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Improve your horse’s lateral work from the ground with this single-pole exercise

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • 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)

    Drawing of horse rider asking horse to do sidepass exercise over a pole

    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

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

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

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