
• With some 60 different lines that you can take around this set-up, you can simply play around. The diagram shows one potential sequence.
• Decide before each line exactly where which route you will take, as you need to be accurate with your aids.
• Visualise your course before starting, so that you are ready over each fence to influence the correct lead on landing.
• Focus on riding through each turn in balance and landing on the correct lead.
• To land on the correct lead, look in the direction you want to travel, towards the next fence. Very slightly open your inside rein. Do not lean to try to influence the horse as this will throw him off balance.
• You’ll also practise switching from jumping off a turn to in a straight line over the “butterfly’s body” fence.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Landing on the wrong lead: rider influence

Do not lean to the inside as your horse may try to counterbalance. Look and turn your head as you leave the ground in the direction you want to travel.

Slightly open the inside rein but don’t overdo it, and keep a steady, supportive outside rein.

2. Landing on the wrong lead: help with poles

You can also add a pole on the landing side, on a diagonal at least 3m from the fence to close off the rein he favours (see example below).

For instance, if he always wants to land on the left rein, place the left side of the landing pole 3m from the fence so there is no chance of landing on it, at a slight angle as shown in the diagram below. This forms a natural barrier, encouraging him around the turn to the right and automatically landing on the right lead.

Or you can add a half cross-pole behind the fence, with the side raised of the horse’s favoured leg. Putting it behind the fence is safer as if your horse hits it, it will simply fall down.

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“Around the clock” is a relatively demanding polework exercise on a 20m circle, which can be ridden in both trot and canter. It helps you see how well you can control the outside shoulder, requiring the horse to negotiate four poles while bending around your inside leg.

Aims

• Maintain the bend and direction of travel while lifting the shoulder
• Work on your horse’s posture and outline
• Ride from inside leg to outside hand

The setup

Setup: Four poles set up on a 20m circle like a clock face. There should be four canter strides between the centre of each pole.

How to ride this exercise

1. Warm up in walk, trot and canter.
2. First, walk over the circle of four poles on each rein, keeping up a good active pace, and allowing the horse to lift his shoulder and lengthen his neck over each pole.
3. Next, in trot on both reins. Approach each pole in the middle, using stripes if you have them to guide you. Keep looking round to the next pole to maintain the bend. Focus on how you ride each quadrant rather than each individual pole.
4. Now, in canter on both reins, add in one pole at a time rather than going straight over all four poles at once. Start by riding two poles, then missing a pole, then two poles and so on. Take a break on a long rein.
5. Then, do three poles at a time, and miss a pole, for a few circles, and repeat on the other rein. Again, give your horse a short break between each set.
6. Finally, do all four poles.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Level up

Although this exercise is quite demanding in itself, you can ramp up the difficulty level. Try shortening the canter to five strides between poles, and doing two quadrants on five strides, and two on four. This requires your horse to lengthen and shorten the canter without tension, because the poles will disrupt it if your horse is not sufficiently adjustable.

2. Self-carriage

It’s tempting for your horse to drift out to make this exercise a bit easier. Give him a gentle pat with the inside hand over every other pole to check he can maintain his position and bend without relying on that inside hand.

3. Rider position

You can vary your position between sitting in the saddle and a light showjumping seat. One is likely to feel easier to you, so practise both until they both feel as natural as the other.

4. Take a break

This is a demanding exercise both mentally and physically, so make sure you give your horse plenty of breaks on a long rein between sets.

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Transitions – as Olympic dressage rider Becky Moody always emphasises – are the most important part of daily training, whatever pace you are working in. This flatwork exercise incorporates rein-back as well as transitions to increase the difficulty level.

It improves your horse’s balance, engaging the hindquarters to carry more weight while lifting the core. Rein-back is also useful for testing your horse’s response to the rider’s correct seat, leg and hand aids.

We may think that we can’t make much progress in walk, but this is a great exercise that really helps develop your horse’s way of going and your own riding skills. Furthermore, it can be done in an arena or out hacking, and is useful when the ground is hard or your horse is perhaps older or lacking fitness but still needs stimulating work.

Aims

• Improve responsiveness
• Develop balance and straightness
• Hone rider’s coordination

The setup

No setup required. You can do this exercise in a field or an arena.

How to ride this exercise

• Establish an active walk in a straight line, concentrating on your position as a rider – your posture, straightness, soft hands and weight in the heels.
• Count approximately eight steps of walk, then halt for five seconds, squeezing the rein and legs, while sitting tall so that the horse steps into the contact. How early you have to prepare will depend on your connection with your horse.
• Analyse your halt – is it square? Did you horse respond when you gave the aids?
• Ask your horse to go forward to walk for eight steps and halt again.
• Now, rein-back for four steps or as much as is comfortable for your stage in training – pressing with the inner thigh, keeping your abs tight and gently half-halting, softening as soon as he responds.
• Analyse your rein-back as you go. Does your horse move straight back with his legs in diagonal pairs? Does he remain soft and consistent in his outline or resist?
• Go straight back into walk and go large.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Level up

If you are working in an arena, you can start this exercise alongside the fence (or out hacking along a hedgerow). This will help keep your horse straight.

Next, try it on the centre line without any fence keeping him from swinging quarters out or in. Concentrate on maintaining a straight line both in the walk, through the halt and the rein-back.

When you can do this exercise easily, vary the number of steps in walk and rein-back. Be strict with yourself on achieving however many strides you decide so that you don’t drift.

2. Poor halt

Preparation is paramount. If your horse is late to halt, prepare earlier and give clearer aids.

If he halts crookedly, analyse your own position: are you sitting with your weight on both seatbones, with your hands level? Visualise keeping your horse’s shoulders and quarters aligned, rather than forcing the head straight with the reins.

Use the arena fence to help keep you straight.

3. Poor rein-back

If your horse is new to rein-back, try teaching him rein-back from the ground first. When ridden, start by asking for just one step and immediately release and praise him.

Again, this is easiest to attempt initially at the side of the arena, using the fence as a natural barrier. You could also set up some poles to ride between.

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Counter-canter is useful for developing balance, straightness, strength and obedience to the aids. While it also appears as a movement in dressage tests as you progress up the levels (from novice in pure dressage, and in eventing), it’s also very effective for improving the overall canter quality and self-carriage.

However, when you first introduce your horse to counter-canter, like any new move, it’s best to take baby steps.

This teardrop shaped is handy for teaching a few strides of counter-canter in an unpressurised, simple way, so your horse can gain strength and understand of the aids before progressing to more demanding flatwork exercises.

Aim

• To achieve a few strides of counter-canter while maintaining straightness and balance.

The setup

No setup required. You can do this exercise in an arena of field, but if using the latter it’s best to mark out an arena with boards or poles to help you stay disciplined regarding straight lines and circle sizes.

How to ride this exercise

• Warm up in walk, trot and canter on both reins, including doing circles of various sizes. This spiral circle exercise can improve engagement and balance on a smaller circle.
• Pick up an active canter, and go large on the left rein. At the short end of the arena, ride a 15m half circle.
• At the end of the half-circle, take a diagonal line back to the track, thereby changing the rein. Keep control of your horse’s shoulders, and maintain your leg aids for left canter, so that your horse doesn’t drift or anticipate a flying change.
• Maintain counter-canter for a few strides on a straight line, making a transition to trot before the corner. The canter should feel of the same quality and balance, not losing rhythm.
• Repeat on the other rein.
• Next, try the same exercise but with a 10m half-circle. This will require greater collection and rebalance for the smaller circle, and give room for more strides of counter-canter on returning to the track.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Circle size

If the circle is too tight, your horse may lose balance or fall out through the shoulder. You want to go into counter-canter in good balance and maintain those quality steps, so make the circle size relative to your horse’s suppleness. You can make it tighter as your horse develops.

2. Anticipating the change

Some horses are so used to changing leads automatically, they may swap as soon as you turn back towards the track. Work on establishing a quality, balanced canter, and maintain your aids for the leading leg.

For example, if starting on the left lead, the rider’s left leg is on the girth, right leg just behind, with poll flexion slightly to the left – which will be slightly to the outside in counter-canter.

3. Level up

If you horse is doing the teardrop easily and confidently, try maintaining counter-canter through the corner, and eventually into a figure-of-eight. However, if your horse breaks into trot, loses rhythm, changes or goes disunited, take it back a step. Re-establish a quality canter, and try again. The priority is canter quality not completing the pattern.

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What is a luxury stable? That probably depends on who you ask.

From a rider or owner’s point of view, luxury might be in what you see: pristine paintwork, high-end finishes, a glossy nameplate, and features that take some of the effort out of daily chores, like smart storage that doesn’t clutter or catch cobwebs.

However, a luxury stable’s focus should be its primary occupant: the horse. Keeping stabled horses happy and healthy should be of upmost importance and they have an altogether different set of needs, from enrichment to hygiene.

If you want to treat your horse (and yourself) to a perfect stable, here is what you need to consider…

Ventilation

“Good ventilation is essential for maintaining a healthy environment for both horses and people,” says Victoria Webb, sales representative at Monarch Stables. “Fresh air helps remove moisture, dust and ammonia, reducing the risk of respiratory problems while creating a more comfortable stable environment.”

According to Prime Stables, a good ventilation system uses a combination of openings and sometimes mechanical stable fans to ensure airflow throughout the entire building.

“Moisture is an especially serious issue,” says a spokesman. “Just as a poorly ventilated bathroom accumulates steam and mould, horse stalls can fill with damp air as horses sweat, breathe, and generate heat.

“This dampness encourages mould spores, dust mites and ammonia, all of which are harmful irritants for horses and humans.”

Ways to improve your stable’s ventilation and hygiene include:

• Adding design elements such as stable vents or louvre windows, or larger windows that also allow natural light in
• Installing a ceiling or stable fan
• Choosing the right type of bedding to minimise dust
• Regular removal and cleaning of stable mats, or installing sealed matting

Feeding and enrichment

Installing gadgets and products makes watering and feeding horses fit more seamlessly into the daily routine. “The best stable extras can be the ones that make everyday jobs easier,” says Victoria.

“A wall-mounted hay feeder such as Ezehay can help keep hay off the floor, reduce mess and minimise waste, while providing a dedicated place for feeding,” she continues. “Its capacity of up to 13.5kg of dry hay can also make it useful for reducing the number of times hay needs to be replenished throughout the day.”

Victoria also recommends automatic drinkers. “Think about items that support both the horse and owner routine.”

Horse-focused enrichment upgrades include…

• Installing talk grilles that allow horses to touch. You can even go bespoke with designing your stable yard and lower the stall partition height to allow horses to groom one another from their stables
• Adding food-based enrichment to slow down chewing like hay pillows, slow feeders and small-holed haynets
• Using boredom busters, stable toys, treat balls or mirrors to entertain your horse

Aesthetics and storage

You can create the feel of a luxury stable with tidiness.

“Good storage is essential,” says Victoria. “Rug rails, tack storage and dedicated areas for feed and equipment help prevent items being left around the yard and improve the overall look.

“Small details make a big difference and giving everything a designated place makes the yard easier to keep clean and organised.”

Being smart at the construction stage will help you preserve the new stable look.

“A clean and attractive yard often comes down to choosing materials and accessories that are both practical and easy to maintain,” says Victoria.

“Durable stable finishes, well-designed doors and windows, and hard-wearing infill materials can all help a yard continue to look good with regular use. Powder-coated finishes can provide a consistent colour scheme, while hardwood or recycled plastic infills offer different aesthetic and maintenance options.”

Quick yard hacks to improve aesthetics include…

• Placing hooks strategically for your headcollars, fly masks, grooming kits and other things in use (you just might need to adapt them with a bit of baler twine to hang them with first), hats and coats. You could even add some shelves
• Pop up some wall-mounted broom grips (like these ones on Amazon) to keep your mucking out tools tidy
• Install a foldable wall-mounted saddle rack (I found this one on Amazon) to store your tack tidily before and after you tack up. No more chucking it on the floor or over the stable door!

Construction

You can build a luxury stable from scratch or add elements to existing stables to improve the feel.

Space is the most obvious luxury, and if you can size up from a standard stable (12ftx12ft), your horse will feel the benefits of freedom to move. That’s what Miri Hackett did on her yard, and she told us she noticed a big difference in her horses’ relaxation.

Other construction elements that elevate a box to luxury stable include:

• Adding a canopy. “A canopy provides shade and protection from rain, creating a sheltered area outside the stables where you and your horses can stand comfortably in all weathers,” says a spokesman for Chart Stables.
• Thoughtful consideration of access. “Planning wider walkways, positioning tack and feed rooms where they are easy to reach and ensuring stable doors don't clash when opened can make a significant difference,” says Victoria of Monarch Stables.
• Internal kickboarding. “Fitted around the interior walls, kickboarding absorbs impact and prevents splintering or structural wear,” says the Chart Stables spokesman. “It also creates a smoother, safer surface inside each stall.”

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Designing your own stable yard – and doing it well – means considering what your horses need and making that top of the list.

We know that the happiest horses have the three Fs – freedom, forage and friends – in abundance. But how do you replicate these welfare pillars in a traditional setting where horses have their own stables?

Working with Monarch, Hertfordshire-based holistic horse trainer Miri Hackett forged an innovative solution.

“Horses are herd animals, and it was very important to build spaces that enable herd dynamics while still offering a level of individuality,” she tells Horse & Hound.

“In an ideal world we wouldn’t have stables at all; we would have big barns where horses come and live in herds together.”

However, like many yards, Miri has a high turnover with horses coming in for training and rehab for short periods, so a large herd would be frequently disrupted.

“My reality is that horses often come in with injuries, or underdeveloped social skills,” Miri continues. “So, I needed to balance building a training facility that gave horses their own spaces with fulfilling their social needs.

“Monarch totally delivered my vision – it’s the first design they have done like this.”

Miri’s stables feature a curved partition that is low enough on one side to allow horses to touch noses and groom, then slopes up to full height gradually so horses have free choice to interact – or not – with their neighbours and form important horse friendships.

“When we moved the whole herd to the new place, they settled really quickly because they could all touch, mutually groom and stand with each other.”

Miri says the stable design has contributed to an oasis-like calm in her barn.

“The most of the stables are 14x14’, so they have plenty of room,” she explains. “I think that’s part of it. And I’ve never known horses sleep so much as they do here.

“At the moment, they stay out all night and come in during the day, and once they’ve been fed and done their training, they will often lie flat out snoring. It’s so unbelievably peaceful.”

How to design a stable yard: focus on facilities

The success of Miri’s design comes from thoughtful planning of her stable design ideas and lessons learned from experience.

“I’ve been on quite a few yards, so I know what works and what doesn’t,” she explains. “For example, one place had the tack room miles from the stables. It was nobody’s fault, it was just how it was set up, but it was awkward if you forgot anything.”

Miri’s tack and feed rooms are placed at the front of the barn (left in the image below) with the stables around the edge and in the middle, meaning feed and equipment are always close at hand, and the walkways are wide and inviting.

“I think this helps make it all feel very safe,” she says. “There isn’t anywhere that a horse might feel confined.”

Creating an open and inviting wash bay was another important point for Miri.

“Wash bays are often put in a dark corner out of the way,” she continues. “But I wanted it to feel like this big, lovely, open, safe space right at the front of the barn.

“I worked with Jelka who supplied a lot of rubber matting. We’ve put down this matting that’s grippy but porous, so you don’t get water sitting on top.

“The aim was make sure that horses feel able to rest while they have a bath, not just have to put up with it.”

Sustainability as a horse owner is another of Miri’s priorities, and her arena surface is plastic-free.

“This means we aren’t leeching microplastics into the environment and it is watered from the bottom, so the surface is really consistent.”

What are the challenges faced when designing your own yard?

In Miri’s project, the principal hurdles included:

Finances

“I didn’t want to just go for the cheapest option, and if you want to create something that meets your needs and is built to last, it is going to be expensive.”

The weather

“Building the arena was difficult. We were having to construct it in January and February, which is about as bad as it gets and the mud was terrible.

“As long as you have someone reliable, dedicated and ultra-professional to do your groundwork – we used Elmtree construction – they will get you through it and keep you on top of things.”

Hindsight

“There’s always something you wish you’d thought of, and for me that’s including a grass-free track turnout system. It’s something I want to build in the future, but I just wish I'd included it in the original project.”

Tips for designing your own yard

Miri says that it pays to dedicate a lot of time to planning the yard design.

“If you have an opportunity, really sit down and plan. For years, I hoped I would get the tenancy of this farm. I spent all of that time thinking, ‘OK, where would this go? That could go there, that would go here’.

“If you can, make the stables bigger than you would think. For me, there is no such thing as too big a stable, especially if your horse spends part of his day in there regularly. Making it so horses can touch and be social will make a difference, too.”

While she acknowledges that budgets can be restrictive, Miri says that the cheapest option isn’t always the right choice.

“Get multiple quotes, have conversations, and get people to come and visit and see the site to gain an accurate picture of what they can do. There are so many amazing people out there with a wealth of knowledge and ideas if you let them give their opinion.”

It also pays to be thorough – the right company will relish this.

“I spent a long time going backwards and forwards on things. Monarch went above and beyond when it came to showing me why they were worth what they were asking for.

“They let me go to their factory to see how things were made. They took me to a yard they had built that they thought I would like to see. Most importantly, they came out so many times and looked at the layout, and we played around with it; they were so open to every idea.”

Miri’s ultimate tip is having sight of a prospective company’s existing work.

“There are people out there who will do the work you want for a fair price to a high standard. Having proof of this before you proceed will fill you with confidence and set you up for success.”

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

The intuitive response, when your flying changes aren’t going well in your dressage tests, is often to ride more of them. The instinct makes sense – practise the thing that isn’t working – but it’s rarely where the fix actually lies.

“Very rarely is getting a flying change, or fixing a tricky change, about doing more changes,” says Becky Moody. “It is nearly always about improving the canter.”

This is the bit that catches most riders out. The change feels like the problem – it’s late behind, or your horse runs out the front door, or swaps and then immediately falls into trot – so the change is where they put the work. But the change is a symptom. The canter underneath it is the actual job.

“It’s the quality of canter, every time”

The canter you need for a change is not the same canter you might ride elsewhere. It has to be collected but full of energy, straight, balanced, and – most importantly – adjustable.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean the problem is with the rhythm of the canter,” Becky says. “It’s very often the straightness of the canter, the balance of the canter. And for me, the adjustability of the canter. I think you have to be able to have a horse that is collected, but stay full of energy.”

A useful image: watch a top showjumper coming into a big vertical. The horse collects, but the energy doesn’t disappear – it gathers. The hindquarters come under, the frame shortens, and the canter gets bouncier. That’s the feel you want before a flying change Becky says. Not slow. Not steady. Loaded.

The springboard step

Here is Becky’s most useful idea, and it isn’t in any textbook.

“I like to have a springboard step,” she says. “The horse doesn’t change on the first part of your change aid. You have a springboard step – it’s like a spring then change, not just a change.”

Translated: your aid has two parts. A preparation stride, where you ask the horse to gather and bounce, and then the change itself. The whole sequence has the rhythm of “Are you ready? Change.”

This is the difference between a change that arrives flat and late, and one that lifts cleanly through the body. Riders who get into trouble are usually applying the aid in a single motion – leg on, change, hope. The horse hasn’t had a chance to load the spring first.

It’s also where anticipation comes in. For Becky, a horse learning changes should be thinking about what’s coming next – not nervous, but expectant.

“You almost need to create a degree of anticipation,” she says. “The horse is a little bit like, ‘Oh, what’s coming? This is good fun.’ Instead of you cantering across the diagonal in a lovely, nice, balanced, steady canter and then putting a change aid on, and the horse is like, ‘What?’”

Don’t lose the counter-canter

A common trap, once a horse can do changes, is that they start offering them unprompted. The rider asks for counter-canter, and the horse, helpful and over-keen, swaps.

“I’m quite a big believer that when you start teaching the horse changes, you shouldn’t stop being able to ride counter-canter,” Becky says. “You should be able to be like, ‘Now we’re doing counter-canter. And now we’re going to do a change. And now we’re doing counter-canter again.’ They have to be listening to what you say.”

The discipline matters because, in a test, you’ll be asked for both – sometimes within strides of each other. A horse that assumes every straight line means a change is a horse that will throw one in at exactly the wrong moment.

Build the change before you ask for it

Long before the change itself, the foundations need to be there. Canter-to-walk and walk-to-canter transitions are the bedrock – clean, on the leg, with no drift through the shoulders. The horse should be able to come back to walk with the outside hind genuinely stepping under, and step up into canter on a specific lead from a specific aid, without hesitation.

A good marker: can you ride around the outside of the arena and pick up eight to 10 walk-to-canter transitions, on the correct lead each time, on a straight line and in balance? If not, that’s where the work is. The change will come from this groundwork, not from drilling changes.

The walk half-pirouette is also useful here, because it asks the outside hind to stretch and step under, and it sets the horse straight before coming back into canter – the same body shape, in effect, that you need before a change.

An exercise: the figure-of-eight at the short end

When the foundations are in place, Becky’s go-to exercise is a small figure-of-eight at the short end of the arena.

“Imagine there’s a row of poles across the 10m line at the short end,” she says. “Then you’re doing your little figure-of-eight within that 20x10m box.”

You come out of the corner as if to ride a 10m circle at M, then take a small diagonal line across the centre line back towards the short side, change rein, and pick up the new circle on the other side.

The point of working in a small box is that it stops everything getting away from you.

“One of the most common things when both horse and rider are learning about changes is that everything gets a bit too forward and away,” Becky says.

“Doing it within a smaller area helps keep everything organised in a positive way without the rider having to do so much with their hand.”

The hand is the giveaway. A rider whose changes have unravelled is usually a rider whose changes finished with both reins pulling. Working in a smaller space buys you the discipline of riding the change with the leg and the seat, because there isn’t room to ride it with the hand.

A note on poles

Poles get used a lot for teaching flying changes in dressage, and they are a lot of productive exercises – but Becky uses them sparingly.

“I’m not a fan of the pole,” she says. She’s used one once, with a client’s horse that genuinely couldn’t grasp what was being asked. “We did what we could to help make it easier for them. It definitely got them more understanding of what we were trying to do.

“Then the changes were late behind, but at least it was doing changes, and we were then able to work on it. It then came back to the quality of the canter.”

Which is, of course, where everything in this piece comes back to. Poles or exercises won’t fix a change if the canter underneath isn’t right.

Build the canter. Then the change will be there.

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Water buffets for horses have gained popularity recently thanks to the hot weather – although hydration is also important in winter – but what are they and why do people use them?

Simply put, water buffets involve offering horses multiple water buckets with different extra ingredients in each. Various retailers sell starter kits with herbs and other additions you can put in clean water buckets.

Independent equine nutritionist Clare MacLeod tells us: “Some owners are interested in using them as a way to offer their horses variety and environment enrichment.”

Offering variety, however, does not mean a horse will self-select particular nutrients in accordance with their needs.

“We have to remember that a number of horses and ponies are harmed every year by eating poisonous plants like acorn and ragwort, and some by eating too much grass,” says Clare.

“Self-selection is a nice idea and it is a good thing to offer horses more choice, but we cannot rely on our horses to always know what is good for them, nor be able to select a balanced diet. Researchers have shown that horses will consistently select a sweetened feed over a balanced feed.”

That said, Clare adds that it can be useful for finding out the flavourings your horse likes.

“Knowing what tastes they like means you can replicate their preferences when you are away from home at riding camps, clinics or competitions, when some horses may be reluctant to drink different water.”

What to put in water buffets for horses

Herbs that are commonly added to water buffets include:

• Chamomile
• Ginger
• Turmeric
• Peppermint
• Cleavers
• Fenugreek
• Rosehips
• Dandelions
• Aniseed
• Fennel
• Cinnamon
• Garlic 
• Spirulina
• Cider apple vinegar

Other common additions are clays and a variety of mineral salts, and sometimes fruit and vegetable pieces or fruit juice.

Golden rules of setting up a water buffet

Clare says that, at best, a water buffet adds variety and interest to your horse’s day-to-day. At worst, water buffets for horses can be a breeding ground for bacteria and potentially do more harm than good.

Clare’s rules of thumb to follow when setting up a water buffet are:

1. Keep buckets clean

“When I visit yards, I see a lot of water sources that are unclean,” says Clare. “While horses will happily drink from a puddle, there is a distinction to be made between a pool of natural rainwater and a dirty container of water that is stagnant and stale.

“Keeping buckets of water clean is especially important when you start mixing organic matter. You can create a lot of bacteria, which I’m not sure people always realise.”

According to Clare, horses are particularly susceptible to digestive disturbances, such as colic, due to their delicate digestive tracts.

“Therefore, we want to keep contact with preventable bacteria and potential pathogens to a minimum.”

2. Balance the diet

“Everything a horse ingests should be considered as part of a balanced diet,” says Clare.

“We always need to balance the diet first, considering any extras like what's added to water, then consider adding extras like herbs, which are generally added for their properties, and not essential nutrients.

“Speak to an independent nutritionist about what you plan to use if you aren’t sure.”

3. Plain water is essential

Clean, plain water should be offered at all times and as well as water with added ingredients.

Does a water buffet make horses drink more?

Some owners use water buffets to encourage their horses to drink more water, which could help support good hydration and prevent dehydration.

“We have research that tells us horses prefer things that taste sweet,” she says. “So, if you are in a situation where you really need your horse to drink, adding something sweet like apple juice will likely be the most attractive flavouring.

“Of course, you need to be guided by any underlying conditions your horse or pony might have. You wouldn't want to be tipping an unknown amount of sugar into the water of a horse with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), which now often described as insulin dysregulation (ID) or hyperinsulinaemia-associated laminitis (HAL), for example.

“If your main aim is to rehydrate your horse, for example after heavy sweating, then the quickest and most efficient way to do this is with an oral rehydration solution (ORS), which has a very specific electrolyte salt content, at 0.9%.”

While she is for anything that represents positive enrichment in a horse’s environment, Clare adds that owners would benefit from ensuring their time is spent doing so in the best possible way for their horses.

“In some cases, the time spent keeping multiple water buffet buckets clean and fresh every day might be better used taking your horse out for more exercise.”

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

After a busy first half of the season, it’s likely your grooming kit or stripping basket are in need of a refresh – this could be true whether your next stop is an area show or you’re prepping for a week at the Royal International.

From emergency saviours to cheap hacks, we asked some top producers what they can’t live without on show days.

Show kit essentials

Hannah Horton: “I wouldn’t contemplate going showing without good old baby wipes – they can be used for anything. We also make sure we have drinks for humans in the stripping basket.”

Emma Burrows: “For me, I need a good mane and tail detangler, coat gloss and a bit of baby oil gel [like this one] to smooth the hair.”

Danielle Heath: “We love Smart Grooming Super Shine; it’s fantastic on faces and gives a mega shine on bodies, too, especially in an evening performance.”

Joe Watson: “This olive oil sheen spray is brilliant on our natives’ manes and tails especially,” he says, “and we use it as a coat gloss and highlighter, too. It’s not very expensive, which is great as we go through tons of the stuff.”

Leon King: “It has to be this Got2b hair gel for plaiting. We always have Leovet’s Power Phaser fly spray and this Cowboy Magic shampoo as well as their Detangler and Shine on tails; it’s incredible – like nothing else I have tried.”

Sara Parrott: “If I had to choose one product that I couldn’t be without it would have to be Supreme Products’ Sparkle Spray for those last minute finishing touches, manes, coats and tails – and even hooves and rider’s boots at a push!”

Sue-Helen Shuttleworth: “On the lorry we always have a good shampoo to quickly wash and dry if horses need it after travelling or working in. Personally I use Equioils Super Soap, Equioils Whitening Wood Flour and towels.

“In the strip basket there’s always a good, clean damp sponge for wiping away saddle marks before the conformation phase, and a good mane and tail brush.

And there’s always full fat Coke and sweets to keep us going.”

Harrison Taylor: “We use glycerine mixed in water for a sponge over, then Arena Products’ Show Shine spray on top. I also use Arena Products’ Clear Highlighter, which contains SPF for eyes and muzzle, black make up, Brylcreem, hair spray and baby wipes.”

Edward Young: “We always have tea, sugar and milk on the lorry. We also have a portable shower to wash any plaiting gel out of the manes and condition them when we unplait; it must be more comfortable for them, and it stops the mane getting too brittle. In my stripping bucket I carry fly spray, Brylcreem as long as it’s not too hot and sunny, hoof-stain, a good brush and a cloth [like this one].”

Simon Reynolds: “Our basket is like Mary Poppins’ bag; we carry everything we could possibly need as there’s nothing worse than having to go back to the lorry if you have forgotten something. But essentials include wet wipes and plaiting bands, plus electrical tape [like this] can be a great save in an emergency. And I’m diabetic so we always have fizzy sweets, too.”

• For unlimited access to the latest product news, buying guides and reviews, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You may also be interested in:

‘Type is so important’: Royal International judge Leon King offers his advice for competitors

‘I like to see the horse is actually enjoying itself’: Royal International judge Margaret Hopkins shares her advice for competitors

‘It’s all about confidence and harmony’: tips for success from Royal International judge Polly Eddis

‘Go find a space where you stand out’: meet Royal International coloured ponies’ judge Nathan Arnold

Tickets for the 2026 Royal International Horse Show have been released

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round

As those living in the UK are in the midst of yet another heatwave, and some water companies have announced hosepipe bans, where does this leave horse owners who are trying to keep horses cool and prevent dehydration?

Currently, some customers of Southern Water, South East Water and Cambridge Water are facing water usage restrictions. Anglian Water customers will also be under restriction from 1am Saturday, 11 July.

Affinity Water has also put a hosepipe ban in place across its Central area, which covers parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and parts of London – this will come into effect on Friday, 17 July.

Other areas are not currently affected, but some water companies, such as Severn Trent, have asked customers to be mindful of their usage and issued guidance on how to reuse water where possible.

Hosepipe ban exemptions?

The good news is that while the rules outlaw the use of hosepipes for washing cars and watering gardens, the use of a hosepipe for the cleaning, maintenance and general wellbeing of any kind of animal is exempt from hosepipe ban rules.

The Government requires that the welfare of animals must be protected at all times, including during a hosepipe ban – or as it is more correctly called a Temporary Use Ban (TUB).

What is allowed during a hosepipe ban?

Examples of what is allowed under the TUB restrictions include:

• Washing horses down with a hosepipe
• Filling up water troughs and buckets with a hosepipe
• Cleaning out lorries, trailers and stables with a hosepipe

As long as you are genuinely using a hosepipe for the welfare of your horse and not abusing the interpretation of these rules, you should have no concerns. Responsible use of water is encouraged at the stables, as it is in your homes, to avoid putting added pressure on the supply during this period of high temperatures with little no rain forecast.

If you’d like further reassurance or information, you can contact your local water company for clarification.

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You might also enjoy:

How to keep horses cool in a heatwave with helpful tips for instant results

Dehydration in horses can be deadly — here’s what you need to know

How to survive a heatwave — whether you have a hairy cob or a competition horse

The best way to cool horses and the science behind it

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round

Of all the obstacles on a cross-country course, ditches – in their various forms – often cause the most angst. Some horses tackle them with aplomb from the get-go, but most need plenty of quiet repetition to develop their confidence. Olympians and top coaches Nicola Wilson, Chris Bartle and Andrew Heffernan share their tips in this article exclusive to H&H subscribers

Quiet, slow repetition is the key to how to solve your horse’s fear of ditches. To build – or rebuild – confidence in jumping ditches, it’s vital to start this part of his eventing training from scratch, says British team performance coach Chris Bartle. He explains that it is a mistake to ask a horse to tackle a ditch without giving him the opportunity to look at it first.

“With a young horse, or a horse that is nervous, I will always take them to the ditch with no intention of jumping it,” he says. “I will let them stand beside it and walk around it until they are comfortable in the environment.

“Only when I know they are happy about being there – they will stretch their head down and have a sniff – will I ask them to step over the ditch.

“The important thing to remember is that the horse must never be pressurised from behind, either by the rider or someone on the ground, because all that’s doing is encouraging him to think backwards rather than forwards.”

Initially, at least, ditches should be small enough so that human legs can easily step over them.

“I measure a ditch by whether I need to stretch over it on foot,” says Chris. “It doesn’t matter whether the horse is four, seven or 14, my approach will be the same. If a horse is hesitant I will spend all my cross-country schooling time walking quietly over tiny ditches.”

Chris argues that it’s not necessary to school over big ditches.

“If you’ve built solid foundations, these can be saved for competition when your adrenaline’s up,” he says.

How to solve your horse’s fear of ditches: “trust is everything”

When working on how to solve your horse’s fear of ditches, “confidence and trust is everything” says former European champion-turned-top coach, Nicola Wilson.

This starts with laying the right foundations and revisiting the basics on a regular basis.

“When you introduce a ditch for the first time make sure you’ve got a confident horse to give you a lead and choose an inviting ditch to start with,” she says.

Nicola also emphasises the importance of rider position.

“It’s important that you look in the right place – up, not down into the ditch,” she says. “A young or inexperienced horse will often look down into the ditch and dither on the edge. This is fine so long as you stay up in your body and have a nice, supportive leg on them and a long rein so they can stretch down, use their head and neck and safely pop over.

“It’s a really good idea to use a neck strap so you can hold the strap together with your reins in one hand,” she continues. “If your horse jumps bigger than you’re expecting you won’t lose balance and inadvertently catch him in the mouth, which can turn it into a negative experience.”

Nicola agrees that repetition is key.

“If your horse lacks confidence jumping ditches it’s important to keep revisiting them on a regular basis so that walking up to them and popping over becomes second nature,” says Nicola. “There are plenty of five-star horses who will do just this on the lead-up to a big competition, so it’s not something you should be worried about. The key is to be as prepared as possible.”

Nicola also extols the value of praise and patience.

“Tell your horse when he has done well because this helps build trust and solid foundations,” she says. “And always give ditch training time. Never start something that you don’t feel you can see through the end.”

Once your homework is done, testing your training in a competition environment is the next step.

“When you’re out on the course, make sure you stay in a good rhythm and balance, and in the correct tempo for the ditch fence you’re tackling,” says Nicola.

When ditches are your friend

Once you have ironed out how to solve your horse’s fear of ditches and they are confidently moving up the eventing levels, most ditches will become a help rather than a hindrance.

“Where a ditch has a fence over it or behind it, the ditch itself acts as a useful ground rail, defining the take-off point,” explains Chris. “Big ditch-brushes, trakheners, and anything like that where the ditch ledge is on the take-off side, makes for a horse-friendly profile.”

Chris explains that when riding this type of fence, you should resist the temptation to spend too much time much setting up.

“When I was a jockey, before I started eventing, a trainer once told me that you should always increase your speed into a ditch,” he says. “You will never get the wrong stride because there is a groundline. I always remind riders of this when I walk courses with them as it saves a lot of time.”

Ditches through a course-designer’s eyes

Course-designers use ditches in different ways. Olympic event rider, trainer and Bramham course-designer Andrew Heffernan explains that as well as the size of the ditch size, where it is sited will determine the level of the test.

“Part of my job as course-designer is to ensure there is a logical progression in difficulty as you go up the grades,” he explains. “For example, on a B80 course I might include a small open ditch followed three strides later by a rails fence, at BE90 this might change to a rail followed three strides later by a ditch. By the time you get to BE100 I might be asking horses to jump a simple rail-ditch-rail on flat terrain, and then at novice level you can start expecting to see a ditch with a bit of terrain either side.”

This logical progression has obvious connotations for a horse who is a bit “ditchy”.

“Even if a horse is solid with every other type of cross-country question, he needs to be completely confident jumping ditches at one level before moving on to the next,” says Andrew. “The questions asked of him — and therefore the trust he needs in his rider — will be tested to a greater degree every time you step up.”

“We dug a ditch at home and that was the turning point”

Event rider Ivy Fisher’s talented three-star mare, Balief De Reve (Bali), only has one chink in her armour – ditches.

“When I bought her as a young horse she had only ever showjumped and although she quickly took to jumping solid fences, she’s always been suspicious of holes in the ground,” explained Ivy, who grew up in Norfolk but has been based with Dassett Eventing in Warwickshire.

“A few years ago, when I was on the brink of giving up with her, my dad dug me a ditch at home and that was the turning point. It was a case of repetition, repetition, repetition. The penny dropped in the middle of the 2024 season and she started to take them in her stride.”

The pair won the under-21 open intermediate at Kelsall Hill in September that year.

At her current base, Ivy has access to three different ditches and incorporates them into almost every training session.

“Last season I was even including them in our fitness work, popping over a ditch mid-canter,” she says. “We still have the odd wobble, but she’s getting better all the time. Bali’s taught me so much about perseverance, getting the basics right and about not running before you can walk.”

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Struggling to work out what to pack for Pony Club camp? You don’t want your child to be missing anything, but you don’t want to send them with everything but the kitchen sink, either. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time to prepare and plug any gaps in your kit.

Your Pony Club may have a specific list tailored to their camp, but between the team at H&H, we’ve got many Pony Club camps under our belt – both as children and as parents – so we’re here with plenty of advice and ideas. Our top tip – make sure absolutely everything is named.

Pony Club camp packing list

Because the quintessential Pony Club camp packing list is rather long, we’re going to break it down into categories. We’ll start with the thing you definitely don’t want to leave at home – your pony!

Tack and horsewear

• saddle
• bridle
• neck strap
• martingale (if using)
• girth
• stirrups and leathers
• saddle cloths or numnahs in your branch or centre’s permitted colours – take more than one in case they get dirty or sweaty
• any legwear your pony uses, such as overreach boots, brushing boots or tendon boots
• stud kit (if used)
• headcollar and leadrope
• tail and stable bandages
• tack cleaning equipment, like saddle soap and a sponge
• all your travel kit, to get your pony there in the first place

Pony care

First and foremost, check with your branch or centre about whether they will provide bedding that is suitable for your pony. If not, make sure to pack your own.

Also, check what your pony’s living arrangements will be. Will he be living out, and do you need to bring some electric fencing? Will you have access to a stable? Find out in advance so you can prepare.

You’ll want your own of most things, but you might be able to team up with other campers when it comes to the big items, such as wheelbarrows.

• enough of your pony’s hay/haylage, feed and supplements to last the duration of camp
• feed bin (like this one)
• buckets for water and feed
• haynets
• wheelbarrow, large trug or garden bag (like this one) for mucking out
• mucking out tools
• grooming kit with all your brushes
• sweat scraper and sponge
• stud kit, if needed
• your best horse shampoo
• fly spray
• horse sun cream, if needed
• other grooming sprays if you use them, like mane and tail detangler or stain remover
• rugs, such as a cooler or fly rug and fly mask if needed

Rider kit

If you plan to stay overnight, pack accordingly for your accommodation. You may want a warm layer or two if you are camping!

• Pony Club sweatshirt
• Pony Club tie
• white shirts
• a few pairs of jodhpurs or riding tights (usually beige, black or navy, check your branch or centre’s rules)
• tweed or show jacket (if needed)
• plenty of riding socks and underwear
• riding boots, either long or short with jodhpur clips or chaps/gaiters
• hairnet and scrunchie (if needed)
• riding gloves
• whip
• up-to-standard and tagged riding hat
• up-to-standard body protector
• casual tops and bottoms for off-horse activities
• coveralls or waterproof trousers for mucking out
• stout boots or wellies for the yard
• trainers or comfy shoes for off the yard
• sun hat
• waterproof coat
• pyjamas

Other essentials

• toiletries
• sun lotion
• insect repellent
• prescription medication (if used)
• pillow and sleeping bag
• camp bed (like this one, if needed) or airbed
• towels
• plate, mug and cutlery for mealtimes (if needed)
• boot cleaning equipment
• notebook and pen
• Pony Club Manual of Horsemanship
• water bottle
• small personal first aid kit
• torch
• watch or alarm clock

Extras

• pack of cards
• book to read (check out the best horse books for kids)
• torch
• small amount of money for tuck
• hand sanitiser
• hair bobbles
• swimming kit, if required
• portable fan, for you or your pony if it’s hot
• portable power bank (like this one)

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US dressage rider, trainer and author Jane Savoie, who passed away in December 2020, explains how to ride the flying change and what skills the horse needs to have established before you to introduce the movement

In order to learn how to ride a flying change, it is important to understand what the movement is. In the flying change the horse remains in canter, but changes the canter lead during the moment of suspension, when all four feet are off the ground. When competing in dressage it is important that changes are made cleanly, with both front and hind legs changing during the same moment of suspension.

A commonly seen mistake is when the horse changes in front in one stride and then behind in the following stride. This is less important when jumping, but the sooner the change is completed, the less balance in the canter will be lost. Cantering disunited to a fence is not giving the horse the best possible chance of cleaning that obstacle without incurring faults.

Preparing for flying changes

Before trying to teach a flying change the horse must be able to:

• Produce a good simple change of lead (canter/walk/canter). The downward transition should be a clear transition to the walk, with no dribbly trot steps. Shorten the canter with collecting half halts before you ask for the transition. If the horse is travelling too fast he will lose his balance on to the forehand in the downward transition. The upwards transition should be quick off the leg without being rushed or explosive.
• Be balanced in counter canter. Develop the counter canter until the horse can comfortably maintain it without tension on circles and lines. To test the horse’s balance ensure you can extend and collect in the counter canter without the horse switching leads.
• Be comfortable in collected canter. As the flying change is another canter stride the quality of the canter is vital to its success. The canter should have big, round, expressive, “off the ground” strides. Any tendency towards a canter that is four-time or flat will not give the horse time to change his legs in the air. Develop and maintain the quality of the collected canter by working on exercises that increase collection such as shoulder-in, travers, frequent simple changes of lead (five strides of walk and five strides of canter), and collecting half halts.

Understanding the collecting half halt

During a collecting half halt the rider should close their legs, push with their seat and close their outside hand for a moment. This engages the horse’s hind quarters and encourages them to wait and “sit” on their hocks.

Ride three collecting half halts in the canter, while thinking about reducing the amount of ground your horse covers with each stride by about 50% but maintain the same rhythm and tempo. During the short, engaged strides, pick a spot on the ground and imagine that you’re cantering on top of it for three strides. Then, go forward for several strides, and ask him to collect again for three strides.

How to ride a flying change

The timing of the aids is very important in riding a successful flying change. Give the aids as the horse’s leading front leg is coming forward. You need to give the aid before the period of suspension because it takes your horse a moment to ‘hear’ your request and another moment to carry it out.

You can practice the correct timing of the aids in the walk and then the canter by watching when the horse’s inside front leg comes forward. Each time you see it coming forward, say out loud, “Now, now, now”. In this way, you learn to coordinate your voice with the inside front leg coming forward.

For a flying change from left to right:

• Seat: Push your right seat bone forward toward your horse’s right ear.
• Right leg: Close your right leg on the girth to ask your horse to go forward during the change.
• Left leg: Swing your left leg behind the girth to signal the new outside hind leg to strike off into the new lead. (Don’t hold this leg back. Pretend your leg is spring-loaded so you give a quick aid.)
• Left rein: Close your left hand in a fist to keep the left hind leg on the ground and maintain uphill balance. Imagine that you’re closing and opening your hand so fast that you can snatch a fly out of the air.
• Right rein: Soften your right rein so you don’t block the new inside front leg from coming forward.

I like to introduce flying changes on a 10-meter figure of eight. Ride simple changes of lead in the centre of the figure of eight. Repeat until the horse understands and anticipates that he’s going to change leads. When you feel him anticipating, give the aids for the flying change instead of doing the simple change. If he changes, praise him a lot. If he doesn’t then stay calm and repeat the process.

Now you know how to perfect your flying changes, why not sign up to Horse & Hound’s eight-week e-training plan to give your training focus and perfect your flatwork basics?

Flying changes are unavoidably cool. I can still remember attempting my first – getting a friend to film me on their pixelated flip phone, beaming a stupid grin at the camera as my little pony leapt into her change and promptly bombed off. We’ll ignore, for now, that she was two strides late behind.

But there’s no doubt they can feel like a mystery until you get that “aha” moment where it finally clicks. And because every horse is different, there’s no single foolproof way to teach them.

The good news is there’s nothing magic about them. A flying change is a natural movement – your horse already does them loose in the field – and with the right foundations, most horses can learn to do them to order (making you look suitably cool in the process).

Here’s what a flying change actually is, how to ride one, and how to start teaching your horse – without flinging your entire bodyweight to one side as I did.

What is a flying change?

A flying change is when your horse switches their leading leg in canter, in one smooth motion, without breaking to trot or walk in between.

A quick step back, in case it’s useful: in canter, your horse leads with one front leg – it reaches further forward than the other, and you’ll feel that shoulder come through underneath you. On a left lead, the left foreleg leads; on a right lead, the right. Which lead you’re on matters for balance, especially on turns and circles, where you normally want the inside leg leading – so on the right rein, going clockwise, you’ll be on the right lead most of the time, and on the left rein, the left.

Canter has a three-beat rhythm, and after the third beat there’s a brief moment of suspension – a split second where all four feet are off the ground, and your horse is, fleetingly, airborne. A flying change happens in that instant. Your horse rearranges their legs mid-air and lands on the opposite lead, so instead of leading with the left foreleg, they’re now leading with the right. Done well, there’s no stumble and no change of rhythm – just a clean skip from one lead to the other, as if your horse has hopped across in the air.

You’ll come across flying changes in pretty much every discipline:

• Dressage: they appear from advanced medium level upwards, ridden on straight lines and, higher up, in sequences down to one change every stride (tempi changes).
• Showjumping: essential for jumping a course smoothly. A horse that lands on the correct lead – or changes to it – can balance through turns and meet the next fence in rhythm, without losing time or scrambling.
• Eventing, showing, and general riding: anywhere you’re cantering, turning and needing your horse balanced, a change keeps things tidy and comfortable.

For a lower-level rider, it’s less about the wow factor – although that’s cool, too – and more about control. A horse that changes lead on request is one you can balance and steer through anything, whether that’s a jump-off turn, a dressage centre line, or just staying upright out hunting.

How to ride a flying change

Assuming your horse already knows how to change (see the next section for teaching it), here’s the sequence of aids. The key thing is that a change is prepared, not just thrown in – you set your horse up, then ask.

1. Establish a good canter first. Balanced, active and collected enough that you feel you could ride a few steps smaller at any moment. A flat, strung-out canter has nowhere to change from.

2. Prepare on the approach to the change. Sit tall, half-halt to gather and balance the canter, and make sure your horse is straight – not falling in or out through the shoulder.

3. Change your leg position. Say you’re on the left lead (left foreleg leading) and want to change to the right. Your left leg, which has been at the girth, moves back behind the girth, and your right leg comes to the girth. This new leg position tells your horse which lead you now want.

4. Change your weight and hips. As you swap your legs, allow your seat and hips to follow – so your weight shifts subtly to the new leading side. Keep it quiet; it’s just a rebalancing, not throwing yourself across the saddle.

5. Ask in that moment of suspension. Apply the new outside leg (the left, now behind the girth) with a clear but light aid, ideally timed to the moment your horse is about to spring into the next stride. That’s when your horse can swing their legs through to the new lead.

6. Keep riding forward. Ride positively out of the change on the new lead. The most common mistake is to ask and then freeze or pull back on the reins – we’ve all done it, but both stop your horse jumping through cleanly.

The rhythm to aim for is almost “prepare… now go!” A change asked for in one flat motion tends to come late or flat; a change that’s set up first has time to jump through the body.

How to teach a flying change

Before you teach the change itself, the foundations have to be solid – it’s not as exciting, but this is the most important part. Rushing to the change before these are in place is the single most common reason changes go wrong. Your horse should be able to:

• Pick up either canter lead promptly, from a clear aid, on a straight line.
• Ride balanced walk-to-canter and canter-to-walk transitions without falling onto the forehand. (“On the forehand” just means your horse is carrying too much weight on their front end, rather than pushing from behind. You’ll feel it as heaviness in your hands, your horse tipping downhill or leaning on the reins for balance. What you want instead is your horse staying light in front and stepping their hindlegs underneath themselves – think uphill, not downhill.)
• Hold a counter-canter (cantering on the “outside” or “wrong” lead) in balance. This teaches your horse to stay on the lead you’ve asked for rather than swapping whenever they fancy.

Once those are established, here’s a simple and reliable way to introduce the change:

1. Use a change of direction. Ride a shallow loop, a figure-of-eight, or come across the diagonal – anywhere your horse is naturally changing bend and direction, so a change of lead makes sense to them.

2. Establish a clean canter, then rebalance. As you approach the point where you’ll change direction, half-halt and collect the canter, so your horse is balanced and listening.

3. Ask as you cross the line. At the moment you change direction, change your leg and seat position and apply the new aid. Because your horse is already changing direction, switching lead feels logical.

4. Reward the attempt. Even a scrappy first change – or one that’s “late behind” (the front legs change but the hind legs lag a stride) – is worth rewarding. You’re building understanding first; the cleanliness comes with practice and strength.

5. Keep it occasional at first. Ask for one, make a fuss of your horse, and move on. Drilling changes over and over tends to make horses tense or anticipatory. A few good attempts in a session are plenty.

If your horse finds it genuinely confusing, some riders use a raised pole or cavaletti on the change line to encourage your horse to jump through and swap behind – but I’d say use it sparingly at first, and only if plain riding isn’t getting there.

Above all, don’t panic if the first attempts are messy. Late, flat or over-excited changes are completely normal early on. They clean up as your horse’s balance and confidence improve – which, as any good trainer will tell you, is really where the whole thing lives.

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A veterinary professional may want to see your horse trot up for a number of reasons, but what’s the best way to do it?

A good trot-up gives the observer a clear view of the horse moving in a straight line and in balance, so their gait can be assessed.

Primarily, vets use trot-ups to check for soundness. Because the trot is an even gait, with legs moving in diagonal pairs, it’s easier to spot lameness or uneven loading of the limbs than in walk or canter.

When are horses trotted up for vets?

Vets might wish to see horses trotted up as part of:

• a lameness examination, in which further tests, such as flexion tests, lungeing and a ridden exam might also be carried out
• a pre-purchase examination, in which a vet is employed to assess the horse’s physically suitablity for a buyer
• an FEI competition of any discipline to check the horses are fit to compete. At three-day events, there are two horse inspections: one before the dressage phase, and another following the cross-country phase. Horses have to pass both to be allowed to compete

The holding box

At an FEI event, the ground jury and veterinary delegate will pass a horse following a trot up or send him to a holding box for further examination.

The vet in the holding box performs a more thorough examination, including palpation and assessment of the horse’s limbs, to help identify any injuries — such as tendon injuries — that would prevent him from continuing in the competition.

A horse who has sustained a small overreach injury during the cross-country, for example, or who has pulled a shoe off, may appear slightly unlevel. After veterinary assessment, however, he may be deemed fit to complete a round of showjumping.

Some horses are then represented at the trot-up, while others might withdraw from competition at the holding box.

Equipment to use to trot your horse up for the vet

Be ready to trot your horse up with:

• a well-fitting bridle, headcollar or halter
• stout, appropriate footwear, such as yard boots
• a riding hat
• riding gloves
• a schooling whip, if needed

How to trot up a horse for the vet

Before considering how to trot up a horse, first select your surface. It should be level and not too loose, slippery or stony.

• Stand your horse square. This allows the vet to walk around and examine the horse’s posture from every angle. Hold the reins in your right hand as if you were riding one-handed.
• Trot the horse away as straight as you can, keeping an even rhythm and ensuring he has enough rein to move his head freely so the vet can see any abnormalities. Your horse should be active, but not too fast.
• The vet may signal when they want you to turn and trot towards them, or if you’re unsure you can ask them to call out.
• Ask your horse for a walk transition a few steps prior to turning. When you turn, your horse should always turn away from you to avoid being trodden on. Guide the horse towards you slightly before asking him to turn away. This will enable you to trot back on the same line.
• Keep the horse straight towards the vet, but ensure you have sufficient control so as not to run them over.

It is worth clarifying whether the vet wants to see your horse walk first. If so, use the steps above in walk.

Furthermore, it is good to clarify how to trot up for the vet in particular. Some want to see the transition from trot to walk in front of them. You should make this transition very obvious.

If you have a young or inexperienced horse, practise the routine of trotting up so that when you need to do so you can produce a good, straight trot for your vet without any hassle. If you’re preparing to trot up at a competition, it’s worth you and your horse learning to trot correctly as a horse who is poorly presented may look uneven, even if he isn’t.

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Young, weak or unbalanced horses sometimes pick up canter on the incorrect lead. Over time, this has potential to become a habit.

Thankfully, there’s a simple flatwork exercise that requires you to ride a few steps of leg-yield to help your horse pick up the correct canter lead.

Aims

• Correct your horse’s flexion
• Connect the horse into the outside rein
• Improve the canter transition

The setup

You need: a 20x40m or 20x60m arena

How to ride the exercise

• Once warmed up, turn onto the three-quarter line in trot.
• As you pass X, begin to leg-yield to the track. You can sit or rise, depending on what’s best for your horse. Aim to hit the track just after the corner marker.
• Ask for canter as you reach the track going into the corner.

Things to note

1. Avoid over-flexing

When ridden correctly, your horse should show slight flexion away from the direction of travel. Too much flexion often leads to the shoulders leading, and often means the horse drifts rather than crossing the legs.

However, ensure you maintain the flexion, and the connection into the outside rein, into the corner. Alongside balancing him, this is what helps set your horse up to lead with the inside leg in the canter.

2. Ensure your horse’s body is straight

While the shoulders should be slightly in advance of the quarters, they should not be dramatically so. Likewise, the hindquarters should not lead.

3. Maintain the rhythm

Look to maintain the same trot you had while riding large up the three-quarter line and throughout the leg-yield.

Some horses lose their engine in leg-yield, dropping behind the bit, while others might rush forward and away from your inside leg aid.

Ultimately, the contact and rhythm should be consistent. You may need to adjust your aids to help maintain them, or remain in a rising trot to help keep to a regular rhythm.

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When Becky Moody and Jagerbomb flew home from their FEI Dressage World Cup final win in Fort Worth, Texas, the celebrated gelding looked, by every outward measure, completely fine. He had a week off in the field, a fortnight of gentle hacking, and was – as she told The Horse & Hound Podcast – “bright as a button and happy”. But the data picked up something his demeanour didn’t.

How does monitoring horse sleep work?

At home, Becky works with EquiConnect, a vet-built AI stable-camera system installed in 12 stables in one of her barns. The cameras monitor sleep patterns – distinguishing between sternal lying, where a horse rests upright, and lateral lying, when they are “flat out and actually getting proper sleep” – as well as how long each horse spends eating and how active they are through the night.

Horses sleep only a few hours a day, most of it standing, thanks to the stay apparatus – a system of tendons and ligaments that lets them doze upright without tiring.

But they can only reach REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep, the deep restorative stage, when lying fully flat in lateral recumbency, because that phase involves a complete loss of muscle tone.

Vets generally cite a need for around 30-60 minutes of lying down a day to get enough REM sleep, and horses that can’t, or won’t, lie down – whether through pain, stress or an unfamiliar environment – can become REM-sleep deprived.

For Jagerbomb, that data proved illuminating. “He only ever sleeps at night – he never lies down during the day,” Becky explains. “So you can’t really know what his sleeping is like unless you’re looking at the camera information.”

And what the information showed, once he was home from the States, was a horse working hard to recover from his travels across the Atlantic.

“It took him about 16 or 17 days to get back to his normal sleeping patterns at home,” Becky says. Across that recovery period, the cameras logged him catching up dramatically: “He was sometimes sleeping five times what he would normally have slept.”

It is the kind of insight that would be invisible to even the most attentive horseperson. Jagerbomb was away for close to two weeks in total – the same long journey out reversed on the way back, with overnight stops at Liège and Dover – and the after-effects on his rest ran far longer than his outward demeanour suggested.

Why over-competing concerns Becky Moody

For Becky, the data underlines something she already felt strongly about: the hidden toll of travel and competition, and the importance of not asking too much of a horse.

“When we talk about horse welfare, this is one of the things that I think is really relevant,” she says.

Even a relatively standard trip carries a significant load. Travelling to an international show such as Rotterdam – where Becky is speaking to us from – can mean a horse spending well over eight hours on the lorry in a single day, she points out, once ferry queues and French customs (“anything between 50 minutes and three hours”) are factored in.

“I can pretty much, even without the data, know that he doesn’t sleep at a show like he sleeps at home,” she says.

Her response has been to build in a more deliberate recovery. After a major effort, Jagerbomb is given an easy couple of weeks: time in the field, or a few days off, followed by gentle hacking.

Becky’s careful to say there is no single rule. Some horses benefit from a fuller calendar, gaining confidence and learning to settle in the competition environment.

But the difference between a local outing and several days of championship-level sport is, she stresses, enormous. “You have to know your horse and what you’re doing and what is best for them,” she says.

It’s a philosophy now backed by hard data – and one she sums up simply: she is “quite a big one for not over-competing”.

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In this exclusive article for H&H subscribers, top British showjumper Joe Stockdale demonstrates a simple exercise with poles that he uses to teach his horses the leg aid can mean stay straight, not just go faster

Does your horse have a tendency to drift right or left over a fence? It’s a common problem, particularly with inexperienced horses that are still working out how best to use their body.

Joe Stockdale is riding Millfield Counterfeit (Cooper) for this jumping exercise. Cooper is a 12-year-old by Cooper VD Heffinck who is competing up to 1.50m classes. While Joe is demonstrating this exercise on a relatively experienced horse, he describes it as especially useful for young horses in teaching them what the leg aids mean in terms of keeping straight.

The setup consists of three canter poles 3.2m apart to an upright. On the take-off and landing side of the fence are “tramline” poles, creating a channel through which the horse must travel. He starts with the tramlines set at about two human strides apart, making it a narrower channel depending on the rideability of the horse.

Joe uses lightweight square poles for the tramlines: “If he did happen to jump left or right and step on a pole, they stay flat, it stops them rolling, so it’s a lot safer than using a round pole, particularly on the landing side, where there’s a chance they might step on it.”

Showjumping training for straightness with Joe Stockdale

“This is a simple exercise, especially for a young horse, to teach them the aids to keep them straight,” says Joe. “They must take off and land without jumping to either side. Most horses tend to jump a little to one side, which doesn’t matter at this height, but once the jumps get big or wide it can be problematic.”

Joe starts with the planks at about 90cm high, popping through a few times so that the horse understands the exercise, before increasing the height. While Cooper stays straight through the set-up, he initially cuts the corner afterwards, so next time Joe asks for a couple of extra strides in a straight line before turning.

Both the canter poles and the tramlines serve a purpose in this exercise that encourages the horse to stay straight without rushing.

The role of the canter poles

“The canter poles are to help the rhythm, because I want to use the leg for support to keep the horse in the middle of the jump,” says Joe. “The poles prevent them from thinking that the leg only means go faster.

“The poles stop them opening the stride, so they learn I’m supporting them to keep straight – not asking them to open up.”

Joe adds: “The line of poles makes it hard to fail. If it was an isolated fence, with the tramlines, when I put my leg on to support his straightness, the temptation for the horse would be just to go faster. The canter poles contain them.”

The role of the tramlines

“First I jump it with the tramlines nice and wide, making sure he’s confident, then slowly bring in the channel so he has to be really disciplined to stay straight,” Joe says.

“Even though I have the tramlines to keep the horse straight visually, I’m giving instructions with my legs to back it up. The young horse will then learn what the aids mean. The answer’s there, I’m just showing him how to get there.”

Joe explains how his own position is paramount.

“I need to focus on my position, staying centred, tall and light. For straightness, the first thing that will make him go to one side is if I’m unbalanced, so my priority on the approach is to keep my body and head in the middle of the horse.”

The beauty of this exercise is in the mix of the two arrangements of poles.

“If I was to take this all away and put a load of right leg on to keep him from jumping right, that’s when he’d get quicker,” Joe explains. “But because we’ve got the canter poles and the tramlines, he’s naturally going to stay straight because he has to. On the approach to the tramline channel I’m going to give him the leg aid at the same time so he starts to associate my right leg with not jumping to the right, but staying straight instead.

“So it’s like I’m giving him the answer to the problem, and then showing the aid that I want to use.”

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Groundwork exercises can be highly effective for building your horse’s strength as they can develop core stability, balance and muscle tone without needing to compensate for the added weight and restriction of a rider.

All horses have a dominant side – like us being right- or left-handed – and with this exercise you can target developing the weaker side as well as building overall core strength. The use of raised and angled poles make horses lift their knees and bend the hocks, think where to place their feet, engage their core and and open their shoulders.

Aims

• Develop weaker side
• Engage core and get horse working through the back
• Improve proprioception

The setup

You will need: a training halter, lunging cavesson, or your horse’s usual bridle

Setup: You can use as many poles as you have time to lay out, but six is a good number. Arrange them in a zig-zag as shown in the diagram, raising the points where the poles meet on to 15–20cm blocks on one side.

Because this is a walk exercise, don’t worry too much about the spacing – they can be quite close together or at right angles. It’s up to your horse to work out where to put his feet.

How to do the exercise

• Before you try the polework exercise, warm your horse up by leading him on both reins for about 10min. You should do transitions from walk to halt, to check he is paying attention to you. You can also ask him to rein-back from the ground or do some basic lateral work. Your horse should be walking actively forwards and straight, as you would expect under saddle.
• Approach the zig-zag directly in the centre. As you are working in-hand, you should keep yourself parallel to your horse’s head but outside the poles, rather than stepping over them as this may affect how you lead and balance your horse.
• Because the spacing between the poles varies, and they are higher on one side than the other, this will encourage your horse to think about where he puts his feet, constantly adjusting his balance and stride length. Stepping over uneven, raised obstacles asks your horse to lift their core, thereby building topline.
• You should do this exercise several times in each direction, bearing in mind one side is higher than the other. To work on your horse’s weaker side, do more lines where he has to lift that side higher. For example, if his weaker side is the left, have the raised side on the left.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Alternate raised poles

This exercise is equally effective if you alternate the raised sides, so your horse has to keep adapting as they go down the line.

2. Don’t overface

If your horse has never done this exercise before, he may find the visual challenge of a line of asymmetric poles offputting. You can build up from three poles rather than going straight into six.

Likewise, don’t underestimate the impact of this polework exercise, even though you’re not riding. It requires plenty of physical and mental effort.

3. No drifting 

Although you’re leading your horse and cannot use your legs and hands to keep him straight, the asymmetric layout should do the job for you as the angled poles channel the horses into a straight line. Give them plenty of freedom with the head and neck to assess the layout and use their back.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

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Groundwork for horses: what it is and why it’s useful

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The best way to cool horses is sometimes debated in the equestrian community. Thankfully, there is a straight answer to the constant discussion between horse owners of to scrape or not to scrape – and it’s backed by science.

Heat is a major by-product of energy production and muscle function during exercise, with the amount of heat generated increasing in line with the intensity of a horse’s work. Therefore, cooling after the exertion of competition is extra important. But why?

The best way to cool horses can save lives

During exercise, a horse only uses a small proportion of stored energy to work his muscles. The rest is lost as heat through the metabolism of the stored energy. This causes heat build-up in the body, so controlling that body temperature, i.e. cooling the horse, is essential to avoid heat exhaustion.

A horse’s normal core body temperature at rest should be between 37.5°C and 38.5°C. When this rises to a dangerous level above 41°C to 42°C, you will see side effects and signs of heat exhaustion. These can range from excessively high heart and respiratory rates to dehydration, fatigue and poor recovery from exercise.

If left untreated, heat exhaustion can develop into heatstroke — a condition in which the body is unable to regulate its own temperature. This can ultimately lead to multi-organ dysfunction, including kidney and liver failure, abnormal heart rhythm, loss of coordination and, in severe cases, death.

The power of evaporation

Evaporative cooling — losing heat through the skin by sweating — is the most important way a horse controls his body temperature during and after exercise. Water from sweat evaporates into the air, taking heat energy with it.

Additionally, about 30% of heat loss occurs through the lungs and respiratory tract during normal breathing.

These methods of heat loss are at their most efficient when the difference between the skin temperature and the surrounding air temperature is greatest, such as in cool, dry weather.

Cooling by sweat evaporation is less effective in hot and humid conditions, because the surrounding air is already saturated with water. That means the difference between air and skin temperature is minimal, so evaporation is much less effective.

Sweat starts to drip from the body but removes just 5-10% of the heat that would have been lost through evaporation.

Should you scrape a horse off after hosing?

While scraping water off a warm horse will do him no harm, it will slow the cooling process in a dangerously hot horse. Therefore, the best way to cool horses at the end of intense exercise or competition is to apply copious amounts of cold water over his whole body, without scraping it off.

But how does this work?

Research has shown that applying cold water (9°C) to a horse after exercise in hot, humid conditions helps bring core body temperature back down to normal faster than using tepid (31°C) water. Cold water has no negative effect, such as increasing the risk of tying-up.

How to explain the scraping myth? Water is a good conductor of heat, which is why cold water on a hot horse heats up – the horse is losing body heat to the water. Some owners might infer this means that the hot water is insulating the horse, but this isn’t true.

Then, the horse is cooled further as the water evaporates, because evaporation cools the surface the water is sitting on.

Along with a team of researchers, Dr David Marlin undertook extensive study in this area leading up to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

He says: “When faced with a horse that is moderately to dangerously hot after exercise or a horse that isn’t coping in hot weather even at rest, the most effective and safe way to cool is to apply water all over the body.

“Any water cooler than the horse – ideally less than 25°C – will work. The cooler the water the better and quicker the horse will cool down. The best indicator of body temperature and how effective your cooling is, is actually the horse’s breathing rate and how hot they feel to touch.

“Don’t concentrate on specific areas of the body – just apply water continuously either with buckets or a hose from the neck to the tail. Don’t scrape as this wastes time better served applying more cool or cold water and actually results in the surface warming up.”

How to keep competition horses cool

In addition to continuous cooling by applying cold water without scraping, other good ways to keep horses cool include:

• keeping them in shade as much as possible
• using a misting fan – you’ll find these most often at elite events
• ensuring they appropriately fit – fitness and acclimatisation to local weather conditions are additional key factors in avoiding heat stress
• maintaining a healthy weight and body condition score – an overweight horse will struggle more
• helping with electrolytes – electrolyte supplements help to keep your horse hydrated, and a hydrated horse can cool regulate their temperature better
• using ice boots to cool legs – some evidence states cold therapy has a positive effect on tissue metabolism and enzyme activity when skin temperature is reduced to 10°C or when joints are reduced to 30°C. However, ice must be applied thoughtfully and at reasonable intervals to avoid freezer burn

How to tell if a horse has heatstroke

Ambient temperature and humidity levels in the UK rarely reach those of more tropical climates. However, signs of heat exhaustion are not uncommon in horses competing here in the summer — particularly if the weather suddenly becomes hotter.

Signs of heat exhaustion include:

• prolonged and delayed recovery (beyond 10 to 20 minutes after the end of the competition)
• persistently elevated heart and breathing rates
• continued, excessive sweating
• shaking
• weakness
• loss of awareness of surroundings

Ongoing increases in rectal temperature after the end of exercise are a strong indicator of heat stress and the potential to develop heat stroke.

In its most severe form, this can leave a horse unable to sweat, reluctant to drink water or to walk. It can cause staggering, depression and collapse – even death.

Urgent cooling and appropriate veterinary treatment, including intravenous fluids in some cases, is vital.

Correction: 29 June, 2026

This article was first published on 25 June 2026 and it contained an error that stated Dr David Marlin had published a study showing that cold hosing the legs of leisure horses resulted in reducing the subjects’ temperatures. The study was not published by Dr Marlin and he does not endorse this as a cooling method. His position is that effective cooling involves applying cool of cold water over the horse’s entire body, without scraping the water away between applications.

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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Extended canter is all about energy. Dressage judges want to see an increase in stride length and ground cover, not just more speed, with the horse staying straight and connected.

The same applies when jumping: you want lift, airtime and adjustability, maintaining your rhythm – not simply a faster canter that’s flat and hollow.

This very simple flatwork exercise works on boosting the quality of the steps in extended canter – not the quantity.

Aims

• Increase stride length and ground cover
• Develop an uphill, open frame
• Maintain the rhythm while increasing the reach
• Stay straight and connected, both into the extended canter and back out again

The setup

No setup required – simply the space to ride a 20m circle on the flat.

How to ride the exercise

Many riders try to practise their extended canter by firing off down the long side of the arena. However, it’s best taught over short, repeatable efforts where the horse can learn to make a distinction in stride length.

• Warm up in walk, trot and canter on both reins, including plenty of transitions to make sure your horse is listening and responding to your aids.
• Establish an active working canter and go large.
• Now go on to a 20m circle in working canter, and make a transition to five or six bigger strides, before collecting back to working canter. Use your inside leg to push the shoulder up without blocking. The circle should encourage your horse to step under with the hindleg, rather than running flat on the forehand.
• This short effort discourages the horses from becoming flat and running, because they’ll anticipate the re-collection. It also teaches riders to feel a few good steps as the quality is developing and not chase for more.
• Each horse will vary on how much you need to push and how much to hold. By practising, you’ll find your own horse’s sweet spot.
• Repeat a few times on each rein.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Running

Keep the increases short, before collecting back. While the horse is developing the extended canter, he may only be able to manage a few good strides, then unravel, losing balance and energy. It is better to make the transition back before that happens. Prioritise quality over quantity.

2. Flattening

To extend properly, your horse needs to lift. Think shoulder-fore going into the circle, so you encourage you horse to keep his inside shoulder up, without establishing a full shoulder-in. The frame needs to be open to be able to extend, not overly flexed.

3. Too much hand

Some riders hang on to the reins to try to control the canter, so you need to work on your hands being independent. Work on giving and retaking the rein on a circle. And when you come back to a more collected canter from the increased strides, don’t just pull! Use a half-halt and soften.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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This groundwork exercise is handy for keeping your horse engaged and stimulated in walk, because of the constant changes of direction combined with negotiating poles.

Aims

• Provide mental and physical stimulation
• Strengthen core and hindquarters
• Focus on changes of bend while negotiating poles

The setup

Setup: Three sets of two poles set up in like chevrons, with about 4m between the points of each set.

You will need: training halter, lunging cavesson, or your horse’s usual bridle

How to do this in-hand exercise

• Just because you’re working in hand doesn’t mean you don’t need to warm your horse up. Before you start the polework exercise, spend 5–10min in walk. Your horse should be walking actively, as you would expect if you were riding. Incorporate plenty of transitions to check your horse is focussed and working with you, not being distracted.
• First, approach the chevrons on a straight line (orange line above). The poles should draw the horse into the point.
• Approach the points in the opposite direction, aiming for the points. Without the poles guiding you both into the point, you need to be accurate so the horse doesn’t meander to the side.
• Now you can play around with the formation. Do circles and loops making a cross-section through the chevron, varying whether you cross near the point or where the poles widen out (green line). Taking the poles on an angle like this will increase the emphasis on footwork as the horse needs to work out how to lift and put down his feet.
• You can also approach the sides of the chevron at a right angle, then dogleg off to the opposite arm of the next chevron (blue line). This works on changing the bend while negotiating poles. All the time, you are asking you horse to assess, react, be supple and precise with his footwork.

Make sure you work equally on both reins.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Layout

If you only have four poles – or are short on time – just two chevrons will also provide a great workout.

2. Accuracy

Striped poles are really useful for keeping disciplined on accuracy. If you decide to cross from, say, white stripe to white stripe, can you stick to it?

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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Boost your horse’s balance, symmetry and core strength with this simple in-hand polework pattern

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Try this exercise to encourage your horse to engage his hindleg from the ground

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Lengthened or extended trot strides are often seen in a dressage test across the diagonal. The consequence is that many of us practise them by speeding across the longest straight in the arena, inadvertently encouraging our horses to become flat, hollow and rushed. The trot strides don’t so much lengthen as simply speed up.

Instead, we want to encourage our horse to push off the hindleg, with the strides getting longer but, crucially, not quicker. To do this successfully, the horse needs to be supple, which will produce longer steps with more airtime thanks to a looser back and more engaged hindleg.

This flatwork exercise works on suppleness alongside lengthening the steps to improve the latter.

Aims

• Longer, but not faster, trot strides
• Increased suppleness

The setup

No setup required. All you need is sufficient space – and an arena is ideal. If you are riding in the field, it’s helpful to lay out arena boards, poles or other markers so that you can be disciplined about where you make transitions.

How to ride the exercise

• Warm up in all paces, incorporating plenty of upward and downward transitions to ensure your horse is responding to your aids or cues.
• Establish an active working trot and go large, riding around the edge of the arena.
• As you come round the short side, turn up the quarter-line in the same trot, and leg-yield to the track.
• When you reach the track, ask for a few lengthened strides, thinking “bigger, but slower” to prevent rushing. The leg-yield should help loosen your horse’s back, while engaging the inside hindleg so that it can push off more for bigger, longer strides. This is particularly helpful if your horse has a choppy trot.
• Before you reach the end of the next short side, collect the trot again, keeping the energy but containing the stride length.
• Do this exercise the same number of times in both directions. Because it loads the inside hindleg more, you need to work both sides equally.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Tempo control

If you do this exercise in rising trot, you can use your rising to help control the horse’s tempo. This is useful if your horse tends to go faster, not bigger, when you ask for the extension.

2. Rushing

For horses that rush or hollow, you can practise lengthening on a circle. The curve of the circle will encourage you to ride from inside leg to outside rein to engage the hindleg. You can change between rising and sitting trot to help your horse by allowing the back to swing more in the longer strides.

3. Trouble re-collecting

For horses that struggle to come back into a balanced more collected trot after lengthening, ride a 10m circle at the end of the lengthened strides. This will encourage you to keep your horse in balance so that he is ready to do a small circle, rather than allowing him to rush down the side of the arena.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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Summer horse care hacks are about so much more than keeping cool. During the season, you want to make the most of the long daylight hours with time at yard and streamline your time at home. You want to keep pesky insects away (using the best fly sprays), avoid sun damage (with sun cream for you and sun cream for your horse), and it might be useful to lighten your mental load with some organisation ideas.

Without further ado, here are some of the summer horse care hacks I recommend to guarantee a smoother season. The best part? Some of the bits and pieces I’ve picked out to help you through summer also have discounts as part of Amazon Prime Day, which ends today (26 June).

Summer horse care hacks and tips you need to try

1. Flies, begone!

Don’t worry, I’m not about to tell you to use fly spray – you definitely already know that! But flies don’t just annoy horses, they annoy us too. Therefore, you also deserve insect repellent!

As well as for hacking, I used this Jungle Formula on a trip to India a while back and don’t recall getting bitten at all, so it’s decent stuff.

While you’re at it, why not pick up a magnetic fly curtain to keep winged pests out of your tack room? I have a set that I use to keep bugs out of my home – being able to keep the door open in the evening without stressing about moths and other flies is genuinely amazing.

2. Make aircon a reality

Whether for your tack room or for use at home, a portable air conditioning unit is a must when heatwaves land – and you just know the next one isn’t far away.

I bought this Delonghi compact air conditioner last year and honestly haven’t looked back. I no longer fear a heatwave and get plenty of sleep to be on my A game for my horse. My miniature schnauzer also absolutely loves it, so if you have a lorry dog who needs a cooldown, I would highly recommend.

Portable air cons are a bit of an investment, but I promise your comfort is completely worth it. Or, if you’re not quite ready to commit to several hundreds of pounds, a tower fan (like this one) will certainly tide you over.

3. No more heavy hauling

Have you seen these fold-away carts around and about? Some people load their kids into them, others will trundle a picnic to the park, but I say: these babies belong on the yard.

Pile them with haynets, take them to shows, or finally make it from the tack room or feed room to your horse in the elusive single trip with feed, hay, tack and rugs all safely ensconced within.

4. Cue the music

Long summer days are begging to be spent at the yard. Personally, I love poo-picking as a summer activity, and taking a bluetooth speaker (I have this one) can crank up the good times.

Worried about phone battery? Pack yourself a power bank (like this one) for peace of mind.

5. Get savvy with storage

Winter rugs clogging your tack room? And, at home, are you sick of the sight of your long riding coats and waterproof breeches?

Use these vacuum compaction bags to store them without taking up space. You’re welcome!

Need something to store your rugs in? Check out this massive plastic storage chest.

6. Happy hosing

A hosepipe without an attachment is awkward to use – using your finger over the end only goes so far. Instead, try this hose attachment with loads of settings to cool your horse.

Not only that, there’s a reservoir for your pick of the best horse shampoo that will make bathing your horse easier than ever.

7. I’m a “fan” of this one…

Airflow in the stable is the thing to help keep your horse cool while he’s in. What’s more, a gentle breeze can also disrupt midge flightpaths, meaning they leave your horse alone.

You’ll want a portable fan (like this one) to help achieve this. They can be hung or stood on the floor and many have great battery life, so you don’t need to worry about having any power.

Want to cool down on the go? I just discovered this Shark Chill Pill hi-speed personal misting fan – I can see it being a hit at summer shows like the Royal International. If you want something at a cheaper price point, this personal fan is in the Prime Day sale.

8. Slip, slap, slop

Sun protection is an essential summer horse care hack, but it’s super important for humans, too. I always take suncream with me to the yard on summer days for top-ups, especially to my face.

This viral sun cream is currently in the Prime Day sale and one of my faves.

• For unlimited access to the latest product news, buying guides and reviews, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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This polework exercise can be done in-hand or ridden, but it’s best to teach it as a groundwork exercise first to give your horse the chance to learn the concept without the additional weight of a rider. The act of simply stepping over a line of poles can bring huge benefits to your horse in terms of both stimulation (mental and physical) and building strength, coordination and horse-rider harmony.

Aims

• Develop your horse’s core strength
• Improve foot-brain coordination
• Develop horse-rider relationship and understanding

The setup

Setup: Four poles laid end to end in a line. They can be on the ground or sightly raised on small blocks or bricks. You need to have space either side, so ideally down the middle of an arena or field.

You will need: a training halter, lunging cavesson, or your horse’s usual bridle.

How to do this in-hand exercise

• Begin by leading your horse in-hand around the arena or field for five minutes or so, checking he is walking purposefully without pulling you around. Do transitions to and from halt to ensure he is responding.
• Approach parallel to the line of poles so that they lie just to right of your horse. When you are level with the first pole and their right foreleg is about to leave the ground, ask the horse to step over the pole until all four legs are on the right side of the pole.
• Walk in a straight line away.
• Next, approach so that the poles lie to your horse’s left. When their left fore is leading, ask the horse to step to the left over the line of poles and walk away in a straight line.
• Once the horse understands the concept, you can link up several step-overs. Starting with the poles on the right, step over the line leading with the right fore, then take an odd number of steps parallel to the pole until the left fore is leading, and ask the horse to step to the left back over the line of poles. Again walk an odd number of steps and then move sideways right.
• Continue until you reach the end of the line.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Difficulty level

This exercise is more demanding the higher the poles are raised, and the more frequently you ask the horse to step over. Start with seven steps on each side, progressing to five or then three as your horse understands.

2. Stay parallel

It can be tempting to serpentine over the poles, but the aim is to step laterally, one foot after the other. Stay parallel and don’t meander!

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You might also enjoy:

Boost your horse’s balance, symmetry and core strength with this simple in-hand polework pattern

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Teach your horse to rein-back from the ground to engage their core and release tension

Try this exercise to encourage your horse to engage his hindleg from the ground

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round

In this exercise to improve medium trot, we are using lateral work – specifically the half-pass – to improve the push in the more extended paces. Half-pass should only be attempted once your horse is established in both shoulder-in and haunches-in (travers), being able to bend around the inside leg, maintain a forward rhythm and move sideways in good balance.

The half-pass enhances a horse’s longitudinal and lateral suppleness, enabling the hindleg to step under more and therefore boosting the power and push, to encourage ground cover without your horse losing balance. It also frees up the shoulders, which gives your horse more reach in the medium trot.

Aim

• Improve impulsion and engagement

Setup

No setup required: This flatwork exercise is easiest to do in an arena. If you are riding it in a field, we suggest marking out an arena to help your accuracy.

How to ride the exercise

• Once warmed up, establish an active working trot and go large.
• As you come out of the corner, ask for half-pass across the diagonal.
• After six strides or so, straighten the horse and ask for some lengthened or medium trot strides.
• Proceed in medium trot across X. This should improve impulsion and engagement.
• After around six strides of medium trot, half-halt and position your horse in half-pass again.
• Half-pass back to the track.
• Repeat on both reins and from both ends of the arena.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Failing to prepare

Without preparing your horse properly either for the half-pass or the medium trot, he will lack engagement and balance. Try a couple of steps of shoulder-in before the half-pass to engage the hindleg and establish the bend.

When it comes to the medium trot, make sure he is straight before asking him to lengthen.

2. Too much, too soon

Half-pass is a lateral movement for established horses. If your horse is twisting his head or struggling with his balance and bend, go back to basics. He should be well established in shoulder-in before you start attempting some steps of half-pass.

3. Twisting head

This can occur when the inside rein is forcing the bend, with the outside leg pushing the horse, which blocks the inside leg from coming through.

Or, the rider is asking for more sideways movement than the horse is ready for.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

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When temperatures rise, ensuring your horse stays cool, comfortable and hydrated on the move becomes a little more complicated. Here’s how to succeed

Travelling horses in hot weather isn’t impossible, but it requires thoughtful preparation to ensure equine welfare is maintained.

In the UK, professional transporters are not allowed to move horses in temperatures exceeding 30°C – and this is a good rule of thumb for private owners to follow.

Tips for travelling horses in hot weather

Here’s how to best ensure equine welfare when transporting horses in hot weather.

1. Do your homework

Try to plan your travel around the weather conditions and avoid travelling during high temperatures and high humidity. If it is unavoidable, pick the times of day when it’s likely to be coolest.

Setting off early in the morning, for example, will make the experience much more pleasant for both you and your horse.

2. Plan ahead

Before setting off, ensure horses are fully hydrated by providing them with unrestricted access to forage and water for at least six hours with plenty of space to rest and relax.

3. What to wear?

While you might usually reach for one of the best travel rugs for a journey, it’s unlikely to be needed in hot weather. Any equipment on the horse’s body may contribute to overheating, the risks are likely to outweigh the benefits on a hot day.

Also consider leg protection. Thick travel boots may cause sweating, when a lighter pair of breathable brushing boots or cross-country boots combined with over-reach boots on all four legs will offer a basic level protection for a horse who typically travels well.

4. Prepare for the worst

While it sounds pessimistic, when travelling by road you just never know when or for how long you might get held up. Therefore, make sure you have plenty of forage and water on board for top-ups to keep your horses happy and healthy, and be confident you know what to do if you find yourself stuck on the road with a horse.

5. Provide good-quality forage

Access to quality forage will help maintain a healthy digestive system and provide an ongoing source of energy, as well as creating a small reservoir of fluid in the horse’s gut to help keep them hydrated.

You could also give a small fibre feed ahead of travel for this reason.

6. Boost airflow

Opening the rear section of a trailer helps draw hot air out while fresh air is pulled in through the windows. But avoid travelling with the front door above the ramp open as there is a risk of flying debris being blow into your horse’s face.

If you have a roof vent, open this at the back, as it also draws warm air up and out of the transport while you are driving. You can also use clip-on portable fans to help keep air circulating.

7. Stick to frequent watering intervals

In normal conditions, horses should be offered water at least every four and a half hours while travelling. In hot weather, that interval should be shorter.

This is at your discretion, but use what you know. How hot and dry is it? Has your horse eaten and drunk well in the hours before setting off? Is he sweaty? Is he overweight? All these factors will help you decide how frequently to stop and offer water.

8. Make water tempting

Anyone who has offered their horse a drink in an unfamiliar place will know that horses can be choosy about the type of container they will drink from and the taste of the water. However, it’s important to stress that this doesn’t mean they’re not thirsty.

If possible, try and take water from home in a large capacity container (like this one) and provide it in a bucket they are used to drinking from.

Additionally, it’s always beneficial to familiarise them to different containers in case you can’t take your own. You can also try flavouring the water with apple juice.

9. Minimise stress

Horses can become dehydrated more quickly when they are stressed or unsettled so try to minimise this wherever possible.

Loading and unloading are two of the main stressors for horses when travelling so make sure you do as much as you can to keep the process calm and relaxed.

Practising often without the pressure of heading to a show or event will help it become second nature.

When you are on a schedule, leave plenty of time to load to avoid time pressure.

Ensure the vehicle is well ventilated and drive carefully to make the journey as comfortable as possible.

10. Prepare for the arrival

As with pre-planning before a journey, it’s just as important to give plentiful forage and water upon arrival at your destination. If you’re travelling to a show or event then make sure your horse has time to relax, graze, eat hay and drink before competing or beginning exercise. You could also feed a rehydration mash.

Risks of travelling horses in hot weather

Dehydration is the greatest risk and can affect any horse.

Signs of dehydration include:

• fatigue
• weakness
• dullness
• loss of performance
• decreased appetite
• abnormal drinking, such as taking longer than usual draughts or gulping
• infrequent urination
• dark urine
• red or congested mucus membranes

Recommended ways to prevent or correct dehydration include:

• making clean, fresh water available at all times
• offering additional water sources with an electrolyte supplement
• administering electrolytes around two hours before travel
• feeding haylage, which has a higher moisture content than hay, or using soaked hay if appropriate
• standing your horse in the shade as much as possible
• offering water after exercise and packing a rehydration mash to administer if necessary

For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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Teaching sidepass and other lateral work from the ground encourages your horse to “think” with his feet, as well as listening and reacting to what you are asking of them. It can take a while initially for the penny to drop for some horses learning this lateral sidepass pole exercise, but it’s great for creating engagement and learning how to move the hind and front end.

The pole provides a visual and tactile boundary, which is a tool in this exercise. All you are asking the horse to do is move sideways along a pole which separates the hind and front end. However, it is quite a demanding exercise mentally, requiring your horse to understand your cues to move laterally and not to step forwards over the pole with the hindlegs.

Before you attempt this groundwork exercise, your horse needs to understand how to move his front end and his back end from your cues on the ground. These are simple movements that you would do, for example, when you open and close a gate.

Aims

• Develop lateral coordination, suppleness and precise footwork
• Engage the core as the horse learns cross their legs over in balance
• Improve your horse’s overall manoeuvrability and responsiveness

The setup

You will need:

• A pole on the ground – ideally a heavy one that doesn’t roll easily when kicked or stepped on
• training halter, lunging cavesson, or your horse’s usual bridle
• Lunge line, long rope or reins
• Schooling whip (or you can spin the end of your line or reins as the cue)

Once your horse is comfortable standing over a pole, ask him to move sideways along the pole, keeping his hind and front legs on either side

How to do the sidepass pole exercise

• First lead your horse towards the pole, asking him to halt when just his front legs are over it, and the pole is dividing his front and hindlegs. It may take some adjustment and steps of rein-back for him to understand where you want him to position himself.
• Make sure that your horse is comfortable standing squarely with the pole dividing his front and hind end. This may take time initially, especially if he is used to walking over poles rather than stopping halfway.
• In the middle of the pole, stand facing your horse and slightly to his left side, and ask your horse to move to the right, away from you.
• Your left hand should steer the horse sideways to his right, containing any forward movement so that he does not walk over the pole with the hindlegs.
• To move the hind end laterally, either spin or shake the loose end of lead rope in your right hand, or point to the horse’s ribcage with your schooling whip to ask him to move right.
• The moment your horse makes a step or two sideways, release the pressure and praise. Over time he will understand to move laterally along the whole pole, crossing his legs over as he goes.
• To start with, just try going from the middle of the pole to the edge, and eventually you’ll be able to side pass along the whole pole.
• Repeat in the other direction.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Patience

Break this exercise down into small steps, so you do not overface your horse – it takes time. In one session, you may only get as far as standing quietly over the pole.

2. Confidence and competence

To start with, your horse may move the front end and hind end separately, but as they grow in confidence and understanding, they will step sideways with both fronts and hinds simultaneously.

3. When to step away

If your horse starts to get frustrated with the exercise, which can feel claustrophobic as he gets used to the pole in between his legs, break it up with some forward trotwork.

4. Ridden work

You can also do this exercise ridden, and having already taught your horse from the ground, it should be much easier to achieve.

5. Progress

You can develop this exercise by adding further poles, for instance into an L shape or a zigzag so the horse they have to negotiate corners, requiring a little turn on the forehand or haunches to move onto the next pole.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

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We’re expecting “How to keep horses cool in summer” will be a popular Google search this week. Here in the UK we experienced record temperatures of more than 30ºC in May and some areas are predicted to reach 40ºC this week. How many of you had that on your 2026 bingo card?

A heatwave that early in the year was unusual, and this week will be even more uncomfortable – and dangerous. Therefore, owners need to think about how to keep a horse cool right now, and we’ve got you covered. Here are Horse & Hound’s top tips on for keeping horses cool when things get really hot.

How to keep horses cool when temperatures soar

The number one piece of advice for working horses in hot weather is to exercise them as early in the morning as possible. While the evening could be an option, check your weather app in advance. It can still be well above 25ºC at 9pm in a heatwave, which might not be suitable for you or your horse.

Safe stabling

1. If your horse is normally stabled at night and out during the day, consider reversing his turnout times to avoid the hottest temperatures and the worst of the flies – especially if he has limited shade or shelter in the field.

Before deciding, check his stable isn’t actually more uncomfortable in the heat than his paddock. If there’s poor ventilation and no through breeze, his stable could be very stuffy. Setting up a portable fan out of reach of your horse may help to increase airflow and have a cooling effect.

2. If there is no permanent shelter or tree cover in your horse’s paddock, but you’d like him to stay out, you could use some sheeting to rig up a safe, temporary area of shade so he has the option.

Turnout tips

3. A light coloured fly rug or summer sheet works better than a dark coloured one for keeping the horse cool, because white is best for reflecting the sun’s heat.

A rug that has a loose weave material lets the horse’s body heat and sweat out more than a tight weave, but as a compromise provides less effective protection from the smallest flies and midges.

A wet rug has hugely increased cooling properties, so hosing the rug down while it is on your horse multiple times a day is worthwhile in the hottest temperatures.

4. Bringing your horse in for a cool hose off and turning him back out without scraping off the water will give him respite from the heat. If you can do it more than once, so much the better.

5. Pink skin and white areas on the face and heels are most commonly affected by sunburn because they have less skin pigment and hair coverage, so remember to apply one of the best suncreams for horses to these areas.

A fly mask with UV protective properties may also be helpful. Plus, those with a built-in nose net offer extra protection for pink noses.

How to keep horses cool while travelling

6. If you have to transport your horse in the hot weather, leave as early as possible. This avoids travelling in the worst heat and reduces the risk of getting stuck in traffic. Professional transporters in the UK are not allowed to move horses in temperatures exceeding 30°C – and this is a good rule of thumb for private owners to follow.

7. If you transport your horse, ensure all suitable windows are open to keep fresh air flowing through the horsebox. You can also use portable fans to help keep your horse cool.

If you have a roof vent, opening only the rear section while you are moving helps to draw the hot air out of the vehicle while cool air can enter through the windows. On arrival, the roof vent should be opened fully.

However, your horse might not be cooler standing on the lorry or trailer, even if he is out of the direct sun – think of dogs in hot cars. Consider whether he would be better off outside in the shade.

How to cool down a horse quickly

8. If you suspect that your horse may be suffering from heat stroke, put him in the shade and cool him continuously with free-flowing cool water.

The best way to do this is with a hosepipe, but if the hose has been sitting in the sun, make sure you run it first to remove any water that was left in the pipe. This water can be extremely hot and cause scalding so take care when you check it so you don’t get burnt either.

If you don’t have a hose, use a watering can or pour buckets over your horse instead. You will likely have to refill the vessels and repeat several times.

Another key is to allow the water to run off or evaporate without scraping off the excess liquid. The belief that leaving water on a horse will “cook” him is an equestrian urban myth – it simply isn’t true. The best way to cool a horse down quickly is to allow the water to draw heat away from the horse’s skin by evaporation.

You should also offer the horse water to drink every few minutes. If the horse appears wobbly (ataxic) then try to keep them walking in the shade, while continuing to apply cold water. If signs persist, contact your vet as a matter of urgency.

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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Farrier Tom Broadbridge has overseen the care of numerous barefoot horses – here’s what he has learned

Considering transitioning your horse to barefoot, but not sure how to go about it? Spend any amount of time on social media and you’ll soon find that barefoot trimming and everything surrounding it is a hot topic.

“To my mind, enabling the horse to go barefoot is the gold standard,” says Tom Broadbridge, who qualified as a farrier in 2003 and is now purely a barefoot hoofcare professional.

“There are times when a horse can’t immediately go completely barefoot. Sometimes horses that look sound with shoes on may not be free from inflammation. Consequently, their unsoundness may be more obvious when the shoes are removed.

“If a horse is not sound, they may need another form of hoof protection after removing the shoes, such as hoof boots. In such cases, immediately going completely barefoot may not be best.”

Tom advises against making the transition alone.

“Firstly, ensure you’ve built a strong team of equine professionals around you. Communication with them is key.

“Speak to your vet and your hoof care professional for their advice rather than plunging straight into taking the shoes off.”

Why transition a horse to barefoot?

Keeping horses naturally is a significant motivator in the transition from shod to barefoot. There are several other reasons owners make the change too, including:

1. Cost

With the cost-of-living crisis applying increasing financial pressures – and leaving some owners unable to make ends meet – the thought of ditching a large six-weekly bill appeals to many. However, Tom advises proceeding with caution.

“If finances are your only motivation, I’d advise you to think again,” he says. “Barefoot is not necessarily the easy or cheap option. Keeping a barefoot horse requires a holistic approach, and you may find mounting costs with equine professionals in other areas of your horse’s management to address soundness without shoes, as they may mask lameness.”

2. Performance

“A horse often gains a more natural movement without the restriction of steel shoes,” explains Tom. “Watch the horses in the dressage arena that are barefoot.”

3. Retirement or semi-retirement

Many owners reassess their horses’ lifestyle when they reduce or remove their ridden routine. As well as removing shoes, many opt for 24/7 turnout or retirement livery, too.

4. Eliminates shoe pulling

If you have a horse that regularly pulls shoes, this leads to frequent call-outs mid-shoeing cycle and risks damage to the hoof.

5. A last resort

“I specialised in remedial farriery years ago and thought it was the key to everything,” explains Tom. “Then, you’d have cases where you’d throw every specialised shoe and technique you knew to fix a lame horse, but nothing would work.

“One client sent their horse to a barefoot rehab yard, and the horse came sound. It was one of the most exciting moments of my career. In fact, it was the beginning of my transition to barefoot.”

How to transition a horse to barefoot

Consulting your hoofcare professional alongside your vet and an independent nutritionist is the best way to set your horse up for a successful barefoot life.

That said, there’s much you can do in the months ahead to ease the transition.

Feeding

Ideally consulting with an independent nutritionist, Tom recommends reviewing and reducing the amount of sugar in your horse’s diet, from bucket to haynet.

“Sugar is a focus point because it is so influential in terms of inflammation,” says Tom. “But an independent nutritionist can help you review the micronutrients your horse is receiving for overall health and ensure they are optimally fed, too.”

Workload

“If I decided to take off my trainers and immediately go for a 20-mile walk, my feet would be in a sorry state,” says Tom. “It can be the same with newly-barefoot horses.”

While some individuals adapt quickly to work on hard or stony surfaces, others need time to adjust. Tom advises looking over your horse’s workload, scaling back for a period, then building up to your usual routine.

“Groundwork can be a great place to start,” adds Tom.

“If you’ve ever walked on uneven tarmac with no shoes, you’ll know how unpleasant it can feel and the effect on your gait.

“Now carry a saddle and a person. You’ve made an uncomfortable task even more difficult.”

All at once?

If a horse is shod all round, some owners choose to remove the back shoes first.

“The front feet carry about two-thirds of a horse’s weight,” says Tom. “Some owners like to remove the hind shoes first to allow the horse to adjust how he loads and potentially ease the transition.”

However, others may argue that there is a height differential between the shod and barefoot hooves, and that can cause unintended issues.

How to support a horse while transitioning to barefoot

Tom says it’s perfectly normal for newly barefoot horses to feel sensitive on stony ground.

“Anyone who was used to wearing shoes would be,” he says.

“However, if a barefoot horse appears lame on any surface, it is a cause for concern and action needs to be taken.”

Always gain advice from a qualified equine professional.

If you regularly walk your horse on a hard, uneven track – for example, to reach his paddock – hoof boots are a useful tool.

Tom, who designs and produces his own range of hoof boots, says it helps avoid the cumulative effect of contact with sub-optimal ground.

“Newly barefoot horses who walk on stones might develop slight bruising.

“This might be pretty inconsequential as a one-off, but if it’s a daily thing you get bruising forming on top of bruising, and that can become very sore. What’s more, it can cause inflammation and affect the rest of the body due to compensatory issues.

“Using hoof boots for any activity on surfaces, such as stony tracks, can reduce issues, especially in those early stages, by protecting your horse’s soles.

“Gradually introducing different surfaces when the horse is completely barefoot allows them to adjust, and improves hoof health over time.”

Choosing and fitting hoof boots

You can find many different hoof boot styles on the market, including Tom’s own design, Pioneer Sports hoof boots, which are a self-adjusting style to accommodate natural movement and a growing hoof throughout the trim cycle.

Each company has its own fitting and measurement guidelines.

Tom recommends consulting your hoofcare professional on a style and fit to suit your horse when seeking hoof boot advice.

“Some companies, like The Hoof Boutique, will give you advice based on images and measurements you send them or provide a fit kit.”

Dealing with hoof cracks

When transitioning a horse from shod to barefoot, hoof wall cracks or wall degradation are common.

“If your horse has been shod for quite some time, you’ll have a series of nail holes,” Tom explains.

“Here, the horn is weak and will break away.”

Always seek advice from the hoof care professional. Many riders reach for hoof conditioners and moisturisers, but Tom advises it is bacterial or fungal infection within the hoof wall, not dryness, that causes low-level cracking.

“Use an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal product on the hoof horn from about a centimetre below the coronary band,” he suggests. “This permeates the horn and tackles the infection.

“New growth is imbued with the treatment and the cracking should stop. You can actually smell the product when you trim the hoof.”

He adds that the white line can stretch due to flaring, meaning small stones and other debris become lodged within.

“You need a tool sharper and thinner than a hoof pick, such as a bradle, to gently clear it,” advises Tom.

“I’d then use a packing material [like this one] to preserve the white line.”

What’s the best time of year to transition a horse to barefoot?

For Tom, there are pros and cons to a summer versus a winter transition.

“If you transition in the winter, the ground is generally softer, but so are the feet,” he says. “So, the sole is more vulnerable to bruising and potentially more sensitive to stony underfooting.

“In the summer, the feet are generally harder and the sole less flexible, but also the ground is also harder and possibly more uncomfortable underfoot.”

The time of year you choose to transition will depend on what you already know about your horse’s feet. Ultimately, Tom recommends avoiding spring and autumn when the grass flushes and its sugar content intensifies.

“At these points in the year there’s a real boost of energy and sugar in the grass,” Tom explains. “This causes an instant response in the body that might lead to inflammation. It doesn’t need to be as severe as acute laminitis – even a small amount of inflammation in the body can make horses more sensitive.

“My horse has been barefoot for nine years. When the weather changes and the grass shoots up, he’ll feel the odd stone here and there where he wouldn’t have a couple of weeks before.

“And he’s not transitioning – he’s well into barefoot life.”

Ultimately, success will come from strategising ahead of removing your horse’s shoes.

“Start planning your transition while your horse is still shod,” says Tom. “Making dietary adjustments in advance, for example, can help minimise soreness, maintain hoof wall integrity and altogether make the transition far smoother.”

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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We know straightness is a crucial element of how our horse goes, and one of the scales of training. Canter, being asymmetrical, is the hardest gait to achieve straightness, with many horses falling out at the shoulder and swinging the quarters in.

This flatwork exercise uses shallow loops to straighten the canter, improving engagement and encouraging your horse to accept the outside aids. Straightness still applies when the horse is bending. The horse is straight if their hindlegs are following their front legs travelling on the same two tracks in self-carriage.

Quarters-in is a common fault at lower levels. As the outside hindleg strikes off (and starts each canter stride sequence), it carries the most weight. Horses may try to compensate for this by swinging the quarters in so this weight-bearing leg doesn’t have to step under so far.

Aims

• Straighten the canter
• Teach your horse to accept the outside aids
• Achieve self-carriage

The setup

No setup required: This exercise is easiest to do in a school to help you be disciplined about the size of loop. If you do it in a field, we suggest you mark out an area to work in.

How to ride this exercise

• Once warmed up in walk, trot and canter on both reins, go large in a balanced working canter.
• At the first quarter marker on each side of the area, ride a 10m shallow loop. The bend of the horse’s head and neck should follow the direction of travel.
• Repeat, progressively decreasing the size of loops to 8m, 5m, 2m and 1m.
• Finally, ride the same exercise with barely noticeable loops of 20cm – with the aim that your horse is completely straight.
• Repeat on both reins.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Your horse goes disunited or hollows

Just come back to trot, try to relax, and then try again starting with shallower loops.

2. You lose the quality of canter

Some horses rush as they anticipate cantering across the diagonal. Perform a half-halt in the corner before starting the loop to keep him on the aids.

3. An unintentional flying change

Maintain the existing canter lead (the lead you started the loop on) with your true inside leg and the outside leg slightly behind the girth. While the horse’s body should bend around the loop, their nose should be slightly pointing toward the leading leg to prevent the horse from interpreting the turn as a cue for a flying change.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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This S-bend or maze exercise is designed to be done in walk. However, you can choose either to ride it or do it in hand – both have benefits. As your horse navigates their way through the maze of poles, it’s a mentally stimulating challenge to encourage suppleness, build core strength and balance, while teaching your horse to take care where he puts his feet.

I personally love this polework exercise and find it to be really beneficial. Plus, walk is a very effective pace for polework because there is no moment of suspension, which means your horse has to use muscular effort, thereby building core strength.

Aims

• Improve proprioception
• Boost balance and core strength
• Provide mental stimulation

The setup

Setup: six poles arranged in a maze or S shape

You will need: if working in-hand, a training halter, lunging cavesson, or your horse’s usual bridle. Otherwise, your usual tack.

How to ride the maze exercise

• Whether you are riding or working in-hand, warm up the horse for 10 minutes or so, including transitions and circles. Check he is responsive to your aids, listening and ready to work.
• Let’s say you want to ride the exercise. Approach the entry to the maze (blue line) in a nice active walk.
• The corners will be tight. Open your inside hand to encourage your horse to bend through his body in the direction of travel. Control the shoulder from falling out with the outside rein. Apply pressure with the inside leg, to encourage him to step under and cross over with his hindlegs, like you would in turn on the forehand. The outside leg behind the girth should be in contact with their side to stop the quarters swinging out.
• To do this exercise in-hand, you will need to use your body positioning, line and stick to encourage your horse to bend and step under.
• You can also use this layout to walk and trot over the poles as shown in the diagram by the orange and yellow lines.

Tips and troubleshooting

1. Start simple

Start with wide channels (around 1.5m) when introducing this layout. You can reduce them to about 1m when the horse is proficient at this exercise.

You can also start with a basic L or U shape rather than the full maze while the horse works out the challenge.

2. Rushing

Horses can feel trapped by the narrow boundaries and rush, or try to go over the poles rather than chicane around them. If this happens, widen the channels. You can also walk the horse around the layout first so they can inspect it.

3. Steering problems

Your horse may be confused by the layout and what you want him to do in the tight space, or lack lateral suppleness. Take it slowly, using clear aids whether you are doing the exercise ridden or in-hand.

Want more ideas? Check out our full daily training inspiration library

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert training advice from top riders and coaches, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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Artificial insemination in horses is a technically demanding but routine part of modern equine veterinary practice. It is a modern breeding technique that can be incredibly complex and requires accuracy and strict biosecurity, plus good timing and organisation to be successful. In the UK, it sits firmly within the professional responsibilities outlined by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).

If you’re planning to use artificial insemination (AI) for your mare this breeding season, how can you maximise the chances of a successful equine pregnancy? We outline the most important points to consider when using artificial insemination in horses and explain what’s involved in the process.

How is artificial insemination done in horses?

Routinely, the process is as follows…

1. Semen collection

This begins with appropriate preparation of the stallion and the environment. In well-managed studs, stallions are trained to mount a phantom (dummy) mare rather than a live mare. This significantly reduces risk to both animals and handlers. An artificial vagina (AV) is carefully prepared to replicate physiological conditions – specifically temperature, pressure, and lubrication – so that ejaculation occurs in a controlled and humane manner.

The veterinary surgeon, or suitably trained personnel under direction, must handle the stallion in a way that minimises stress and risk of injury. Hygiene is critical: the AV must be sterile or single-use lined. In addition, collection vessels must be clean and pre-warmed. Obvious contaminants, such as dirt or urine, must be avoided.

Poor technique here can compromise semen quality and ultimately fertility outcomes.

2. Semen evaluation and handling

Once collected, semen is assessed promptly and properly. This directly informs clinical decisions about whether the ejaculate is suitable for use and how it should be processed.

Evaluation typically includes motility (movement), concentration, and morphology (assessing size and shape). This is all carried out under controlled temperature conditions to avoid cold shock. Accuracy in terms of process and record-keeping is essential.

3. Extension and preparation

To preserve sperm viability and produce multiple doses, semen is diluted with an appropriate extender following evaluation. Extenders are designed to buffer pH, provide energy substrates, and reduce bacterial growth.

Controlled temperature conditions are essential to dilution. Abrupt changes can irreversibly damage sperm membranes. Again, traceability and documentation are important, particularly where transporting semen between premises.

4. Storage and transport

If semen is not used immediately, it may be cooled for short-term storage or frozen for long-term preservation.

5. Insemination and post-breeding care

Your vet will manually insert the semen at the optimum time using a pipette. The mare is typically scanned via ultrasound 24–48 hours post-insemination to ensure ovulation has occurred and to check for any fluid buildup in the uterus. A second ultrasound scan is performed 14–16 days after breeding to confirm conception.

Can AI be carried out at home?

AI can be carried out at home, at an equine clinic or at a specialist breeding centre. So what might influence your choice?

“Studies show that pregnancy rates improve with minimised potential stress,” says equine vet and breeding expert Emma Cooper MRCVS. “Certain horses may be more relaxed at home, but you will ideally need stocks for ultrasound scanning and insemination.”

Insemination with frozen semen is particularly difficult to carry out at home, yet fresh and chilled also need a vet’s input.

“An AI package at a stud or clinic could well prove cheaper, as driving and visit fees often add up to more,” says Emma. “The benefit of a clinic is that the vet can examine a mare as often as necessary without the owner having to be there.

“Every mare is different, but an experienced repro vet with knowledge of AI will be able to see more detail in the uterus and follicle to tell exactly where she is in her cycle. Better care will most likely bring a better result – and fewer scans could lower costs.”

Pros and cons of artificial insemination in horses

It sounds so simple – and often it is – yet AI can disappoint the unwary. Take a look below at its pros and cons in summary:

Advantages

• Reduced risk of injury to mare and stallion
• Access to geographically distant or elite stallions
• Allows use of chilled or frozen semen (genetic flexibility)
• Better disease control (no direct contact)
• Precise timing with ovulation → often good conception rates

Disadvantages

• Requires veterinary expertise and monitoring (costly)
• Variable fertility with frozen semen
• Not permitted in some studbooks (e.g. Weatherbys/The Jockey Club for thoroughbreds)
• Handling/storage logistics for semen

How much does AI cost?

Artificial insemination in horses can incur rapidly mounting costs, which you will need to add to the other costs of breeding a horse.

Pre-breeding assessment

Vets recommend a thorough pre-breeding check, which should include a complete gynaecological assessment, including ultrasound and appropriate tests for infections that can affect fertility (such as a blood test for equine viral arteritis and a swab for contagious equine metritis) as well as a general health check, including a worm egg count.

The mare’s vaccinations should also be up to date.

This is likely to cost between £215–300, including VAT, and is vitally important.

Cost of insemination

Costs for insemination can vary hugely depending on what clinical costs include. However, in addition to the cost of semen, you should be budgeting:

• Chilled semen package = at least £525, including two pregnancy scans (including VAT)
• Frozen semen package = at least £625, including two pregnancy scans (including VAT)

There are many potential additional costs, such as sedation, treatment for infection or infertility, such as uterine lavages and other additional treatments.

In other cases, the mares will be straightforward, and the costs may be less.

Be wary of additional charges

“Make sure you know the costs up front,” says Emma. “Ask if stud or clinic prices include extras such as livery, drugs and pregnancy scans, and whether you’ll pay the same the second time around if your mare does not conceive on the first cycle.

“Most AIs are fine, but complications can occur. Not all mares cycle every 21 days. Others produce excessive uterine fluid so that when the embryo enters the uterus it cannot survive.

“There’s also a reasonably high rate of twinning with some mares. The uterus is typically not large enough to sustain both embryos. While there’s a high success rate if one is ‘squeezed’ within the appropriate time, this does involve a risk to the other one.

“We don’t always know of potential problems until we start looking.”

Consider that a healthy foal, or that the foal will mature into a quality horse, is not a given. As such, careful consideration is essential from the outset.

What is the success rate of artificial insemination in horses?

Conformation, temperament, size, soundness and freedom from hereditary conditions – all these will influence your choice of stallion. But will your chosen stallion’s semen get your mare in foal?

You also want to obtain a fertility record from the stud manager. That said, relevant fertility data can be hard to obtain, warns Fred Barrelet, a Newmarket reproduction vet.

“The key measure of a stallion’s fertility is his per-cycle conception rate, but many stud owners don’t publish this,” he says. “The number of mares he gets into foal tells you nothing about the time taken. What you need to know is the breeding efficiency achieved with his semen.

“Ask the stallion owner, stud or semen vendor for the number of mares that become pregnant per cycle. A lot depends on management and the individual mare, but you need to hear an answer of about 50%.”

Semen quality/handling, timing and the standard of clinical management also affect success, although no single variable determines outcome. Rather, the pregnancy rate reflects how well these elements align.

Mare selection

Younger mares generally have higher conception rates. With advancing age, there is a higher incidence of degenerative changes within the uterus. Such changes mean that after breeding, fluid and inflammatory debris do not clear as well, resulting in an increased chance of persistent uterine infections.

This is one of the most common causes of subfertility.

In addition, the cervix of older mares may not relax as effectively during oestrus, which can hinder both semen deposition and uterine clearance.

Egg quality also declines with age, so even when fertilisation occurs, early embryonic loss is more likely. So clinically, this means older mares often require more intensive management.

Semen types: what are your options?

A good semen sample will contain billions of sperm, but which type is best for your mare?

• Fresh: straight from the stallion (who must be on-site or nearby), fresh semen offers the highest fertility rates and lasts longest once inseminated. Its lifespan is usually three hours from collection, but this varies between stallions.
• Chilled: next best fertility-wise. Chilled semen is mixed with extenders, preservatives and antibiotics to lengthen its lifespan to up to 30 hours. This enables insemination at home and widens stallion choice to further afield in the UK, or even Europe. Timing is still an issue: it must be ready at the premises prior to your mare ovulating.
• Frozen: fertility rates associated with frozen semen have improved with the use of extenders and veterinary management. It can be stored ready for use and opens up a worldwide pool of stallions. However, it requires considerable veterinary input, and can push up costs (insemination must take place within six hours prior to, and four hours after ovulation). Sperm from certain stallions has better post-thaw motility – swimming ability – than others.

Semen choice will largely depend upon your mare’s age and breeding health. Fresh or chilled will maximise an older mare’s chances of conceiving – provided it arrives on time, prior to ovulation.

Getting the timing right

During the horse breeding season, a mare ovulates (releases an egg) every 18-24 days – a process called cycling. Each egg forms inside the ovary in a structure known as a follicle.

“A mare is in season – or oestrus – for four to seven days, although this can vary from two to 12 days,” says Emma. “She is then out of season (in dioestrus), for 14-15 days.”

Timing and logistics therefore play a crucial role in successful AI.

“The stud team must work within a relatively narrow biological window as to when the mare is going to ovulate working with perishable materials,” adds Emma.

“It can be harder than one might think to predict ovulation and select the best time to inseminate a mare. Each mare is individual and reproductive cycles will vary. Therefore, veterinary teams must monitor her frequently and diligently monitoring using ultrasound, particularly when breeding from older mares.”

Vets can manipulate the point of ovulation to enable insemination of semen at the optimum moment, according to its type.

“During a season, follicle growth goes hand-in-hand with an increase in the oedema [fluid] within the mare’s uterus,” explains Emma. “When the follicle reaches a key size of 35mm we can use either one of two ovulation-inducing drugs, Chorulon and Ovuplant.

“The mare should then ovulate within 24-48 hours, which gives us a window to order and inseminate semen prior to ovulation. Follicle size may be smaller, though, particularly in ponies, so it helps to know a mare’s breeding history.”

Health is key

According to the British Equestrian Veterinary Association (BEVA), due to the serious concern of the spread of infectious diseases, it is best practice to only accept semen from a stallion for AI tested for contagious equine metritis (CEM), equine viral arteritis (EVA) and equine infectious anaemia (EIA) after 1 January 2026.

Generally, vets request that this certification arrive with the semen at delivery, otherwise they will be unable to proceed with insemination. This is already mandatory for all EU/foreign stallions – it is illegal to use semen from an unknown source or imported from abroad without the required health documentation.

It is wise to request this certification for UK stallions as well.

How do I prepare my mare for artificial insemination?

Good general health is essential for a mum-to-be, so keep your mare’s vaccination and worming programmes up to date and her hooves and teeth well maintained.

But how else can you prepare her for AI?

“We’d rather see a mare too light than too heavy, so aim for fair condition,” says Edward Matson of Twemlows Stud Farm and AI/ET (embryo transfer) centre. “Like females of all species, horses are more likely to conceive on a rising plane of nutrition.”

If you’re sending your mare to a stud or clinic for AI, pre-entry health requirements could include checks for CEM, EVA, EIA and strangles.

Edward points out that pre-breeding examinations are not always definitive in predicting a mare’s chances of conceiving.

“It is difficult to assess a maiden [first-time] mare’s reproductive health before she comes into season,” he says. “A specialised equine repro vet might suggest endometrial swabs or more complex biopsies with a potential problem mare.

“Around 80% of problems occur once the semen is inserted in the uterus, however. You can’t tell too much till then.

“If your mare has foaled previously, give the vet as much information as you can about her breeding history. This should include her own breeding information, the type of semen used and the cycle she conceived on – or why she didn’t. This can save a lot of time and money.

“Be realistic with an older maiden mare. She may be super-fertile or she may not, but you won’t know until you try.”

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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The first time you see a horse wearing sunglasses you will probably do a double take. They’re certainly not commonplace, but we’re seeing them in use more frequently and they’re not just a quirky fashion statement.

Horses wear sunglasses (often called equine goggles or visors) for a variety of reasons that are all centred around protecting their eyes. The most common reasons include:

• managing conditions, such as equine recurrent uveitis, headshaking or photosensitivity
• UV protection 
• glare reduction, improving a horse’s vision in bright conditions
• extra protection during recovery from injury or surgery
• high-risk sports, to prevent injuries from flying dirt kickback or balls, for example

Just like humans, horses benefit from the protection sunglasses, goggles and visors offer from harmful UV rays and sun glare. Horses with little or no pigment in the skin around their eyes are particularly vulnerable and can suffer from sunburn, squinting, watery eyes, sunburn, cataracts, and even cancer.

When can a horse wear sunglasses?

Unlike fly masks, equine sunglasses, googles or visors of any kind should only be worn when ridden or supervised. This is because of the potential for them to move or get caught if a horse rubs their face.

Visors are not permitted to be worn in competition by many governing bodies (including British Dressage, British Eventing and British Showjumping), so it’s recommended that you check individual rulebooks first. They are permitted in some cases by the British Horse Racing Authority, but must be declared in advance.

Googles, visors and sunglasses are, however, also marketed for use in the following sports and areas of equestrianism across the world:

• hacking or trail riding
• barrel racing
• eventing or cross-country
• showjumping
• endurance
• racing
• polo, including snow polo
• mounted shooting protection
• skijoring

Types of sunglasses for horses

Some visors – those with transparent lenses – only serve to protect a horse’s eyes from trauma, which could be caused by flying dirt or other objects.

Goggles or sunglasses with tinted lenses offer varying levels of light blocking, although this is not the same as UV protection. Horse sunglasses are also assigned filter categories (just like human sunglasses) depending on the strength of the filter, ranging from zero to four, with category four being the darkest.

Below are one model’s (the eQuick eVysor) visible light transmission percentages for their available tinted lenses, along with the filter categories for context.

• Transparent: 98.08%, category 0
• Mirrored orange: 46.28%, category 1
• Mirrored blue: 42.64%, category 2
• Mirrored green: 38.41%, category 2
• Mirrored rainbow: 19.85%, category 2
• Darker: 10.45%, category 3

Visors typically fit over the ears and secure under the jaw. Some have elasticated straps to make them easier to put on and take off.

Visors for police horses

While Horse & Hound has previously reported on a police horse who wore sunglasses for medical reasons, some situations require mounted police horses to wear specialist visors that protect the eyes and nose from objects thrown in a public order or riot situation. These are category zero glasses designed purely for trauma protection rather than light reduction.

• For unlimited access to the latest product news, buying guides and reviews, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

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