Summer is on our doorstep and that means competition season is in full swing. Whether you’re an avid eventer, a keen showjumper, or even dabble in a bit of dressage, it’s important to make sure your horse is feeling as fit and well as possible to sustain a long summer season of successful competition.

Here at PolyJumps, we have teamed up with JK Equestrian’s Jennie, to help you get your horse in shape for the summer. Jennie is a gridwork expert, so we’ve tapped into her wealth of knowledge to bring you some of the best gridwork exercises to get your horse in tip top condition for peak performance.

Jennie is one of our talented sponsored riders and has quite an inspirational story! Jennie is an international showjumper and is also classed as a para rider following a spinal injury, which has left her with a loss of feeling down the right back side of her body, and a stoma, as her bladder and bowels don’t work anymore. As an equestrian, you can imagine this can’t be easy to overcome but Jennie is a huge inspiration to us all and continues to not only ride and compete, but also coach up-and-coming riders! Jennie, like so many of us, is very open about struggling with competition nerves, but uses her own pole work and grid work techniques to keep her feeling confident and successful in the ring.

No matter what level you or your horse is at, grid work exercises are a great way to improve balance, rhythm, and coordination, as well as being a great conditioning workout for your horse to shave off a few pounds!

Basic Grid Work (for Green Horses or Riders)

Introducing gridwork slowly is the key to building confidence for both horse and rider. It can be a little bit daunting, particularly for a young horse, to trot or canter up to what can look like a sea of poles. It’s super important to start slowly and simply, so young horses can build their confidence and find their feet.

The same goes for inexperienced riders, the beauty of grid work is that it pretty much sorts itself out, so riding up to the grid confidently and then sitting quietly is a great way to establish your own rhythm and start finding your eye for distances. Don’t over face yourself and start simple so both you and your horse know where you’re putting your feet!

Exercise 1: Pole to Cross Pole/Small Vertical.

Set-Up: Ground pole on the floor 9 feet to small cross pole or vertical (approx. 18 to 24 inches high).

The purpose of this exercise is simply to introduce poles and grid work to horses and riders. This is a great one to start establishing rhythm and straightness, as well as gauging a horse’s stride and teaching a young horse where their feet need to go. It’s also a good exercise if you’re worried about seeing a distance to make sure you’re in the right place at the fence every time.

Exercise 2: Trot Poles to a Small Vertical.

Set-Up: 3 Trot poles at 4.5-5 feet apart, 9 feet from the last pole to a small vertical.

This is a super and simple gridwork exercise for a young horse to learn to engage their hind end and use themselves properly over a fence. The trot poles help them balance and sit their hind ends underneath themselves, carrying the impulsion through to the jump. Jumping from trot not only build the muscles up in their back ends, but it also teaches them to sharp with their feet in front and establish a good jumping technique from the beginning. It’s also a super good work out for conditioning and building muscle, so this can be done with horses of all ages!

Intermediate Grid Exercises

As you and your horse become more established with grid work you can start incorporating more complex exercises into your grid work routine. Bounces are an amazing exercise to get your horse sitting back on their hind end and working on elasticity over fences. These sorts of workouts are exactly what you need to condition your horse and get them super fit and strong ready to tackle the competition.

Exercise 3: Bounce Grid

Set-Up: Cross pole or small vertical 9 feet to the next cross pole/ small vertical, continue at 9 feet intervals for each fence in the bounce grid.

Bounce grids are the perfect workout to encourage horses to use their hind end, building balance and agility over fences. The rapid nature of this grid work exercise helps horses to be quick with their legs and sharp in front, so it’s a super useful exercise for youngsters and showjumpers alike.

Exercise 4: One-Stride Combination.

Set-Up: Cross pole or small vertical followed by a 1 stride distance set at 18 to 21 feet, followed by a small vertical, followed by a 1 stride distance set at 21 feet, followed by an oxer.

This series of one stride fences through a combination is a fantastic exercise for establishing control and balance down a combination distance. Having rideability into a combination and maintaining it throughout the exercise is a super important factor to jumping combinations in the ring well. This exercise is a good way to help manage your horse through the combination and help to stop them rushing or getting longer as they go down the grid. You can adjust the distances slightly to suit what you need to work on, for example, you can shorten the distances slightly to help a horse learn to collect and condense their stride. If you want to make it really clear for your horse, add a place pole in between each 1 stride distance so that they are landing and taking the canter step over the pole on the floor, this is a great way to balance them up and stop them rushing.

Advanced Grid Exercises

Once you’re a dab-hand at grid work exercises, try these out to really test your horse’s condition. These are a great way to get your horse building muscle and using their bodies over bigger and more complex fences. These are also super exercises to try out if you’re hoping to step up a level this summer season, making sure you’re totally in tune with your horse and confident over some bigger jumps.

Exercise 5: Gymnastic Exercise to Oxer Finish:

Set-Up: Trot pole followed by small vertical at 9 feet, followed by a short one-stride distance set at 18 feet to a vertical, followed by a longer one-stride distance set at 21 feet to an oxer to finish (ascending).

This exercise is a fantastic way to put into practice the smaller grids you’ve mastered and really work on your timing and confidence over some bigger jumps. The gymnastic line in not only helps your horse to build condition, but it helps to train your eye and build confidence riding up to larger fences. This takes away the pressure to see a “perfect distance” and allows you to focus on setting your horse up properly and staying quiet to the jump.

Exercise 6: Bounce to One-Stride.

Set-Up: Bounce distance of two verticals set at 9 feet apart, followed by a short one-stride distance set at 18 feet to an oxer.

This is a complex exercise to be done by experienced horse and rider combinations. It’s a great one to test and improve a horse’s athleticism and adjustability. In order for the horse to be able to bounce through the fences and balance themselves for a one-stride to an oxer, they need to be able to sit on their hind end and use their bodies effectively in the jump. Horses that tend to rush through grids and combinations will struggle with this exercise, so once they’ve perfected the earlier exercises and have developed a super strong hind end, this a great exercise to have a go at!

So, there you have it, a sure-fire way to get your horse summer body ready and fit to take the competition season by storm! If you’re keen to put these exercises into practice then make sure you head over to PolyJumps, and pick out some new poles and jump wings so you can start your training as you mean to go on. We’ve got loads of options to choose from, and all our poles can be picked in a colourway that perfectly matches your stable aesthetic. Need a bit of help choosing something? Make sure to get in touch with us and one of the team will be more than happy to help you out.