I don’t have a set of Cavallettis right now, but should shortly. My friend and I are going to build them. I want to work Errika over them to keep her supple. But I wanted to get some good advice on where, how and what to start with. Errika is just doing some simple Dressage to keep her active physcially and mentally at this point in her life. I want to keep her fit, and a horsemen I so highly respect, advised me to use them with her. In addition it will be good for my riding, two for one.
This information was obtained from; Website
The website says the following on the subject of Cavallettis for Dressage horse and rider:
Objectives – “The objectives of these exercises are to improve the way the horse moves through loosening his back (all grids), to teach the horse how to collect and lengthen stride (grids 7,22), to improve his ability to bend and change bend (grids 11,26, 28), to teach the horse to shift his weight in the canter to the hind end (grid 9), and to give a new way to practice some movements (grids 12, 13, 14). These exercises also give the dressage student and horse a change of pace.”
This should be good for Errika. I like the idea of loosening her back and overall it will appear to develop her into a more supple horse.
Theory – “These exercise are based on the fact that the exaggerated movement of the horse through the cavalletti will strengthen the hind leg muscles and will loosen the horse’s back. This will result in an improved ability to move and to shift the center of balance toward the hind end. These exercises also require a great deal of focus on the part of the horse and rider and will improve the ability of both to concentrate. Several exercises will also focus on giving the horse a reason to bend correctly. It is significantly easier to go through curved cavalletti patterns if the horse is bending correctly. Dressage cavalletti can also give the rider the chance to learn to feel if the horse is moving straight, as crooked movement will cause him to move away from the center of the cavalletti while going through the grid. Horses that have difficulty learning that lengthening is not going faster and collection is not going slower will be able to better grasp this concept by using the grids which have longer and shorter stride lengths set in them. The student can also use these grids as a way of learning to feel if the tempo remains the same when lengthening or shortening because the work of achieving the difference in stride length is accomplished by the grid and the rider has more time available to feel what is happening. Cavalletti work can be very useful also when the horse/rider combination is stuck in a rut and needs to do something completely different in order to progress.”
You can see the grids on the website link above.
I think I will start lunging Errika starting with the easiest grid for her level at this point. And then go from there. Once she is doing well, I’ll ride the grids. What fun. I’ll try tommorrow with the things I have.
