Does anyone know some type of obstacle/course/items to spice up arena riding?

Question

I ride in the arena, trails, ranch work. I have a horse that is getting really bored with arena riding, I have put some tarps boreds , barrels and logs to go over but am looking for something new. He gets ridden in the arena 4x a week(practing gymchanna, roping, cutting ect..)and the other days he gets ranch work. When i am riding in the arena is there aything i can put in there to make it funner for him. Any polite ideas are wanted. And he does not get ridden in the arena too much, I just want it to be more fun when I'm warming up and stuff.

Answer 1

Try putting out a painters tarp, the blue or silver ones work best, they make more noise. You can do all kinds of stuff with it. Hang it up and walk under it, walk on it, drag it behind you. There is a fun game you can play with a couple stools, feed buckets, some sand and a flag. Stick the flag in the bucket of sand and place one or more other buckets around the arena or pasture (different heights make it more challenging). Now at whatever speed you'd like lean down and grab the flag and plant it in another bucket. Some horses are afraid of the flag, my guy is cool with everything, I even put some bells and little flashing LEDs on my flag. You can do it through an obstacle course or switch out the flag and sand with something else, same concept. Hard boiled eggs on a spoon through an obstacle course are fun. Try side passing over a log, grabbing the aforementioned tarp from a rail, laying it over the horses shoulders or rump and side passing the opposite way. Try getting him to play with a ball or frisbee. There are some cool tricks he could learn (like fetching, which is cool to do from the saddle and have your horse give you something from the ground without getting off). Try one of those cheap ring sprinklers, my horse LOVES them, especially down here in TX.

Answer 2

set up barrels, put a bucket on top of each one with a crop or long stick in it and run the barrel pattern but grab the crop out of the first bucket as you go around it, put it in the second one and switch and grab the other crop, repeat at the third barrel. it is fun and make barrels extra fun adn challenging

Answer 3

One of our ex-TB's LOVES our mini-barrel races! It's always fun to throw some random barrels out in the middle of the ring and see what the horses do with them. You could even set up a line of them 4 feet apart and weave through the barrels backwards... very tough! You can also set up a three-sided box on the ground made with three poles, and work on downward transitions. You can put the box at different places in the ring to make it tougher for him. So you could be cantering around the ring, and you have to be cantering as he enters the box, but you can't let him go over the rail at the end. Start out with trotting, though. You could even set up a few cavalettis along your course, and weave through the barrels, too, once he gets the hang of it. Make the stuff tough for you, too, to transition from one set of aids to another smoothly, without confusing your horse.

Answer 4

you could set up a mail box for the heck of it and put stuff in it etc, drag stuff..im sure he's good at that if he's a rope horse, but just thought of that. Um you could maybe teach him tricks like bows, counting, smiling, etc. Maybe a bridge, Heck maybe some small jumps. If you have goats you can try goat tying. or just practice with out a goat and dismount while your horse is running. (thats fun)

PS did you get my email? It kept saying there was an error?

Answer 5

what i would do is throw a whole bunch of poles and logs and random walk-over stuff randomly in the arena, and have him pick his way through. it would be like he was out on the trail, but he wouldnt be. you could also try teaching him something new, like sidepassing or backing in a circle, if he doesnt know it already. just something small and easy to keep his mind busy. just change it up a lot; keep him on his toes! :)

Answer 6

hmm. try mixing it up a little. maybe try riding bareback.. something new. or hanging up things that kind of catch his attention.. like streamers or flashy things... that is if he isnt a spooky horse. maybe play with him a little bit, dont just go over the obstacles in a circle.. change it up. do some serpentines.. figure 8's.. loops turns etc

hope this helps