# What are some fun things to do with your horse?



## sarahsboergoats

Hi 
I was wondering if you had any fun ideas on what I could do with my horse.(riding,games, etc.) Can't wait to see what you come up with!
-Sarah


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## sarahsboergoats

anybody??


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## Brighteyes

If you do English, do some 'western'. Set up some 'barrels' and attempt to race around them. Lots of fun, but you have to go pretty slow. Poor English horses don't know what the heck your asking them to do.


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## M2twisted

lol, Twist and i did our first Gymkhana this weekend! he was SO not sure what to think of me carrying 2 cups full of water down the length of the arena and then dump them into a cup!


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## xEquestrianx

All of the speed courses are fun, I also like setting up little jumps and obstacle courses. Just mix it up with random stuff.


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## sarahsboergoats

I was looking into teaching my horse to jump. He hasn't done it before. How would I go about teaching him? Is it hard?


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## ridergirl23

i am teaching my neww horse to be ridden with only a rope around her neck...i would only ever do this in an enclosed area. i tied a leadrope around my horses neck (NOT TIGHT!!!) and hopped on bareback, and taught her that when i pulled the rope back and released(exactly like half halting) that meant stop, and when i pressed to rope against the right of her neck that meant go left and so on. eventually u will be able to canter and maybe even a controlled gallop! this is really fun but i always test my breaks and sterring on the ground first, and make sure your horse is used to being ridden bareback. try to do this in a very familiar place with your horse where he usually works so that he knows that he still should listen. but u know your horse so you chooe hwere he would learn best


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## sarahsboergoats

ridergirl23 said:


> i am teaching my neww horse to be ridden with only a rope around her neck...i would only ever do this in an enclosed area. i tied a leadrope around my horses neck (NOT TIGHT!!!) and hopped on bareback, and taught her that when i pulled the rope back and released(exactly like half halting) that meant stop, and when i pressed to rope against the right of her neck that meant go left and so on. eventually u will be able to canter and maybe even a controlled gallop! this is really fun but i always test my breaks and sterring on the ground first, and make sure your horse is used to being ridden bareback. try to do this in a very familiar place with your horse where he usually works so that he knows that he still should listen. but u know your horse so you chooe hwere he would learn best


 Thanks for sharing. That sounds fun.


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## HooverH

Two words: Broomstick Polo.

You need at least one other rider and a horse, two brooms, and a ball...like a soccer ball or basket ball.


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## mom2pride

The polo sounds fabulous! 

We used to play tag all the time when I was a kid; even out on the trails, if we found a sand pit, or open area the game would be on. 

I also like to do games like one barrel pennant, barrels, jumping figure 8, etc...I mainly will do these after a good session, as that is something 'fun' to do afterwards. Basically if you have poles, jumps or barrels or cones laying around, you can devise just about any kind of game you can imagine.


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## VanillaBean

try riding freestyle!!! not anywhere where your horse can run you into anything (like my horse does! right into the pole! UUUURG!) but its fun!

VB


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## Palomino Brigade

Ray and I have probably annoyed the majority of our neighbors this past winter. Riding in the snow is over, but I've taught him to let me run up to him and jump on his back, cartwheel off of him, backflip off of him, etc. We are starting to jump bareback and with saddle, but he has an attention span of 0.1 and gets halfway over the creek and finds more grass. Where we live, nobody owns horses, so we are all alone and bored. Walking through the woods and up and down the road gets old fast, so we jump fences that cows have knocked down and ride in there and sometimes actually round up the wandering herd or two.


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## KawaiiCharlie

You could always make up some gymkhana equipment and have a mess around with it  heres a link to some stuff you can buy, but you can always just find old cones, balls, cups, buckets etc lying around and use them instead of spending loads of money lol Asti Equestrian Online Store: Mounted Games


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## glitterhorse

Palomino Brigade said:


> Riding in the snow is over, but I've taught him to let me run up to him and jump on his back, cartwheel off of him, backflip off of him, etc.


How do you get your horse not spooked by that? Just doing it over and over lol till he gets okay with it?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Poseidon

If you have other people to ride with, tag is really fun on horseback. I work at a summer camp and we play it with the campers. Depending on their experience level, we set speed limits (like for very beginner kids that are comfortable with trotting, they can't go above a trot and if their horse tries to go fast, they have to stop). 

It's even more fun if you are comfortable loping and galloping because you end up almost cutting (western event, dunno if you're english or western) your friends in order to tag them and it gets going really fast.


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## usandpets

We also like to play tag. It can get kind of intense at times. We also like to do judged trail rides. They have obstacles set up to see how well you and your horse work together. Some are:

Egg cary: cary an egg from a nest(bucket) in one tree to another in another tree while side passing

Opening a gate: either it's an actual gate or two posts with a rope between and you have to open the gate, go thru and close the gate on horseback without letting go of the gate

Boardwalk: riding across a platform (like a pallet without any holes), sometimes a board is put underneath so the platform will teeter or rock

Carwash: a tarp cut into strips and hanging from a rope and you ride your horse thru it

Mailman: open a mailbox, take out a letter, put the letter back in and close the mailbox, with option to raise or lower flag on box

Sled ride: pull a snowsled behind your horse

Apple picking: pick apple or item tied to tree

Raincoat: Taking a raincoat from one tree to another

Soccer: have your horse kick a ball, we've used a big beach ball, between two trees. Sounds easy, but not exactly

There are more but I can't remember right now. These not only help you see how well you can control your horse but also exposes them to different and out of the ordinary objects.


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## Makoda

ride bridleless and bareback. This is a great thread to start. Because I too get really bored when there isn't much to do. My neighbors probably all think I'm an idiot. I just try about anything I can think of.  Both my mares ride bridleless bareback and will back, sidepass, put there heads down flex side to side, etc. Just about everything they do with their headgear on. We even get a shop push broom and go around nocking snow off the roof edges like this. I always wonder what my horses think? Is he the stupidest human that ever lived? probably


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## Palomino Brigade

glitterhorse said:


> How do you get your horse not spooked by that? Just doing it over and over lol till he gets okay with it?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I would run up beside him and stop, keeping him on a short lead, and if he turned I would push his side and move him right back. When he was okay with the running, I'd just grab his back and start jumping up and down until he was okay with that, too. Then I tried to add it all together. The first few times he wanted to turn or walk away when I was still pulling myself up, and there were a few times when he sent me right over the other side of him, (thankfully landing on my feet. ) but now he's perfectly fine with it. When I don't have school, I'll go see him at midnight and he'll just let me jump on and sit with him.  and the cartwheeling and backflipping? If you get him to let you stand on his back, then get him used to pressure on his hindquarters and you jumping behind him (BE CAREFUL!) then he'll let you do anything. This has actually come in handy. Now instead of just falling when he freaks out and tries to bolt away, I can flip off him and onto my feet and still have control. I taught him in the small corral, for safety reasons, and before I did any of this, I made sure he was okay with me touching him everywhere and walking all around him.


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## kalliy10

We play horse soccer on the weekends, I haven't yet done it. I have seen photos of my barn friends it looks like a lot of fun. 

At my older barn we would ride bareback stick a dollar under our leg and trot around trying to steal it... idk it was alot of fun!!!! 

Another game was Simon Says, omg this GAME on a horse is S O M U CH fun!!!!!!


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## usandpets

Just read Kalliy10's post and remembered another thing we've done, Red light, green light:


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## DocsDaniGirl

I remember seeing a video on here a while back, and have wanted to try it ever since. Pool Noodle Jousting. 

Here is the thread. 

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-videos/knights-long-gone-ranch-74051/


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## SMCLeenie

Jousting with pool noodles looks like the best thing since sliced bread, I'm defiantly gonna have to try that someday.


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## Tobyponylover

Me and my friends give each other lessons and play gymmkanna games!!


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## Bopadoodle

Ever tried stirrupless work? You probably have, but just a suggestion. I used to get really scared, now I love it. If your horse can't jump, then I couldnt suggest anything else. But, if you have a friend/someone you know with a jumping horse, I would suggest chase-me-charlie, you have to set up a row of jumps, and each round you have to increase the hight, good to play in pairs, or to see your standards


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## Kaleighlg

I put a halter on my horse and let him walk around and eat, if you really trust him you can just use a halter to get on bareback and then take it off and let him eat and maybe get him to walk and trot around wiht him buds, if he has some in the pasture.

(remember you helmet if you get on!


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## Bossco

We do the obstacles too as mentioned a few responses back. It's fun to practice and fun to come up with new ideas. We have the boardwalk idea, carwash, tires set up like military courses do when they run solders through, yard spinners to go past, tarps to get creative with... More ideas we don't have set up yet is a teeter totter, water feature of some type, I've seen pool noodles used in some creative ways. 

I'm a big trail rider, so the obstacles just help my horse be so much more level headed out on the trail.


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## Bossco

You know what else is a blast with a group of others? A treasure hunt on horseback.

I got to go on my first CMO ride this year (Competitive Mounted Orienteering) and I am totally hooked now. It's a national organized ride, but we've talked about setting up mini courses here at home for the fun of it too.


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