What is the point!?!?

Question

What is the point of trotting over poles on the ground when I can't feel anything going over?

Answer 1

It teaches the horse not you unless you are learning 2 point position.

Answer 2

It is for your own benefit. It helps you learn spacing and timing in between jumps and lets you get a feel of how your horse prepares before an obstacle. It also helps the horse warm up mentally and physically.

Answer 3

It's to get your spacing down for future jumping.  You have to be able to judge the length of your horse's stride so you can cue them to successfully jump obstacles in the future.  Be patient, it's consistancy in the small details that make winners!

Answer 4

There are sevral reasons why we do trot poles.

1. To teach the horse to lift his legs. When jumping it is super important that they are able get thier feet up over the poles as quickly as possible without touching them.

2. If you want your horse to be able to get his legs up over the fences and also be able to adjust his stride then he needs to have the stomach muscles to do this. Trot poles build your horses stomach muscles.

3. Tohelp your horse learn to adjust his stride. When you set your trot poles at different lengths he has to figure out where is the best place to step and how to move through them. This will help when jumping a course and you need to adjust his stride in between fences.

4. It will you build strength in your lower leg and in your position so you can get around the course without falling off, or loosing your leg.

If your board with trot poles try raising one side it makes the horse have to work more and it focuses on your balance. If this is all still to easy practice going through them standing straight up in your stirrups this will help build your leg strength and better your balance. Also try without stirrups.

Answer 5

You might not be feeling anything, but your horse is...you should, however be feeling a difference in his gait, in the way he is having to gather himself up to be able to navigate over them without hitting his feet/legs on them.  When you use the poles, you are getting not only exercising your horse physically, but you are helping him connect his mind to his legs as well.  He is not only stretching and building up the muscles that he needs, but he is having to pay attention to his feet while he is doing it.  It is not as boring as lunging or figure eights over and over or lots of rail work.  If you aren't feeling anything, then you aren't feeling him hit the poles with his feet, right?  See, that's the point, he is learning to adjust his lift and his gait to match the placings and size of the poles.  It is a very worthwhile exercise.

Answer 6

It also gives the horse something to think about during warm-up. Instead of the usual going around the ring, adding in ground poles make things a little more interesting, and it also makes the horse think about their feet placement.

Also, you can lengthen or shorten the striding between the poles to have your horse collect or extend over the poles.  

Answer 7

depending on how you use them, they can be extremely beneficial to a horse's development and training, they can also help you to be more accurate and prepare for a jumping or dressage exercise.

Answer 8

Amy's pretty much hit the nail on the head. Warming up is critical when your doing sports with horses. Both you and your horse need to warm up and stretch before you start the real work.

Answer 9

Helps with a lot of things, maybe you should sit down with your trainer and have them go over with you why trotting poles are so important because they are, and there is a point.

They help with balancing a youngster who is going to be jumping soon, they begin to develop the idea of picking their feet up over something while moving. Poles help when your beginning to teach your horse lead changes that lift witht he pole helps them do the change. Trotting poles help with building muscles as well. they are not pointless they are a staple in any horses training process

Answer 10

It's all about developing a strong position going over the jump. It feels harder when your horse isn't making an actual effort over the jump, but with a stronger position you can handle larger fences with ease.

Answer 11

When training a horse for pleasure you will use trot poles to help your horse extend their gate and slow down a lot.

Answer 12

It helps to warm your horse's leg muscles up prior to jumping. It also gives you something to steer over rather than letting your horse "ride the rail." And if you're trotting over them and getting in 2-point, you're practicing your position :)

Answer 13

The point of pole work is to get you ready for jumping. To warm up the horse and you and to help you establish an "eye" soon the next step will be canter poles so you can learn to count strides and see distances to the poles on the ground, this is very important when jumping. So keep learning it seems boring now but it will truly help you in the end so dont give up!  

Answer 14

It helps for getting ready to jump. Your leg muscls slowly streghthenby these boring little things that while soon turn up to be the biggest breathtaking things. Sooner or later you will be jumping. Also try trotting over poles with out sturrups and posting at a trot with out stirrups. Thoose have helped me.

Good Luck