This simple zigzag polework exercise is designed to help you coordinate balance, accuracy and steering in canter, as practice for jumping.
With one layout of five poles, on the ground, you can ride several different lines, each one demanding a different set of skills.
The goal is to be able to ride all the patterns in a balanced, rhythmic canter, but you may want to walk or trot through the lines initially to teach the horse at a slower pace.
Setup: place five poles at right angles to each other so they make a zigzag. Ensure there is sufficient space to the side of each pole so that you can canter around the outside them – avoid placing them along the fence line. Down the centre line is the easiest spot.
(Image credit: Future)
How to ride the exercise
First walk through the lines you want to ride so your horse is familiar, then trot and ultimately canter.
Variations on the green lines in the diagram are easier, so try them first.
Approach each pole more-or-less perpendicular, making a balanced turn to the second pole in your pattern. The aim is to ride a series of smooth curves not sharp turns or abrupt changes of direction.
Then, ride straight down the middle of the zigzag (red line), crossing each pole diagonally.
Use your eye to judge the distance and tempo. Your horse should bounce over each pole.
Your horse may try to drift in the direction of the pole, so use your legs and seat to keep your horse on the intended straight line.
To hone your accuracy, follow the yellow line, aiming for the outer point of one of the Vs, canter over and turning over the inner point of another. Loop round to approach another
Make sure you work equally on both reins.
The challenge is to canter through all three exercises, which use the same layout but demand different skills.
The first exercise emphasises balance and steering round bends of different tightness, while the second asks your horse to stay straight, in an even tempo through the offset poles.
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The third demands accuracy as you aim for the outer point, like an arrowhead, as well as balance on the turns.
Tips
1. Don’t run before you can walk
Walk through all the patterns first. Then trot through them to practise steering. Canter only when the rhythm is consistent. The first exercise gives your horse time to organise himself, where as the second and third version requires greater precision and quicker coordination.
2. Look where you’re going
Particularly for the gentler version, look towards the next pole as you canter over the previous one. Be really clear with your inside and outside leg aids to maintain balance and bend.
3. Drifting
The diagonal poles (red line) will encourage your horse to drift, particularly on his weaker side, which will knock him out of his rhythm. Work on your aids for straightness, starting with a super-straight approach, keeping symmetrical through your body. Remember to look up and use your legs to control the drift.
4. Level up
Once you’ve nailed this over poles, try it over cavaletti.
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.
