Horses of all disciplines can benefit from incorporating time on the trail into their training regimens, and hill work in particular can be the shortest path to visible results. Hill work encourages natural collection and engagement by strengthening the horse’s back and hindquarters. It increases cardiovascular fitness and respiratory efficiency. It builds muscles, strengthens joints and connective tissue, and provides an all-important psychological break in the routine.

Whether you are seeking to beef up the hindquarters for better sliding stops, strengthen the forelegs for quick cow work, supple the back and shoulders of a western pleasure horse, or just add muscle definition for a more finished look, consider getting out of the arena and into Mother Nature’s fitness gym.

“It’s a very important thing to do for the horse,” says Tony Mendoza, of Redlands, Calif., who has been training champion reining and working cow horses for more than 25 years. “You can see the muscle changes on the shoulders, hindquarters and back. For endurance, there is nothing else like it. But it’s good for more than just that. It takes the pressure off the horses mentally, so when you take them back in the arena they are fresher and ready to learn.”

Tony and his riders take his string out for hill work at least twice a week, alternating hill work with rides in a dry, sandy wash nearby. Although he doesn’t use a heart monitor, Tony keeps a close eye on his horses during this work. “We use our judgment. If they start breathing heavy, we back off a little and slow down. But mostly, they really enjoy it,” Tony says.

Medical Benefits

In addition to the visible benefits of hill work, it also provides less obvious but significant health benefits. Kerry Ridgway, DVM, of Aiken, S.C., is a charter member of the Association for Equine Sports Medicine and lectures internationally. He sees numerous benefits associated with hill work.

“When you put a horse into most kinds of work, he develops muscles specific to that kind of work,” Dr. Ridgway says. “Cross training is appropriate no matter what you are doing with your horse. Wild horses travel many miles a day …This is a chance to add more natural horse concepts to your regimen, and a chance to tone and strengthen muscles that would not otherwise be used in most western disciplines.”

One example of a condition that can be helped with hill work, particularly the uphill climbing, is weak stifles. Dr. Ridgway also recommends traversing back and forth across a mild grade to stretch and strengthen the muscles in and around the stifle joint.

“This is particularly helpful to horses that have to make hard stops and fast turns,” Dr. Ridgway says. “The stifle plays a big part in western performance sports.”

Dr. Ridgway points out that, just as in humans, building equine cardiovascular strength allows the circulatory system to deliver more oxygen to the muscles and internal organs, and cleanse the body of waste products that cause stiffness and fatigue. Stronger muscles, tendons and ligaments mean less chance of injury and breakdown.

“Trail riding conditions tissues in ways that flatwork doesn’t,” Dr. Ridgway says. He explains that during flatwork there is very little circulation to the tendons, ligaments, feet and hoof capsules. Appropriate trail training helps these tissues gradually build strength.

Another benefit Dr. Ridgway points out is that while it is hard to measure, hill and trail work can benefit the nervous system.

“Horses that always work on level surfaces do not fully develop their proprioception,” he says. “This is how the body knows where it is in space,” a fancy way of saying horses that are ridden outside are apt to be more surefooted than those that are confined to the ring!

Start Slow

So how do you make the transition to mountain master? In a word, gradually. Body condition will only improve with systematic increases in the amount of physical stress the body is asked to handle. The secret to successful conditioning is to stress the body just enough to force it to remodel into a stronger structure, without pushing it to the point of distress. Learn how to measure your horse’s progress here.

To increase muscle mass and definition, as well as to build endurance in his performance horses, Tony Mendoza starts by ponying them off a mature well-trained horse for the first four to six weeks. This prepares them mentally as well as physically to carry the weight of a rider up and down the hills. Without the weight of a rider, a young horse can easily handle a few hours of hill work at a time, both walking and trotting. But once under saddle, Tony backs off.

“We mostly walk the hills for the first few weeks and stay away from the really steep climbs,” he says. Then we start trotting in the sand and then begin trotting the hills. Once we build them up, we can take them out for 60 to 90 minutes of hill and sand work.”

Lari Shea is a riding instructor, college lecturer and endurance competitor with over 5,000 race miles and many best condition awards under her belt. For more than a decade she taught the Tevis Training Seminar for riders entered in the 100-mile Tevis Cup. Her stable of 50 trail horses at her Ricochet Ridge Ranch in Mendocino, Calif., are all conditioned in the hills. She stresses that it takes years to develop maximum fitness of muscles, tendons, ligaments and bone. But a safe way to approach your first foray into hill work is to start walking over varied terrain for about half an hour, three to four times a week, in the company of an experienced trail horse.

“If you feel your horse needs to stop, ‘ask’ him if he wants to by feeling the reins and giving him the opportunity,” Lari says. “If he wants to stop, fine, let him stand and rest for a moment. Then ask him to go on. After a few trail rides, your horse will probably tell you he is bored with stopping.”

Too much hill work too fast can cause stiff muscles and sore legs. To avoid overwork, Lari says a good rule of thumb is to never increase more than one variable at a time. “To increase fitness you may increase speed, distance or difficulty of terrain, but never more than one at a time.”

For instance, if your horse is comfortably walking a 3-mile long logging road twice a week, you may want to increase it to three or four times a week. Then, begin alternating walking and trotting until he can trot the whole road. Then, start looking for steeper hills to climb.

Ride Right, Up and Down

“If what you want to do is develop the hind end for fast runs, turns and stops, going uphill will do that,” Lari says. “Going downhill can strengthen the shoulders and back for better lateral movement. But you have to be careful not to break down the front end by going too fast or too far down steep hills. As a rider, you can either hinder or help your horse to meet these conditioning goals.”

Horses carry 60 percent of their weight in the front half of their bodies. This puts their center of gravity just behind their withers. When riding on the flat, staying balanced depends on finding that “sweet spot” and staying there. But riding up and down hills requires some adjustment in your equitation.

For riding uphill, think of your horse’s hindquarters as the “engine.” All of the power and energy required for climbing is generated from behind. If it were left up to gravity, your upper body would shift back as your horse begins to ascend a hill. This places more weight on the hindquarters and interferes with engagement.

Lari used to teach her students to simply stand in their stirrups and lean forward when riding up a hill. But she has long since refined her technique. “Standing in your stirrups concentrates all your weight on two very small points,” Lari says. “I think it’s better to get forward slightly and get your rear end out of the saddle so that your crotch is just barely grazing the seat. This uses your thighs, rather than just standing up. It’s good to support your weight partly in your stirrups, but also use your seat and thighs. This distributes your weight more evenly across the horse’s back.”

This technique naturally balances you over your horse’s center of gravity. It requires some leg, lower back and abdominal strength on your part, not to mention balance and control. But it’s the best way to help your horse get to the top of the hill with a minimum of stress on his back. Maintaining this position will allow your horse to freely engage his hindquarters and climb more naturally.

For really steep climbs, grab a handful of mane halfway up the neck to help hold you in position. This also keeps the saddle from sliding back without having to over-tighten the girth or breast collar.

For riding downhill, think of your horse’s hindquarters as the “brakes.” The forelegs primarily provide support, while the hind end rates the speed. Going downhill provides the opportunity to develop the horse’s shoulders, and work on collection while suppling his back. Ridden correctly, a horse should lift his neck, round his back, and use his hind end—the same principles necessary for collection.

The difference is the amount of pressure on the shoulders and front legs increases. Horses already carry 60 percent of their weight in front. Adding the weight of a rider and going downhill increases the pressure on front leg joints exponentially. The faster you go, the greater the stress. Therefore, always walk down hills, even if your horse wants to rush or pick up a trot. Although many endurance riders train for competition by trotting down hills, they condition for this level of performance over several years, and even so, still risk bowed tendons and strained suspensories.

If your instinct is to lean back going downhill, hold on. Unless you are riding like The Man from Snowy River, galloping straight down a nearly vertical mountain face, a more balanced seat is better. Leaning too far back can push the cantle down into the horse’s loin, making it more difficult for him to use his hind end properly and risking a sore back.

“I teach my students to sit up relatively straight, and don’t lean back down hills,” Lari says. “I call this a ‘light balanced seat.’ ” While it’s OK to grip a little with your knees and calves, don’t push your feet forward or push against the cantle. Lari says, “Let your hips move with the motion of the horse’s hips, but keep your shoulders still. If you swing your shoulders back and forth, it walks the saddle forward onto his shoulders.”

While switchbacks make it easier to traverse a steep hill, if you find yourself bushwhacking with no trail to follow on an extremely steep descent, always point your horse straight down the hill. Allowing him to turn sideways can put him so off balance that he falls over.

What are You Waiting For?

Whether you just go for a hack a few times a week up the hill behind the barn, or you want to embark on a focused, scientifically monitored training program, hill work can benefit your horse’s overall health, attitude, condition and performance. Stronger muscles, tendons and bones reduce injuries, and better cardiovascular fitness can enhance any discipline. And if you and your horse enjoy yourselves in the process, well, who said fitness training couldn’t be fun?

Read more about conditioning with hill work.
Measure your horse’s fitness progress.

Sarah Christie is a freelance writer and endurance competitor who lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

The post King of the Hill appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Using a stethoscope, or the tips of your fingers, locate your horse’s pulse just in front of the girth, underneath his left elbow. You will hear or feel a rhythmic lub-dub, lub-dub sound. Starting at zero, count the number of beats for 15 seconds, then multiply by 4. Taken at home, before any exercise, this is your horse’s resting heart rate.

If you want to know how hard your horse is working, or track his improving aerobic fitness, take his pulse at the top of a hill. Wait three minutes, and take it again. If his heart rate has returned to normal or very near normal, he is ready to continue. Over time you should notice a less elevated rate for the same degree of work. This tells you that you are making progress.

Back to King of the Hill.

The post How to Track Your Horse’s Fitness appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Temperature Control

Horses and humans have something in common—both rely on sweating as the primary means of internal temperature control, or thermoregulation. In fact, it can be said that the horse’s physiology in some ways resembles a radiator, designed to circulate fluids and dissipate heat. Tiny glands beneath the skin produce beads of sweat, which evaporate soon after they come into contact with the air, cooling the surface of the skin. Those bulging veins and delicate capillaries on the neck and shoulders of a hard-working horse are taking advantage of the evaporative process to cool the blood by routing it near the surface of the skin.

As the blood is cooled and recirculated, it helps regulate core body temperatures. The dilated nostrils that bring in huge volumes of oxygen to the lungs also exhale body heat with every breath. Under normal circumstances, these natural adaptations are sufficient to keep a horse’s body temperature within safe parameters. But when horses are asked to exert themselves in conditions of high heat and humidity, the potential for heat-induced illness is very real.

Hot Stuff

What would be considered moderate exercise under temperate weather conditions can have the same effect as intense activity when the heat and humidity rise. When is it too hot to trot? A good rule of thumb when assessing how the heat will affect your workout is to measure the Heat Stress Index (HSI). If the sum of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit plus the percent of humidity totals less than 120, all systems are “go.”

If the sum is greater than 150, particularly if humidity contributes to more than half of this number, your horse’s natural cooling mechanisms will be compromised. You should consider lowering the intensity of your workout, shortening the length of time, or riding later in the day.

If the HSI is greater than 180, a horse cannot regulate his core body temperature naturally, so he should not be forced to work. For instance, if it is 100 degrees with 80 percent humidity, leave your horse in a shaded paddock with plenty of cool, clean drinking water and go have a cold drink yourself.

But sometimes you have little or no choice about whether to ride. Competitions are rarely cancelled due to heat. Sometimes the thermometer just sneaks up on you, and you are out on the trail or deep into a training session before you realize the temperature has climbed beyond the comfort zone. Or maybe you are intentionally conditioning for heat tolerance because you know that an upcoming event will take place in hot, humid conditions. Either way, you need to know the signs of heat stress and how to avoid or treat them.

Dehydration

Dehydration literally means “to remove water.” But horses don’t just lose water when they sweat. They also lose essential minerals and salts, called electrolytes (potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium, magnesium and other ions), which are essential to all of the body’s metabolic processes and nerve functions. Slight dehydration causes little, if any, change in behavior and can be easily remedied by drinking fresh water. Moderate dehydration can cause lethargy, and you should administer electrolytes and provide access to water. Severe dehydration is a serious condition requiring IV fluids. If not attended to properly, severe dehydration can cause colic, collapse and even death.

A racehorse running at a full gallop can lose as much as two-and-a-half gallons of sweat in less than two minutes. It may take an average horse an hour to lose the same amount through prolonged work, but in either case, if not allowed to replenish the fluids lost through sweating, he will steadily dehydrate.

The Signs

The first sign of dehydration can be observed by testing the elasticity of the skin. Pinch an inch or two of skin on your horse’s neck forward of the shoulder, and pull it toward you. What happens when you let go? The skin on a fully hydrated horse will snap back immediately—if your horse’s skin “tents” (doesn’t instantly snap back) when pinched, he’s dehydrated.

Testing a horse’s capillary refill time (CRT) is another vital sign to monitor when checking for dehydration. Apply pressure to your horse’s gumline (using your thumb) for a couple of seconds. When you release your thumb, the normal pink color should return to the pressure point within two seconds. If not, your horse needs hydrating.

Bowel movements become dry and hard as dehydration advances, urine will appear dark yellow and opaque, even tinged with brown, and the horse’s performance will start to deteriorate. Finally, in the dangerous advanced stages of dehydration, a horse that normally sweats under working conditions may stop sweating completely to conserve precious body fluids.

It goes without saying that horses at rest should enjoy unlimited access to fresh water. But horses in transit or in work should be able to take a drink too, especially when temperatures and humidity soar. When hauling during a heat wave, try to travel at night or in the early morning hours. If that is not possible, pull over at least every two hours and offer your equine passenger a bucket of water.

Horses that don’t like the taste of strange water and refuse to drink pose a challenge. If possible, take some water with you from home. Failing that, take him to the trough with other horses you know will drink willingly. The sight and sound of others slurping on a hot day has inspired many a finicky drinker.

Endurance horses are encouraged to tank up at every opportunity along the trail, and many endurance riders administer oral electrolytes during competition and heavy workouts to maintain healthy metabolic function. When it comes to administering electrolytes, speak to your veterinarian regarding a program that will keep your horse going strong. Prevention is the best protection against dehydration. Many vets recommend feeding a scoop of electrolytes daily, year-round and providing access to a mineral block. In addition, making sure water is available during and after exercise can help prevent a dehydration crisis.

Thumps

“Thumps” is the term used to describe a condition known as synchronous diaphragmatic flutter (SDF). This condition is a sign that a horse is in severe metabolic distress from dehydration. A horse with thumps will display rhythmic twitching or “thumping” in the flank area, in time with the beating of the heart. Sometimes it is so subtle that you can only feel it under your hand. In severe cases, it is observable from several feet away.

Thumps can occur when excessive sweating causes dehydration and massive electrolyte loss. As the bloodstream is depleted of salt ions, the function of the nervous system is compromised. The phrenic nerve that runs across the heart to the diaphragm muscle begins to fire in time with the heart beat, stimulating the diaphragm muscles to contract and causing the distinctive, thumping flutter.

Thumps should be regarded as a warning sign that the horse is suffering from acute dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Immediately stop, administer water and electrolytes, and call your veterinarian for treatment instructions. If ignored, the consequences include founder, colic, heat exhaustion or collapse. Recognizing this sign of impending metabolic failure can help to avoid more problematic consequences.

Cooling Off

To help a heat-stressed horse’s core body temperature cool down, you can speed the evaporative process by moving him to a shaded area and hosing his entire body with cold water, according to veterinary studies conducted prior to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that focused on the management of horses in heat and humidity. The cold water will not harm the horse. Jonathan Foreman, DVM, University of Illinois, states that “if you put nearly freezing water in large volumes all over the exercising muscles of the horse, you can draw a lot of heat out of the muscles and horse will not tie up afterward.”

To assess whether your horse is recovering well after exercise, take his pulse with a stethoscope or by feeling for the pulse with your fingertips behind his jaw. After 30 minutes, if the heart rate remains above 64 beats per minute, the condition is serious—call the veterinarian.

Managing Heat Through Condition

Preventing heat stress should start long before summer. As a horse works, his body is essentially burning calories, or metabolizing energy. The harder the body works, the more energy it burns. One of the waste products of this process is heat. How efficiently the body rids itself of this heat is determined not just by ambient temperature and humidity but also by the physical and metabolic condition of the body itself.

Heavily muscled horses such as American Quarter Horses and warmbloods have a greater challenge dissipating internal body heat than lighter breeds, such as the Arabian and the Thoroughbred. Obese horses are hampered by a thick fat layer that traps heat inside. Fat horses sweat a foamy lather that contains high concentrations of vital electrolytes and does not evaporate easily.

But as a horse becomes more fit, he also becomes more efficient at dissipating heat. Less demand is placed on working muscle groups. Less exertion means less heat generated by the muscles, less heat means less sweat, less sweat means less fluid and electrolyte loss.

Capillaries just under the skin serve as tiny heat exchangers as blood is pumped to the surface. As the body becomes better at conserving and utilizing electrolytes and minerals, less vital body salts are lost through sweating. This actually alters the consistency of the sweat itself, making it thinner and more easily evaporated, thus more effectively cooling the skin. Keeping your horse in shape through the winter and spring will help him adjust more easily to summer temperature spikes.

A key part of building condition involves nutrition, and diet can and should be managed for heat stress reduction. You already know overweight horses are more prone to heat exhaustion, but this is particularly true if they are fed a diet high in protein and calcium. Rich alfalfa hay and oats can predispose some horses to heat-induced health disorders. Alfalfa’s high protein level and the high fiber content of oats cause internal heat buildup and excessive sweating, which can lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Feeding grass hay, natural pasture or dryland hay, in combination with a highly digestible grain mixture, will partially minimize the risk.

The Cool Equestrian

Your horse isn’t the only one at risk of heat stroke or dehydration. Riders must take precautions to prevent overheating in summer months. Dehydration can cause dizziness, headaches and muscle cramps, all of which could create a dangerous situation while riding. Follow these simple steps to avoid a heat-induced disaster.

• Try to schedule your riding times in the morning or evening hours, when the temperatures are less punishing.
• Drink plenty of fluids. This isn’t difficult to do around the barn. But if you go for long trail rides, consider a water bottle holder for your saddle. These can be attached to the pommel of either English or western saddles, and they hold a 12-ounce bottle firmly in place while riding. For extremely long outings, wear a 1-gallon water bladder backpack with a long flexi-straw for continuous sipping, such as the CamelBak.
• Soak a bandana in water and tie it around your neck. The evaporation will cool your carotid artery, keeping your core body temperature down. Neck coolers and vests that stay cold for an extended period of time after being soaked in water are also handy.
• Wear a hat to keep the sun off your head, and shade your face and neck. Make sure your riding helmet has plenty of ventilation. There are cold packs that fit right in your helmet to keep a cool head. You can also purchase extended helmet visors for sun protection.
• If you are out on the trail and the heat is getting the best of you, dunk your shirt into a stream or water trough and wear it wet. You won’t make a fashion statement, but it will bring your body temperature down immediately and limit the amount of fluids lost to sweating.
• During steady exercise in cool conditions, fluid losses can be as high as six to seven liters per hour—when the weather heats up, losses can double. Since electrolytes are also lost, the best time to have them is before depletion begins.
• Common sense, proper nutrition, a sensible conditioning schedule and the ability to recognize the warning signs of heat stress will allow you and your horse to weather the warm summer months safely. Just remember, if you are hot on top of the saddle, your horse is even hotter under it. When in doubt, chill out.

The author lives in hot and sunny California.

The post Too Hot to Trot? appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

As a matter of fact, with today’s courses focused on technical difficulties and less on dangerous or fearful maneuvers, you’ll need a high level of riding skill if you want to ride out with a blue. While competitors’ abilities do vary, you’ll see that winning riders have spent endless hours honing their communication with their horses and perfecting the small details many overlook as unimportant.

But this doesn’t mean you can’t take home your share of awards. If your horse has the course basics down, you can polish your performance to a winning shine by following these tips from LaRae Fletcher-Powell.

Queen of the Trail

With four Canadian and three U.S. National Championships in trail, LaRae Fletcher-Powell is a dominant, international force in Arabian trail classes. It is not uncommon for this Auburn, Washington, trainer to arrive at a regional show with as many as 15 horses in tow and end up filling most of the top-10 slots. And while she is the undisputed queen of the trail class with the Arabian breed, like many successful performance trainers, LaRae wears more than one hat.

But she doesn’t just switch off between Stetsons and hunt caps. When she’s not taking the ribbons home to her training facility, Silver Aspen Ranch, she’s the one doing the pinning — as a rated judge for both Arabians and Appaloosas. Her dual career gives her an edge in both: As a competitor, she has a more thorough understanding of how to avoid inadvertently falling into disfavor with judges. As a judge, she has not only a deeper empathy for exhibitors, but a more watchful eye when scoring their performances.

From this bifocal perspective, LaRae has gained some valuable insight into how riders can improve their trail scores through subtle showmanship and equitation details. She knows firsthand that it’s the little things that separate the blues from the reds.

Trail classes have changed a lot since LaRae first began exhibiting at the age of 6. “There aren’t as many hazardous obstacles, because show management is a lot more concerned with liability than they used to be,” she says. “The emphasis now is more on technical difficulty.”

Gone are the days of seesaw bridges and bear hides to drag past tethered billy goats. Most trail classes don’t even include the offside dismount and remount any more. What has taken their place is more complicated jog- and lope-over poles, narrower back-throughs and exacting gut changes. Arabian shows in particular have tended to err on the side of safety.

Competitors at Arabian shows have the advantage of being able to walk the course before the class starts. Any questions for the judge can be asked at that time, and this is a good opportunity to assess variables such as footing, spacing distances between poles, bridge height, the type of latch on the gate and so on. Like walking a cross-country course, this helps take some of the guesswork out of the performance.

The International Arabian Horse Association recently adopted judging standards for trail classes at national and regional levels, which removes some of the subjectiveness. LaRae was on the committee that established the new criteria and says it’s designed after the scoring system used for reining patterns: Each horse starts out with 70 points and gets automatic deductions for mistakes such as hitting a pole (-2 points), breaking gait (-5 points), refusing an obstacle or falling off the bridge (-10 points).

As in reining or dressage, a scribe fills out a scorecard of the judge’s verbal comments, so the judge never has to look away from the performance. Small inconsistencies that may have been missed under the previous system are more likely to be noticed. As a judge, LaRae appreciates the thoroughness the new system provides. And as a competitor, it makes attention to detail even more critical. Now more than ever, every point counts.

Types of Trail Class Obstacles

So how can you snag the most points with a consistently flawless winning impression? Listen up as LaRae walks the course with you and gives her tips for perfecting a trail-class performance.

• The Bridge.

  No matter how much you practice at home, the bridge at the show is bound to look, smell and sound differently. That is why it is imperative that a good trail horse move forward willingly, even if he is feeling a little suspicious. “He has to be willing to take your word for it,” says LaRae. “A step back is considered a refusal, so forward motion is really important. My horses know when I point them at something, they better be going toward it!”

  That doesn’t mean judges want to see an animal who plods across with no interest in his surroundings. There is still room to score some subjective points in the area of style and expression. “I look for a horse who shows interest and expression, without being anxious,” says LaRae. “Ears up, looking where he is going, and willing.

  But a horse who rushes the bridge will get into trouble. “You want the approach slow and rated, not fast, so he can pay attention to the angles of the ramp or the elevation of the step-up,” says LaRae. If the approach is too hurried, many riders will halt their horses before asking them to cross the bridge. Unless a hesitation is called for in the course description, LaRae considers this low-level cheating and has little patience for it. “It is irritating as a judge to see them stand there and dink around,” says LaRae. “As a competitor I know why they do it, but you should show continuity through the whole course, rather than stopping and starting.”

  A horse who does not pay attention approaching the bridge can stumble, slip, drop a foot over the side or even fall off. In a trail class, this is an unforgivable faux pas.

  “You fall off a bridge, you die,” says LaRae simply. She means this figuratively in the show ring, but in real life the situation can literally mean life or death. “If you have a historical understanding of where the obstacles in a trail class come from, it is pretty hard to justify recovering your score after coming off a bridge.”

• Back-Through.

  A horse that backs easily and moves off the rider’s leg aids should have no trouble negotiating this phase of the course, but LaRae sees a high degree of rider anxiety over this basic element. “People create a lot of problems themselves by getting nervous,” she says. “The horse picks up on that and starts to get antsy. Then the rider overcues and the horse’s hips start doing the hula, swinging left and right with every step.”

  The trick to a clean back-through is to line the horse up straight at the beginning of the obstacle, then let him settle for a few seconds before asking him to back up. Ask for small, precise steps. LaRae warns that the most common mistake riders make is leaning over and looking down at the poles while backing up. This throws the horse off-balance and results in the horse backing the direction the rider is looking. “If a rider feels she has to look, stop the horse first, get your bearings, then ask for the back up. Even then, it should just be a glance.”

• Sidepass.

  The sidepass element can be combined with the back-through or stand alone as a separate obstacle. In either case, it is important to keep the pole aligned behind the rider’s heel and ahead of the back cinch. Unlike the back-through, it is necessary to look down while sidepassing, but LaRae cautions riders to look where they are going, not where they have been. “I don’t know why riders want to do this, but it is a sure-fire way to hit the poles,” says LaRae.

  Judges want to see a smooth, fluid sidepass with a nice cross-over in front, but sometimes an obstacle won’t allow for so much movement. Sidepassing one side of a turn-around box, or negotiating part of a back-through that has scenery associated with it requires more precision. “Tighter obstacles call for smaller steps, so a horse has to know how to sidepass without crossing over, too,” LaRae points out. “In that case the horse has to be cautious and go slower — but don’t take forever.”

• Gate.

  “Most horses can work a gate, but it’s hard to score really high on this one,” says LaRae. So it comes down to showmanship. As a judge, I use this as one way to identify my top horses.” LaRae’s strategy is to use the gate as a showcase to really underscore how well-broke and obedient her horse is. Her first move is to sidepass two or three steps to get into position. This looks a little more polished than just riding up next to the gate.

  Next, she makes it really obvious that her horse will stand quietly on a loose rein while she opens the latch. “As a judge, it really bugs me to see a horse who moves around while the rider is trying to open the gate, because on most ranches you need two hands to work the latch, and you can’t be trying to hold your horse still at the same time.”

  After the latch is undone, LaRae negotiates the gate in whatever way is specified in the course design, pulling or pushing it open, and riding or backing through. She is careful to open the gate a little wider than necessary, to make sure her horse clears it without getting hung up. Once the gate is closed again, she finishes the obstacle by sidepassing away a few steps. “This just dresses it up a little more,” she explains, “And that way your horse won’t hit it with his butt as he turns.”

• Cones.

  Jogging through cones or poles is one of the easier requirements, but for that reason some people don’t pay much attention to it and subsequently lose points. Mistakes LaRae sees as a judge are riders who forget to keep their horses in a nice frame because they are concentrating on steering through the serpentine, or horses who break gait because riders ask them to turn too sharply. “Don’t oversteer,” she warns. “Keep your horse very slow and collected so he stays pretty. If you let him get strung out, he’s harder to steer.”

  Another way to gain a point or two on the cones is to ask for nice, round turns, rather than just weaving in and out on a stiff-sided horse. “You want to keep a soft shoulder so you can push him around the cones a little,” says LaRae. “It looks a little prettier and shows a higher degree of training.”

• Poles.

  Poles can be elevated or on the ground, and the course designer will space them closer together for a walk- or jog-over, further apart for a lope-over. Lightly ticking a pole is usually not counted heavily against a competitor, but knocking a pole over or moving a ground pole is more serious. LaRae likes to see a horse walking or jogging the poles with a loose rein, giving the impression of doing it without much guidance. A lope-over, however, calls for more of a collected frame, with light contact.

  “This is usually the class separator,” says LaRae. “Lope-over poles are getting much more technical and complicated. You see lots of fan patterns where you have to pick your spacing perfectly or you’ll hit poles, or cross-patterns where you have to lope in a circle. You need to have both timing and steering.”

  To successfully negotiate lope-over poles, you must be able to accurately judge a horse’s length of stride. If the poles are arranged in a fan, shorter-strided horses should head for the section where the poles are closer together. Horses with longer strides should stay farther to the outside. Riders with hunter experience have a distinct advantage, because you need a good feel for your horse’s way of going and a good eye for judging distance on the ground. The approach is critical. If the first pole is gauged correctly, all a rider has to do after that is stay out of the way and guide the horse through the rest. If the approach is off, the horse must drop a stride, take an extra one, switch leads or hit poles.

  To help riders understand the importance of being able to gauge the length of their horse’s stride, LaRae makes them lope the poles on foot.

  A good way to learn to gauge the length of your horse’s stride is to practice at home. Count strides as you lope your horse over a single ground pole. Begin by counting from two strides away, and gradually increase the distance to four, five and then six strides away. Once you can accurately predict the distance between you and the pole, you can adjust your horse’s stride from several yards out so that he lopes over clean every time.

The Sum of Parts

Part of the trail-class allure is that courses are never the same. But the basic training elements needed to negotiate each obstacle never change. Practice, composure and attention to detail can make the difference between an also-ran and a shining star.

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