# HELP! I need FUN flat work exercises for a lazy pony!



## RandomHorsey (Oct 10, 2010)

Hi....This is my first post so if its no good i hope you understand. Have you ever ridden bareback? Or try a different style such as western(if u ride english) or you could maybe try a faster pace such as a hand gallop or set up some jumps. IF your pony is bad on hacks maybe just gather some friends you go riding with and you could just walk him down the trails get him used to things. if you dont have an instructor maybe get someone who knows lots about horses to help you. 
~RH


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## wannahorse22 (Dec 27, 2009)

Have you tried doing drill team exersices? Those are really fun, and keep you and your horse very focused. Try figure eights, flexing, lots of transitions, plus, riding in diff. settings can perk up a horse. Try out ground pole exercsies too!


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

You can set up poles and lay them on a the ground and have him trot over them while riding. I do that with my horse. I also lay other things out and create mini obstacles and it helps. Maybe you can also get a CD player and hook it up so you can ride to music. That would be a lot of fun.


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## PonyMad (Aug 26, 2010)

Hi,
thanks for all your suggestions!
He is good on hacks, normally anyway. He can just get spooky and buck a lot in canter but hes normally good. I want to hack out with some girls from the yard but they all come up at different times :/
*Random Horsey,* I do ride english, as I live in England  I would love to try western with him! Just need a saddle. Although my friend has one so I'll see if I can nick it. 
*wanna horse22 & gidget, *I am going to try some poles next! Once I'm completely used to him I might ask if I can start jumping. 

He's the type of horse that has to have his brain ticking or he'll get bored and buck you off!
I have done a couple of dressage tests on him and he seams to quite enjoy them so Im going to learn some more and hopefully that will get him going more! 
Thanks everyone!


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

Poles are a lot of fun. I make my horse trot over them and side pass.I also practice trail..like going and opening and closing gates,cross water,go through a lot of crushed up water bottles,walking on tarps,figure eights,backing up through barrels,go over bridges,etc. There is a lot you can do...if he is spooky doing the tarps and water bottles is good.


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## RandomHorsey (Oct 10, 2010)

I ride english and western (mainly english) My dad is from england and we took a visit there last year. saw quite a few people riding down the steets of town .


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## PonyMad (Aug 26, 2010)

*@ RandomHorsey,* Yeah, we do that here lol. In some places theres like limited land which you can hack on. And if your stables doesnt own privet land, its hard to find land which you can go on because people are so snobby about horse muck and stuff! 
But the english country side is beautiful, if you find the right places to go, you can be out for hours.



I've done some drill Excersizes with him with some girls in the school and he was alright at it, but he kept on bucking and kicking out at the horses. He doesnt like other horses lol, and he gets excited very easily so he can be a bucker!
But hay, all good exsperiance?!

I have also started to do poles and little jumps and he quite enjoys it.

I had a lesson with my intructor whos taught me _everything_ and she said that a good excersize is to control the speed of his trot with my rising and also to stand up when cantering along the school, sit at the corners and then to stand up again. He quite enjoyed this and he moved a bit more losley.


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## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

I just read an article on some fun things to do. Try using barrels, traffic cones, poles. Go over them, around them, sidepass, back over them. Use your imagination.
Also try going through the paces and going as slow then as fast as you can. Do one lap at a walk and do it as slow as you can, then the second lap walk as fast as you can without going into a trot. Do this with the other paces.


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## VictoriasHeart (Nov 21, 2010)

try other areas beside the ring maybe in a field to mix things up horse get bored of riding in a boring old dirt ring they luv the outdoors


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## Oxer (Jul 9, 2010)

we do fun little hunter on the flat tests. counter canter, hand gallop, flying changes, simple changes, extended trot.... etc. memorize a hunter flat test and go around like you're showing. makes for a much more eventful hack.


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## sonnygrl (Nov 28, 2010)

work on extending and collecting each gait. this will help improve his jumping. start at the walk. you can put poles on the ground to help you. i dont know how big your horses stride is but watever is normal, place poles to shorten his stride, then to lengthen it. do this at the trot and canter as well. soon you will be able to do it without poles. this helps when jumping to get the horse to the jump corectly and to add and subtract strides in a line.


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## PonyMad (Aug 26, 2010)

Thank you!
that sounds like it will help alot!
Looking foward to trying it.
Thanks again!


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