Equestrian Speed Training: Pole Bending

Series Summary

The horse has been used in warfare as early as 4000 B.C.. There is archaeological evidence in the steppes of Eurasia of fortified towns being built to defend against horse-riding bandits and raiders. In 1350 BCE, the Hittite tribe developed a written manual for the successfully breeding and conditioning chariot horses. Thus, since before written history and throughout the recorded development of mankind, horses have been a powerful ally to victorious armies and successful agriculturalists. In Medieval Europe, the heavy armor of mounted knights required a new style of horses, strong like a draft horse but athletic like lighter breeds. The "destrier", along with the "courser" and "rouncey", became the type (not breed) of horse that would fetch the highest price among nobles and elite military officers. In this free equestrian video series, let an expert horse trainer show you how to train a horse for speed events. Get tips on introducing a horse to pole bending and instructions for gaining speed in this event. Then move on to barrel racing and the flag race. Finally she will show you the keyhole and straightaway barrels.

Video Transcript

"As we bring our horse along and we start to decide where we are going to take all this fun training, we may decide that we would like to go to the western world of speed events. Sometimes we call that play day, and it may begin with something like pole bending. All of those skills that we had been working on to bring that horse to that performance where we can place their feet anywhere that we choose will be of an advantage as we go towards these events. It is very important when you introduce your horse to any speed event we think about it as better to go slow than fast. Any horse that has that intuitive desire to go fast it not going to have any trouble finding their next gear. However, if we introduce them too quickly and allow them to go fast before they go slow, there is that risk of what we refer to in the industry as getting them to where they may blow up. A horse that loses his focus, cannot go through in an organized fashion, will not be the best in the outcome. Our horse right now is walking quietly through in a relaxed fashion, being able to mentally focus on the pattern of this game. The rider is using good leg cues to leg yield this horse so that we get him going through the poles in the most straight-on fashion. We do not want a horse that fishtails or makes big, wide half circles. We want a horse that maintains the straightest line without knocking down the poles. So we have got to have that nice bending around the inside leg as the horse goes through and learns to stay away from the pole, not dropping his shoulder into the pole, but going through, weaving it, in a very good way. Once we establish the horse in this quiet and easy fashion, we can move him up and take him on through as we go to a faster pace. It is important that we always learn the rules of the game. We have got to have the correct pattern if we are ever going to come out on top because an incorrect pattern is a certain disqualification. We also want him to do it well because if we knock down a pole that is going to add five seconds to our time. I like to share with my riders what is the difference between a great pole bender and a good pole bender? A mere one second sometimes, and that is not a lot of time to make up, and certainly you do not want to add five to it."