13 Horse Pole Work Exercises for All Skill Levels

If you are looking to spice up your regular schooling or simply want to keep your horse performing at its best, pole work can be a key ingredient.

There are so many different ways you can use poles to help improve your riding, your horse’s way of going, and even your accuracy in a dressage test. Let’s look at the benefits of pole work and some easy exercises you can try today.

Benefits of Pole Exercises for Horses

We are all becoming more aware of the importance of keeping your horse working well over their back and building up their strength. What better way than by building a few of our easy pole work exercises?

Pole work is absolutely key to keeping your horse working well. By using correctly spaced pole work exercises you’re encouraging your horse to come through from behind and carry more weight in their hindquarters. Pole work takes your horse off the forehand and strengthens the large muscles along the back and top of the neck.

When you strengthen your horse’s top line, you prolong their ridden career and help them to feel more comfortable in their everyday life. Not only that but introducing poles into your flatwork or groundwork makes an interesting change in your horse’s routine.

For a horse that has become tired of repetitive schooling exercises, introducing poles can reignite its enthusiasm for working inside a previously lost arena. For younger riders, poles can bring a new love for flatwork that often gets lost when they discover jumping. Poles are also a wonderful opportunity for nervous riders to ride a “course of show jumps” without ever leaving the ground!

The benefits, versatility and enjoyment of pole work make it an invaluable piece of your tool kit when working horses. You’ll be amazed at the results when practicing even fortnightly!

Beginner Level Pole Work Exercises

We’ve put together some simple pole work exercises using fewer poles so that inexperienced horses and riders can get used to going over poles.

These exercises can be completed both in hand and in the saddle, and the striding (where applicable) is for a 15hh horse with an average stride length.

A Single Pole

If you’re unsure of your horse’s experience with poles or simply prefer to build your own confidence up slowly, going over a simple pole in the middle of the arena is a perfect starting point.

Place the pole on the centreline around the letter X and approach from a walk at first. Try to maintain a consistent rhythm and a straight line on the approach, over the pole, and as you walk away from the pole.

When you’re confident in walk, move to trot and even canter. Make sure you change the rein each time you go over the pole to keep your horse focused on the task at hand.

Cutting the Corners

This one is for those horses who need a little helping hand using the inside hind leg correctly. Simply place a pole at a diagonal, “cutting” the corner of the arena. Leave a gap between each end of the pole and the arena fencing that your horse can fit through.

The idea is that your horse will bring its inside hind leg forward and underneath it, helping to improve strength and its topline. As you ride or lead your horse through this exercise, maintain a consistent rhythm and tempo. You can even work up to having a pole in each arena corner.

A Line of Three Poles

An absolute classic pole work exercise, a simple line of three poles with 4.5ft between each pole is a brilliant introduction to poles for both horse and rider. Place the poles either down the centerline or just off the outside track and ride over them in either direction. Approach in walk or trot, maintaining rhythm and straightness.

For more confident riders, consider taking the reins in the outside hand and placing the inside hand behind their back with the back of the hand flat against the small of the rider’s back. This helps to improve leg aids and the rider’s position, as well as builds confidence in the saddle.

Intermediate Pole Work Exercises

It’s time to bring your A-game and try the intermediate exercises. If you’ve already completed the beginner exercises with ease and feel up for a challenge, these exercises are slightly more complex while building on previously learned skills.

A Line of Three Canter Poles

We’ve all experienced the frustration of losing our rhythm around a course of show jumps, so why not take this opportunity to work on that? Place a line of three (or more!) poles down either the long side (just off the track) or centerline of your arena. The poles should be around 9ft apart for canter strides.

Practice the approach from both directions, and once you’ve found your rhythm, start counting the final three strides before the first pole. This exercise will help you to learn to see a stride to a fence. Maintain rhythm and straightness, and you can even adopt a light seat over the poles to truly prepare for riding over fences.

The Arrow

Having trouble with straightness? That first centerline is your first impression, so if you find yourself drifting to the point of it looking like leg yield, it’s time to build the arrow!

Place two poles at a point down the centreline of your arena. Next, place two poles on the “open” side of the point to form the arrow shape. Leave it at four poles, or if you have space (and enough poles), build a second arrow.

The shape of this exercise allows you to have a visual guide that highlights any wobbles as you ride your straight lines.

The Fan

If you like lunging over poles, then you’ll be a huge fan of this exercise! A powerful exercise loved by Ingrid Klimke, the fan is perfect for ridden and groundwork if you want to improve your horse’s strength over their back and in their hindquarters.

At the center of your poles, you should aim for around 4.5ft between each pole as you walk around the curve. Approach in a rhythmic trot and allow your horse to work around your inside leg. Use the speed of your rising to control the tempo of your trotting as you ride over the poles.

If you master it in trot, then increase the distance to 9th and try it in canter, or add a couple of extra poles!

The Clover

Arrange four poles in a big ‘+’ shape in the center of your arena. You’ll need a pretty big space for this one, so don’t be afraid to move the poles into the field! Going over the center of one pole, you will then make a 10-meter circle that goes away from the middle of the poles. Curve back round and over the next pole and repeat.

This is the perfect exercise to keep your horses soft, supple and engaged, especially young horses who might find poles a little exciting!

The Clock Face

Using the same configuration of poles as the previous exercise, you can ride around them in a 20-meter circle. I like to set up the four poles in a cross and alternate between the clover and the clock face.

When you master simply trotting or cantering around the circle, start to add transitions, making sure your horse keeps its weight in its hindquarters and does not fall onto the forehand in the downward transitions.

Advanced Pole Work Exercises

It’s time to bring out the big guns! Here are our advanced pole work exercises for when you’ve mastered the rest of our recommendations.

Raised Poles

Once you’ve implemented pole work into your regular routine, you might find that your horse needs a little extra challenge. Try raising one or both sides of your poles from the previous exercises to encourage your horse to pick their legs up more.

Many people use potties to prop up the poles, but honestly, anything safe is worth trying! The flatter the surface, the more tricky the challenge!

Zig Zag Poles

Combine various zigging and zagging poles with roughly 4.5ft between their middle stripes for a fun and challenging way to keep your horse on their toes! Zig zag poles are a brilliant way to practice maintaining a consistent rhythm while building your horse’s topline and keeping their focus.

This is my favorite exercise for horses who tend to rush things or who have fallen out of love with the arena. The unpredictable line of poles helps bring a new sense of enjoyment to sessions, and many young riders find more excitement in their flatwork once shown dressage is actually awesome!

The Snake

The ultimate way to work on suppleness is definitely through building the snake! If you’re blessed with plenty of poles (and someone to move them for you!), the snake is the most fun way I’ve found to work on suppleness with the aid of poles to set the rhythm for you.

Place the poles 4.5ft apart at the middle stripe and allow them to snake across the arena. Twist and turn wherever you please! Approach in trot, maintaining a correct position and steady rhythm. When you’re confident with the snake, start to raise random poles!

Interlocking S-Bend

We’ve yet to find a better name for this exercise, but it’s not as boring as it sounds, we promise! Instead of going over the poles, this one is more reminiscent of a Western trail class exercise. Walk, trot or even canter through the poles, maintaining rhythm and balance throughout the pattern.

If you’re confident using rein back, then you can even start by going through the poles backwards. It’s a brilliant way to help riders bring more awareness to their horse’s footfalls and whether they are sitting straight in the saddle or not.

The Triangle

This one can take quite a few poles, but it’s a versatile exercise that so many riders love! I start by setting up a triangle in the middle of the arena around X. Then, on each side of the triangle, I add at least two further poles (total of 9 poles minimum!) spaced 4.5ft apart for trotting poles.

You can then ride at it from all directions, including over the triangle points or on a dog leg. We’ve even popped small fences after the trotting poles for more confident combinations for a little arena eventing practice!

When you’re enjoying these exercises, why not build a few and link them together, or link a mini course of show jumps? If you loved these pole work exercises, let us know, and we’ll make a part two!