caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

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khall
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caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby khall » Tue Jul 02, 2019 12:48 pm

I used to event many moons ago, so cross training was kind of built in to my work. I have not jumped in years though at least not under saddle, I have done some free jumping but not much. With Joplin she was showing some sticky stifles (growth spurt and butt high a bit) so I was trying to do some caveletti work to strengthen her stifles and to get her off the circles all the time. Still not riding her (have not had any help to be ground person lately and dad's health had seriously impacted my riding for a bit) so have been working her on line out in one of my small fields jogging with her and going over caveletti, RB up slight rises etc (good for my fitness as well jogging along with her:) and I really like what I see of her movement so decided to add in caveletti to Rip's work program as well. He was a dingbat initially then settled and trotted them nicely and I plan on doing this once a week now maybe even adding in bounce work (Karen Rohlf does this with her higher level horses for strengthening) on line. I have always worked Rip in the fields as well as the arena. I have one pasture that has varying levels of grades that I ride him in at least twice a week. So I already do cross training with Rip but now adding in a bit more. How much is too much though? I am having my holistic vet to come work on him and Gaila before Cedar clinic so will ask her as well.

How many of you cross train more than just field work? I know Rye jumps (which I love!) and Flight jumps as well. I think that is awesome, wished I had the guts to do it again. I thoroughly enjoy my field work and actually "work" in the pasture as well. When Jillian was here she said she did the same but was not as particular about the lateral work as in an arena. I am gradually adding in more difficulty in my pasture work. From cantering up the steeper grades to trotting down the steeper grades. Just did that for the first time yesterday and I think it will be a huge help in developing Rip's strength for collection and piaffe. I do ask for half steps going down the more gentle slopes and for bigger trot up the slopes.

Anything I am missing?

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby blob » Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:30 pm

I try to do as much cross-training with MM as I can. She gets bored if we do too much of the same.

She likes to jump and I like setting up gymnastics for us. It's a good way to build muscle and it can still be challenging without making fences too high (I'm not as brave as I once was). When i'm not setting up gymnastics, I'll also use jumping sort of the way a prix caprelli test might work. Meaning, I still do dressage work and through the jumps in as part of the dressage work. I might LY to get to the line for my jump or do transitions between fences, etc.

I also like using cavelettis quite a bit, but MM really struggles with raised poles. She thinks they're a jump and not something to trot over, so more than once she has calmly launched herself over 4 cavelettis, nbd. So for now I stick to them at their lowest setting, but would love to use them more raised to activate different/more muscles.

I like doing lateral work in the hilly pasture I have riding access to in addition to letting her canter and trot big and bold up the hill. I do canter downhill, but I avoid trotting downhill--it always feels scary to me! Sometimes I do a strength building exercise up the hill I was taught years ago: Position yourself perpendicular to the slope of the hill. Then begin to side-pass at the walk up the hill (so that one side of the body is higher up hill than the other). Do a few strides of this and then do a TOF (moving the hindquarters up the hill, not down) so that you're facing the other direction. Now do side pass the other way. Rinse and repeat. It's a fairly low-impact strength building exercise that I quite like and that MM has gotten pretty good at.

This a timely thread because I was just talking to my instructor about needing to do more poles + hills with RP. I haven't done much with him yet. He came to me terrified of poles and it's still a bit of a work in progress. But it will be good for him to spend more time with them.

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby Sue B » Tue Jul 02, 2019 4:02 pm

Rudy hates jumping, so I don't on him. After years of work, I have finally gotten him to stretch over raised cavelleti, however, and I have him do that a couple times a month at the trot, daily at the walk. All our rides out involve hills and varied terrain, plus he lives in a large hilly pasture, so he gets fitness work that way. Tio loves to jump so we do, and he is very good with cavelleti so I take him through at the trot at least once a week. He has only recently learned to stay straight walking down a steep hill so now I am adding in halting a few times on that hill. Both horses also halt on the steep hill going up and Rudy bursts into med trot out of that halt; Tio is still at the h-w-t phase. There are also old piles of dirt scattered around the farms I ride through that make great bank obstacles--both horses do those. I have never had a clinician complain that my horses aren't well enough conditioned.

Scotty, who had a long back and weak loin, benefited from lateral work on a side hill as well as learning to back straight up hill. If I did any of that more than once a week, however, he would be sore in the si area so I had to be careful how much i did. One of the hardest things for him to do was to do a balanced trot downhill, halt square and trot again. That exercise I only did a couple times a month at most, but it resulted in a fairly nice piaffe in the end. Rudy remains balanced in all gaits up and down hill, so not an issue. Tio is a klutz, so we only walk down any steep hills.

khall
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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby khall » Tue Jul 02, 2019 4:11 pm

Blob cantering downhill on Rip scares me so I've never done it! This from a former event rider, LOL! Trotting felt great down the steeper grade.

Oh I like the sideways up hill, not sure Rip will:/ Sue that is a good one too, trot, halt trot downhill. Could add in a bit of RB too, hmm. Some good stuff here! Glad I started this thread! Adding in some neat exercises to our repertoire.

The caveletti I use are slightly raised with the ability to raise them more. I am not fond of using just poles on the ground without some way to keep them from rolling, though I have with more seasoned horses in the past. Not with my crew right now though.

One of my former trainer used trot poles to teach her GP horse passage. She ended up with 17 poles in a row.

Does anyone canter poles? I did when I jumped years ago, not sure how comfortable I would be on Rip he can be so over reactive. I know Klimke uses canter poles a good bit.

Anyone have books re caveletti? I need to get one.

Blob I used to love gymnastic jumping, that was my favorite thing to do when I was eventing.

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby StraightForward » Tue Jul 02, 2019 5:11 pm

I used canter poles a lot with Maya. When I got her she couldn't even canter in the pasture, so US was a big struggle, and it improved her a lot.

Since she was a rather phlegmatic sort, I spent a lot of time trying to get her fit and energized. Her 5 year old summer, I would get her out in the foothills weekly, and jump weekly, usually alternating between grids and small courses. We would then do 3-4 days of dressage schooling, usually with cavaletti one of those days, and it wasn't too much for her at all. She got pretty fit, and had a pretty decent canter by the time I sold her.

Books - I have the updated Klimke book. It has a lot of good options for jump grids too. When I was working with Maya, I kept that and Jumping Problems Solved (which has lots of good jump setup diagrams) at the barn and referred to them frequently.
Keep calm and canter on.

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby Sue B » Tue Jul 02, 2019 5:17 pm

Tio LOVES canter poles. I am happy to ride him through them because it helps him realize he CAN carry me in the canter without getting discombobulated.

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby piedmontfields » Tue Jul 02, 2019 5:47 pm

I guess I don't really "cross train"---I just work in and out of the arena, up and down hills, over and through trails :-) I do think good walking work going up and down hills can make a huge difference. It is fascinating to me how straight Emi can be going downhill while much younger/"fitter" eventer types struggle with that task. The rewards of dressage on the trail 8-) It is so hot now that this is about the level of challenge we can handle.

blob wrote: Sometimes I do a strength building exercise up the hill I was taught years ago: Position yourself perpendicular to the slope of the hill. Then begin to side-pass at the walk up the hill (so that one side of the body is higher up hill than the other). Do a few strides of this and then do a TOF (moving the hindquarters up the hill, not down) so that you're facing the other direction. Now do side pass the other way.


I like your description! I am also a big fan of working "across the slope." I ,too, avoid lots of downhill trot, although we certainly do trot and canter work in an undulating XC field when the footing is not slop or concrete. I think trotting downhill tends to put the horse more on the forehand, no matter how well ridden. But like khall, I'll play with half steps and piaffe and rein back on gentle downhills...

I should do more cavaletti work, as we have tons of "stuff" at our barn. However, it's usually set for much larger horses (15.2 is a pony here) and I am very weak in the hands to do a lot of moving of poles. But we use them when we can. Emi likes canter poles. An easy exercise is a 20 m circle with a pole at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. It helps me make her strides very consistent. I will also lunge her through larger/higher grids for variety (this is harder for her as she is no jumper, so I do it from the ground).

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby Tanga » Tue Jul 02, 2019 6:44 pm

I can't imagine just doing flatwork in an arena for a dressage horse. It's so boring, and makes training and conditioning the horses so much harder. I can't stand it, either.

If there are poles and jumps in the arena, I always incorporate them to warm up. I think it's really important to have horses regularly go over things like that and let them figure it out without telling them. Just trot or canter them and let them set themselves up. They need to become thinking horse and pay attention to how to get through it. When my younger one gets really distracted, I put her over everything and anything so she has to pay attention and can't be distracted by other things.

I am super lucky to have access to really nice, steep trails with lots of options. The conditioning of trotting and cantering up steep to super steep (like 90 degrees) hills is incomparable. Going downhill straight where the horse has to balance and sit under far more than in a piaffe is essential to all of that. Add a little leg and you've got piaffe and passage, even on a horse that has no idea what it is.

Because my hills are basically the pasture, I usually ride one and let the other one loose to follow. On their own the gallop up and down steep, uneven ground, sometimes super slick and muddy, and sometimes hard as a rock. They have been doing this all of their lives. After this, there is no way to "break" them. They have such strong bone and soft tissue, they do not strain or break anything. Considering how many horses I see that are constantly "off" from strains and sprains, this is probably the most beneficial thing to do.

In the spring when the grass is high in a certain area, trotting through that is great for getting passage. Unfortunately I don't have any access to a nice river or lack to ride the horses in. That gives the same benefits.

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby Ryeissa » Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:39 pm

yeah! Good memory....
My horse is a good little jumper, I have an assistant trainer jump him once in awhile and I do a lot of canter/trot poles. He is a lot of horse for me to jump alone, but now that he's not so green it's much smoother-- hahahah and i will consider it.
I do hillwork 1x a week or so
I have a water jump on site so it's good for the legs

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Re: caveletti and hill work for the dressage horse

Postby AmityBee » Wed Jul 03, 2019 3:26 pm

Jumping Crispin under saddle has been on my agenda forever. We always did a bit of free jumping every now and then but I had a hard time finding someone to teach us under saddle. I'm very picky about instruction...

BUT, about a year and a half back we found someone awesome. She now comes to the barn about twice a months and teaches the kids their 4' courses and is really, really good at pampering and encouraging the cowadly old farts as well. Tiny jumps. :-)

Hill work is basically impossible around here, no hills at all. Nothing. The overpass across the freeway is the highest elevation around.


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