How To Use Pole Work to Improve your Dressage Marks

Are you familiar with the scales of training in dressage? The scales of training are essentially the dressage fundamentals when training and preparing horses, and they also make up the basis of what dressage judges look for when marking your test.

The scales of training are defined by British Dressage as “the stepping stones that riders live by when training horses”. Whether you’re an eventer, dressage rider, or even a showjumper, the scales of training make up the building blocks for producing well-rounded horses. So even if you’re not fond of the dressage boards, they’re still a super important guide for training horses without which your horse might struggle to progress up the levels.

Pole work is a staple in the scales of training! There are so many exercises that can be used to improve one or all of the above scales, increasing in intensity the more established you and your horse become. So, if you’re looking to improve your dressage marks this season, then we’ve got just what you need. We collaborated with some of our pole work gurus (AKA our sponsored riders) to bring you some pole work exercises that you can use to improve your scales of training and with it your dressage marks this season!

Pole work for rhythm

Working on your horse’s rhythm is the first port of call when starting the scales of training, that’s why it’s at the base of the triangle. Rhythm is the foundation for all your horse’s work and is a super important factor in the dressage marking system.

To practice your rhythm at home, set up scattered poles around the arena in random places and simply practice trotting around and over each pole at random. The aim of this exercise is to not let your horse’s rhythm change before or after the pole. Let your horse stretch the neck out and learn where their legs are by working the pole out for themselves, all you need to focus on is maintaining the rhythm and aiming for the centre of each pole. By the end you should be able to trot around the poles in the same rhythm with no disruptions, and a happy, relaxed horse beneath you.

Pole work for suppleness

To train suppleness in your horse (this is also a great exercise for rideability) set up a fan of 3 or 4 poles on a curve. This pole work exercise can be done at walk, trot, and canter, so set the distances to suit your gait. The bigger the gait you choose, the harder this exercise will be so start at the bottom and build your way up, particularly if you’ve got a young horse.

Ride into your fan of poles at the centre and try to stay on the centre track through the course of poles, exiting the poles on the same trajectory that you entered. To do this, you will need to have some inside flexion which starts to get the horse underneath you and bending round your inside leg, which is where the suppleness starts to come from.

Test this exercise out both ways to train the suppleness on each side of the horse. Once you start to find this easy, add to the fan of poles continuing away in the other direction, so you’re creating an ‘S’ shape. Ride through these (at a trot, not canter!) and start to test your horse’s suppleness through the body as they change direction. When your horse is totally supple, they should bend around each inside leg with ease and each flexion change should feel fluid.

Pole work for contact

The beauty of pole work is that you have to have contact! It’s almost impossible to do pole work exercises without a good contact, so with each exercise that you do to practice the other scales of training, you’re also training the contact.

If you want a little contact refresher to gauge how your contact is coming along, a simple line of 4 trot poles in a straight line will do the trick. Ride around the arena with a nice contact and ride through your trot poles. As you trot away from your poles, ask for a transition back to walk (or halt for the more advanced) and then trot away again. This encourages the hind legs to engage more underneath the horse, which in turn lightens the front end of the horse encouraging self-carriage. Self-carriage is a huge box to tick in any dressage test, so practicing the contact scale is a super important exercise to incorporate in your weekly routine!

Pole work for impulsion

Raised poles are the golden ticket when it comes to improving impulsion in your horse. A horse that works with a lot of impulsion will have elasticity in their paces, be up in the contact pushing from the hind end and have a moment of suspension in each gait. This is something that judges look for at every level but is pivotal to those who want to ride at a higher level, in either pure dressage or eventing. 

Thankfully, training impulsion is simple! Using 6 raised trot poles, you can encourage your horse to sit and push from behind as it takes extra effort to work through the line of raised poles or cavalettis. Raising the poles encourages the horse to step through and push off the ground, which establishes impulsion and also helps to lighten the forehand.

Elevate your pole work to the next level with PolyJumps PolePods, Mini Blocks, or Cavaletti Crosses. With tools like these offering so many variations for pole work exercises, you’ll never run out of ideas!

Pole work for straightness 

Nobody likes a wobbly centre line! Straightness is key to a controlled and accurate test, if a horse does not stay straight in their body, asking for higher level movements will become incredibly difficult as their hind end won’t be engaged underneath them and there’s more chance of losing control of the movement. For example, asking for a flying change when your horse isn’t straight will result in them flinging their back end away and losing the power underneath them, resulting in a late change or possibly missing the change altogether!

Set out your poles vertically at intervals, as if they were tram lines on either side. The narrower your make the width of your track, the harder this exercise will be. Riding down your track with your poles on either side, practice some transitions. This could be trot-halt-trot or canter-walk-canter for example. The aim of this exercise is to keep the body of the horse within the tram lines as straight as possible, whilst riding accurate transitions… it’s harder than it sounds! The trick is to use your legs to keep the horse straight in the body.

Pole work for collection

Congratulations, you’ve reached the top of the pyramid! Establishing collection in your horse is the hardest scale of training to achieve and can only be done once you’ve mastered the levels below. If you’re wanting to ride at a high level, establishing collection is a vital part of your test so you need to take some time to get it right.

Using simple trot poles, or raised trot poles if you’re really advanced, place them closer together than you normally would. This encourages the horse to take shorter steps and shorten both their stride and their frame. This helps you to establish the collection and helps the horse to understand the aids and what you’re asking them to do. It’s important to maintain enough impulsion and have a consistent contact whilst you’re asking for collection.

If higher marks are on your 2025 bucket list, then these are the scales of training tips you need. Luckily, it can all be done with a few PolyJumps poles and props to elevate your scores to the next level. Be sure to get in touch with the team and we can hook you up with whatever you need to WOW the dressage judges.