Part two: Straight and narrow

Turn your arena into a fun place to be for you and your horse, with Nina Gill’s polework playground

In this feature. . . ➤ Check your horse’s straightness ➤ Boost his suppleness and agility ➤ Ride accurate turns Our expert

Photos: Jon Stroud

Having a horse who’s both straight and supple is essential for any discipline, and it’ll help him be strong and evenly muscled, too. But, to improve these elements, you don’t have to be bound to riding circles and repeating lateral movements over and over again. Poles are a great tool that can massively improve your horse’s way of going – plus, they bring loads of enjoyment to schooling sessions. So, what are you waiting for? Try my supersize layout and see the benefits for yourself.

Set it up

You’ll need 22 poles in total, but don’t worry if you don’t have quite enough to create the entire layout. If you’re only focusing on the lines in this feature, there are six poles you don’t ride over, so they can be removed.

Using standard 3m poles will naturally create the distances for you, which means that your horse will have to work hard mentally to adjust his stride into the space provided. But when it comes to the three poles at the top, allow one trot stride (1.2–1.5m) between each.