How to Create Horse Games
Playing games on your horse is a great way to add variety and interest to the exercise routine for both horse and rider. At the same time, you get to practice many of your equitation skills, such as controlling your horse, holding your riding position and practicing maneuvers.
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Things You'll Need
- Spoons
- Small rocks or rubber balls
- Paper scraps
- Rubber safety cones
- Ground poles or small logs
- Barrels
- Towels
Instructions
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Types of Horse Games
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1
Create an obstacle course using the barrels, cones and ground poles or logs. Riders can circle or weave around the barrels and cones; walk and trot over the ground poles; back their horses between poles or cones; and carry an object from one barrel top to another.
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2
Tuck a scrap of paper under each rider's thigh muscles and have them all ride around the arena at a walk, trot and canter. If the rider loses her paper, she has to bring her horse to the center of the arena. The game continues until only one rider still has her piece of paper.
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3
Play a variation of the classic egg-and-spoon race. Each rider carries a large spoon with a small round object, such as a rock or a hard rubber ball, balanced in the spoon. (Avoid actual eggs; you don't want to have to clean splattered eggs out of your arena.) Riders go to the middle of the arena when their object falls out of the spoon, and the race continues until only one rider is still carrying her object.
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4
Set up one barrel at the end of the arena with a towel or flag on top. Choose a dark-colored towel, since light-colored towels are more likely to spook horses. Riders start one at a time from the opposite end of the arena and ride their horses at the fastest gait they are comfortable with to the barrel. As they go around the barrel, they grab the towel and go back to the starting line. If they miss the towel, they have to ride back and try again; if they drop it, they have to dismount and fetch it. The fastest time wins.
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5
Line up cones or barrels down the center of the arena, using one less marker than there are riders participating. These markers are used as "chairs" for a modified musical chairs game on horseback. Have someone playing music as all riders trot their horses along the arena rail. When the music stops, all riders have to ride to a marker. Whoever doesn't have a marker leaves the arena. Remove one marker and send everyone back to the rail.Repeat the procedure until only one rider is left with a chair. Keep riders to a trot at first for safety, in case someone loses control of her horse.
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6
Line up riders on foot, with their horses in hand, at one end of the arena. Give each rider a horse treat such as a peppermint, then have the riders put their reins around their horse's neck (but within easy reach of the rider). Using the treats as a lure, riders lead their horses from one end of the arena to the other. The first person to reach the other side without touching her horse wins. Anyone who touches her horse or the reins is disqualified.
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Tips & Warnings
Many games that you normally play on foot, such as bobbing for apples, can easily be modified so that you can play them on horseback.
For safety reasons, use only horses that you know to be fairly calm and not likely to react to flapping cloth, shouting riders or fast-moving horses around them. Don't let riders go very fast unless the games have solitary runs, such as the flag-on-the-barrel race, so that the horses don't get too excited and become uncontrollable.
