“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.
Set the poles up on a 20m circle so that the end of each pole is 7.5m from the centre.
(Image credit: Future)
How to ride this exercise
Warm up in walk, trot and canter.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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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.
Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
