April 2008

Rails Are The Building Blocks for Equine Exercise

They’re the basis for each of the gymnastic exercises we describe here.

The most basic (and useful) piece of gymnastic jumping equipment is, simply, rails, either natural-colored or painted. You can use them to do anything. And you can set as few as three and as many as 10 of them at a certain distance to trot or canter through them, or you can place them randomly around your riding arena.

Trot rails, set 4 to 4 ½ feet apart, are the best way to introduce horses to jumping

A young horse jumps confidently through a gymnastic line.

and are excellent exercises for building strength and balance, whether your horse jumps for a living or not. (See last month’s article "Using Gymnastic Exercises Can Improve Horses In All Disciplines.") …