Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.
This week’s question posed is: How do you prepare a rider to show in an arena that is small?
Here are their answers:
“When I prepare to have a rider show in a smaller arena, I like to set some short lines, short turn diagonal, and jumps off the turn to prepare riders. I also encourage riders to always turn their head and make them count out loud so they know where they are. I also love utilizing the quarter line when I’m riding or teaching because the horse can’t lean up against the wall, and the rider has to really focus on creating the straightness without relying on a wall.” –Devon LeMoine
“My arena is not the size of my show arenas. I use my jump rails to line the edge of the arena to the size I want it to be so my students can practice their dressage test in the correct arena size or practice jumping in a smaller arena.” -Kiri Farler-Smith
“We practice riding around the horses from the inside and giving a lot of attention to their surroundings as well as their horse.” –M.K. with Unity Riding Academy
