Warming Up – Part 3, Using Trotting Poles.
Now that you have stretched your horse laterally, from side to side, it is time to ask for some stretch longitudinally. This exercise over trotting poles is wonderful for teaching your horse to reach over his back and stretch into your hand.
Spiraling Out from 10m circle to 13m Circle.
In the working trot rising on the left rein, make a 10m circle in the purple cone corner by K. We will call this the small size circle.
Now make the circle larger, about 12-13m is good, spiraling outward from the purple cone corner riding fairly close to the trotting pole grid and then around the orange cones and back to the purple cone corner. We will call this the medium size circle.
Now spiral in to make the circle smaller to the small size, and then spiral out in a Leg Yield to make it larger to the medium size circle.
When you can feel the horse relax into the circles, and the transition from spiraling in and out, then you are ready to move on to the next part of this exercise.