SIMPLE FITNESS
SECRETS
Going bitless Could it work for you?
FIND THE RIGHT BODYWORKER
COAT COLOUR GENETICS explained
HORSEBACK ARCHERY the trending equine sport!
Find your flow
Part two: a course of poles
Establish your course-riding rhythm with Caroline Powell’s tips
Photos: Jon Stroud
EXPERT
Caroline Powell is a Suffolkbased event rider. She’s represented New Zealand in two Olympic Games and two World Games. She won Burgley in 2010 with Lenamore, and Badminton in 2024 with Greenacres Special Cavalier.
If you’re looking to give your horse a good workout in a short space of time, while working on one of the most essential skills for courseriding success, I’ve got just the exercise for you.
Aim of the game
The purpose of this exercise is to test your horse’s ability to keep the same rhythm throughout a course – but without the jumping efforts. Your job is to set up your horse on a good approach and keep him in a consistent rhythm so he can work out the perfect take-off spot.
Make a plan
When riding a course, you’ll (hopefully) know exactly where you’re going, so apply the same idea to this exercise by coming up with a course before you get started. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, just think about how you’ll start stringing some of the poles together and ride a few elements at a time – you can build on it from here.
Doing this will allow you to clearly direct your horse well in advance, so he has the best chance of staying in balance and a good rhythm.
When it comes to jumping, if you start to make adjustments in front of fences, your horse may get confused by the changing aids and make an avoidable mistake, so really work on this while you’re riding over poles to establish the skills and confidence.
Grab 8–16 poles and place them down randomly in your arena. Don’t worry about striding too much, just mix up the angles and positioning so there’s no set pattern. All you need to be able to do is link them together to create a course. Set it up
Stayinggrounded
These lungeing exercises will increase your horse’s strength and impulsion
Part three: Building power
EXPERT
Fizz Tickridge-Marshall has had a varied career, from Equine Therapy Centre Manager at Hartpury College to stints working for Jonjo O’Neill and Carl Hester. She now runs a livery yard in Herefordshire.
Whether you’re educating a young horse or trying to build strength and balance in an older one, targeted polework exercises on the lunge can be really beneficial. In the same way that working your horse over poles under saddle demands balance, strength and controlled power, so too does polework on the lunge. The exercises you use can vary widely depending on what you’re looking to achieve, but the ones I describe here will help develop the engagement and control you need for generating sustained power in your horse.
You need...
Bridle with reins removed, or lunge cavesson
Lunge line
Roller with pad and a training aid if you wish
Hat and gloves for you
Lunge whip (optional)
Vital warm-up
Working your horse over poles on the lunge is hard work for him, so it’s important to ensure he’s thoroughly warmed up first. If you’re using a training aid, attach it loosely initially, before altering later. Alternatively, start with it detached.
Use plenty of transitions to help activate his quarters and hindlegs. They also have the added benefit of tuning him into your aids, which will be essential later on when you come to introducing the pole exercises.
Improve your posture
Part two: self-analysis
Ali Williamson explains how becoming more aware of your posture can improve your riding
EXPERT
Ali Williamson is a qualified Pilates and Equipilates biomechanics trainer with a particular interest in rider posture.
Symmetry is so important for riders, so I’m going to talk you through how to assess your posture and the lifestyle changes you can implement to make a difference.
The first step on the path to change is awareness. Seeing and examining your own posture will be a very powerful process, heightening your awareness and giving motivation to improve. So, let’s get started...
Assessment 1: spinal rotation
RIDER IMPACT
If your spine can’t twist in one direction (for example, the left), it’s likely your pelvis will tilt. This will bring your right leg further forward and result in uneven distribution of your weight across the saddle, causing a loss in straightness on the left rein. In addition, you may find your horse works better on the right rein because you’re more balanced and able to give more accurate aids on that rein.
THE IMAGE
To take the picture, face the wall and keep your arms by your sides. When you assess the photo, look at the windows (the spaces between each arm and the
side of your body) – they should be equal in size and shape. Look at your lower arms all the way down to your little fingers – the gap should be the same on each side.
Poppy (above right) is showing a bigger window on the right side. This indicates that she is naturally rotated to
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the left and will have a comparatively lower range of movement when rotating to the right.
CORRECTIONS TO CONSIDER
When you muck out or poo pick, you probably always throw in the same direction. Essentially, this means you’re doing a weight training exercise to your already strong side and will, over time, make that side even stronger, leaving the other comparatively weaker. The simple fix for this is to start throwing to the other side. You’ll feel awkward and be inaccurate (another indication of being one-sided), so don’t change all at once or you’ll get frustrated. Instead, start throwing to the ‘wrong’ side every so often and build up over time.
DID YOU KNOW?
The shoulder on the non-dominant side is often the stronger, higher one. This is because we tend to carry loads on the non-dominant side in order to free up the dominant hand to carry out intricate motor skills – undoing a gate, for example.
less A bit
Thinking of riding your horse in a bitless bridle? Here’s what you need to know
More and more owners are choosing to ride their horse bitless, with many saying they’d never go back after giving it a try. While it’s not the right thing for every horse – or rider – if it’s something you’ve thought about, we’re here to help you understand what’s involved.
How
they
work
Bitless bridles work by placing pressure on various parts of a horse’s head, rather than their mouth. As there’s no bit, the reins attach to side rings or shanks to give the rider control. Depending on the design, the pressure from rein aids can be distributed in different ways. Some focus on one area, for example the nose, whereas others apply pressure to multiple areas, such as the poll, cheeks and jaw, as well as the nose.
Modern designs
The bridle you choose depends on the level of control you need and also your horse’s way of going, so it’s important to do your research before investing your money. Here’s what’s available…
• Sidepull bridles fit in the same way as a headcollar and offer a similar amount of control. They place pressure on the nose and are ideal for horses who respond well to light aids.
Noseband designs vary from thick, padded (milder) to thinner or rope halter styles (increased pressure).
• Hackamores have curved shanks
SIMPLE CHANGES
Remember, a bitless bridle should never be considered as a replacement for correct training or riding, so make sure you keep on top of your schooling to ensure your horse stays attentive to your aids and continues to work happily forward into a light and soft contact.
TOP TIP
If you’re experiencing behavioural problems with your horse, always rule out physical pain, or ill-fitting tack, before making further changes.
on each side that attach to the reins and cheekpieces, applying pressure to the nose and poll. The longer the shank, the more pressure the bridle exerts. While they can offer good stopping control, they don’t provide a lot of steering so are therefore most suitable for horses who easily turn from leg and seat aids.
• Bosals are most commonly used in Western riding. They look similar to a headcollar and feature a tube of braided leather that fits around the nose with rope reins attaching to the base of the noseband.
They’re best in the hands of experts as they can give the horse very precise aids.
• Cross unders have two straps that cross behind the horse’s jaw, placing pressure across the whole head, rather than on specific areas. Considered to be a milder design, they’re useful for horses who respond to light aids or for riders who are trying a bitless bridle for the first time.
TOP TIP
When fitting a bitless bridle, ensure the noseband sits high enough to clear the soft nasal cartilage. If in doubt, seek advice from an expert.
TOP TIP
When first introducing a bitless bridle, ride plenty of walk-halt transitions and gentle changes of direction so your horse gets used to the different feel at a slower pace.
coat colour UNDERSTANDING
Our guide demystifies equine coat colour genetics
Many of our horses’ characteristics, such as height, conformation and coat colour, are determined by their genetic make-up and, while genes can be extremely complex, how they work is fascinating. Coat colour is the result of multiple genes interacting and every horse inherits two sets of genes (one from each parent) that influence the pigment in their coat. So, let’s find out how some of the different colours are produced with our simplified guide.
Terms explained
• Genes carry the information within the DNA that make up an animal’s characteristics
• Alleles contain a specific pattern of genes that determines their expression
• Dominant genes (shown as a capital letter) only require one copy for the trait to be shown, while recessive genes (lower case letters) are only expressed when the individual has two copies of it, one from each parent
• Homozygous means the DNA has a pair of the same gene, and these can be homozygous dominant (two capital letters) or homozygous recessive (two lower case letters)
• Heterozygous is an unmatched pair of genes, one being dominant and the other recessive (shown as Ee, for example), and, usually, the dominant one is the characteristic expressed
All horse coat colours are based on two pigments – black and red
Photos: Bob Atkins, Jon Stroud. Sabine
Basic pigments
Melanin (produced by specialised cells) is responsible for pigment colour – there are two types of melanin in relation to coat colour, pheomelanin (red) and eumelanin (black). Therefore, all horse coat colours are based on these two pigments, but how they are expressed in the individual is controlled by an extension gene.
If the extension gene is dominant (E), black pigment can be produced, whereas if it’s recessive (e), only red pigment is produced. Therefore, if a horse has EE or Ee, it’s likely he will be black or bay, but an ee horse will be chestnut.
But did you know that two black horses can produce a chestnut foal? It might seem impossible, but it’s true and here’s why…
As you’ll see from this diagram, if both the mare and stallion carry Ee alleles, there is a 25% chance of the foal being ee – which can only produce red pigment and therefore will be a chestnut. But there is a 75% chance the foal will be black or bay – this will subsequently be affected by the agouti gene.
The agouti gene
This modifying gene controls the distribution of black pigment, and whether a horse has a bay or black base coat colour.
Horses carrying at least one dominant agouti gene (AA or Aa) will show as bay because the gene restricts the black pigmentation to the mane, tail and legs. Whereas a horse with two recessive agouti genes (aa) will have no restriction on pigmentation so will be black all over.
The agouti gene only works if the horse has at least one black pigment gene (E), so any combination of the agouti gene won’t be shown in chestnuts. Mare genetics
