In this article, I’ll explain how I warm up on the flat and share two ground-rail exercises to improve your eye to help you see a distance, work on adjustability and get comfortable with adding or leaving out strides.

The Warm-Up

Jumping courses are getting more and more technical, so your horse needs to be as rideable and adjustable as possible, and that starts on the flat. Olympian Lisa Wilcox comes to my farm a few times a week to ride my horses and help my students. Riding is one sport that no matter how long you’ve been doing it, there’s always more to learn. Watching Lisa ride my horses and then discussing how they feel to her helps me improve as a rider. Dressage is an important part of my program as it really strengthens the horses’ muscles and helps prepare them for the jumper ring. For these reasons, my warm-up is focused on dressage basics.

I start with a lot of walking, which is good for the horses—physically and mentally. Walking gets their circulation going and helps loosen up their muscles. Compare it to when you first get out of bed. Most people don’t go straight to exercise; they wake up a bit and stretch before increasing their physical activity. I stretch and supple the horses by bending to the inside, counter bending and doing leg-yields, shoulder-ins and serpentines before moving on to the same exercises at the trot and canter. 

I also do a lot of transitions throughout my warm-up—both between and within the gaits—all while working on the connection by using leg and as little hand as possible to keep the horse’s hind end active and light in the bridle. Your horse needs to be like an accordion, able to open and close his stride very easily without losing his balance or power in the hind end.

This is essential for jumping, too, because a balanced horse with impulsion can jump much more easily, even if he’s not at a perfect distance. Riders tend to struggle with keeping power and impulsion in the hind end when collecting their horses and compressing the stride. They forget to back up their hand with leg and only pull on the reins so their horses run through the bridle and end up on their forehands. Your hand aids should always be as light as possible. 

The hind end is so important—it’s where the power comes from to jump and where the collection comes from for dressage. When your horse is using his hind end correctly, he’ll have more impulsion and his gaits will be more animated. It will feel like he’s in front of your leg and carrying you uphill, not like he’s pulling you along with his front end. 

Preparing for the Ground-Rail Exercises

These two ground-rail exercises are very simple and useful for:

• Learning to see a distance
• Improving rider confidence
• Developing adjustability and rideability
• Getting comfortable with adding and leaving out strides
• Staying connected and keeping a rhythm with even strides
• Practicing straightness and balance
• Determining how to ride a line depending on the distance over the first jump.

For these exercises, you’ll approach in an active canter with the main goal of getting comfortable closing and opening your horse’s stride as quietly as possible. I prefer my students to ride the exercises in almost a full seat, or a three-point position with their legs molded around their horses and their seats in contact with the saddle. You should feel like you’re part of your horse so you can be more sensitive to his back and hind end. A lot of riders tend to focus on the front end because it’s right in front of them, and they make the mistake of thinking the horse is on the bit because his neck is flexed. However, you actually need to feel the animation coming from behind, and you can do that by keeping your legs molded around your horse. 

As you ride over the rails, think of your hands as extensions of the reins. Since it’s only a pole, there’s no need to give a big release. Your hands should simply follow the horse so he can use his topline over the rail while keeping the connection. 

For many riders, ground rails prove to be more challenging than jumps. Horses tend to focus on and study jumps more in order to clear them. But with rails, they don’t pay as close attention, so riders need to use more leg and seat to create impulsion to help their horses correctly navigate the exercise. So, these ground-rail exercises will also help pinpoint any weaknesses you might have to fine-tune your riding.

Exercise 1: Two Ground Rails 

You can set this exercise at any distance, but since they’re rails or cavalletti and not jumps, you don’t need as much room for takeoff and landing. Allow about 12 feet for every stride between the rails or cavalletti, but instead of allowing 6 feet for takeoff and landing (as you would with jumps), allow 1 or 2 feet. For example, if I’m setting a six-stride line with two rails or cavalletti, I’ll make it between 72 to 74 feet. Set the exercise so you can approach it from both directions and alternate directions each time, so your horse works equally on both leads.

In this exercise, you’ll practice riding the normal six strides, next adding a stride for seven strides and then leaving out a stride for five strides. This will help you gauge your horse’s adjustability and get comfortable with adding and leaving out strides while maintaining a connection and hind-end impulsion. Whether you’re doing the normal striding, adding or leaving out a stride, the idea is to stay in the same balance and keep each stride as even as possible, with your horse using his hind end while staying in front of your leg—just like you practiced in the warm-up. 

Start by seeing if you can comfortably canter the two ground rails in six strides by sitting still and keeping an even rhythm and a steady connection. Then, try adding a stride for seven strides by using a little more seat and leg to keep the impulsion while collecting your horse’s stride. Your horse should still be in front of your leg, but his stride should be compressed. If you ask him to add a stride without enough leg, he’ll likely break to the trot.

Next, try leaving out a stride for five strides. For the five, your horse needs a more open stride, but it shouldn’t look or feel significantly different than his stride for the six or seven. Opening the stride doesn’t mean faster. Maintain the same balance and simply lengthen the stride from your horse’s hind end by keeping a light feel of his mouth to keep the connection from leg to hand and an uphill feeling. When you go over the first rail, your horse should feel round and like he is coming up through his back. If he’s flat and running on his front end, he’ll be unbalanced, discombobulated and may get to the rail on a half-stride and either chip or have to reach for the rail.

Keep in mind that how you canter into the line over the first rail will affect how you approach the second rail. For example, if you’re planning to do the normal six strides but you see a very forward distance coming in, your horse is going to land and take you forward with a more open stride. To get the desired six strides, you’ll need to balance and compress him by backing up your hand with your leg and seat inside the line, so he doesn’t break to a trot or lean on your hand. But this shouldn’t be a drastic adjustment. If the opposite happens and you jump into the line a little backwards without enough impulsion, land and gradually ask your horse to open up his stride by keeping a light connection with your hand as you add leg so your horse doesn’t run flat on his front end. 

Exercise 2: Two Ground Rails on a Bending Line

For this exercise, set two ground rails or cavalletti on a bending line. You can set the striding based on the size of your ring or whatever striding you want to work on, but like the first exercise, you only need 1 to 2 feet for takeoff and landing.

In addition to the other benefits mentioned previously, this bending-line exercise will help you learn how to use your track to your advantage in order to add or leave out a stride. You’ll find that you don’t have to worry about getting a perfect distance to make this exercise work. 

As you did in your warm-up and the first exercise, make sure you have a powerful canter and keep an even rhythm and a steady connection. To add a stride in the line, curve the line to give yourself a little more room. To leave out a stride in the line, ride a straighter, more direct track. Look at the rails coming out of your turn, being careful to stay on your track without cutting in or fading out through the turn. Look where you want to go and draw an imaginary line in your mind—whether you want to line up the two rails on a straight, direct line or use more bend on a curved line. If you get there on an imperfect distance, you can move your track toward the inside or outside of the rails to get a better distance and smoother jump. 

Get Creative

Use your imagination to come up with other ground-rail exercises. Think about what’s most difficult for you and your horse, including problems you’re having on course, and apply it to the ground rails. For example, if you’re having trouble coming off a short, left turn, practice that. If your horse is cutting or diving to the inside after a line, exaggerate going straight and then bend him around your leg correctly so he learns to land, balance and go around the turn properly. You can even set up a whole course of ground rails to work on riding smooth courses.  

With these exercises, I try not to make things too complicated. I want riders to get comfortable with keeping an even rhythm and proper balance, collecting their horses and adding a stride, opening up the canter and leaving out a stride and—one of the hardest things—simply sitting still and doing nothing to maintain the desired canter. Remember, when it comes to horses, less is more, and the fewer jumps you can do with your horse, the better for his long-term health and happiness.

For More:

• To watch hands-on training videos with Margie Engle on EQUESTRIAN+, click here. Use code MARGIE15 for 15% off your first month’s subscription.
• For more of her top training tips, click here.
• To listen to our podcast with Engle, click here.

About Margie Engle

Margie Engle has been one of the winningest jumper riders in the U.S. for more than three decades. To date, Margie has won more than 250 grands prix classes, six World Cup qualifiers, more than 75 Nations Cups, a record 10 American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year titles and was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2021. She competed in the 2000 Olympics, won team silver at the 1999 Pan American Games, team gold and individual bronze at the 2003 Pan American Games and team silver at the 2006 World Equestrian Games. Margie and her husband of 30 years, veterinarian Steve Engle, are based at Gladewinds Farm in Wellington, Florida. 

“This exercise can really help your horse become more adjustable,” he said. “And it’s an excellent training tool for riders because it keeps your eye moving and teaches you how to use your track, pace and momentum—all those good things that we need for the show ring.”

To set this exercise up, position three raised cavalletti (the height isn’t important here; you just want them slightly raised so your horse creates a little shape over them) on a curved line in the center of your arena so you can easily ride it from both directions. When you walk it, Hesslink notes that it should walk a very forward four or a very tight six, so it’s right on the half stride.

“The footage between the jumps stays the same,” he said. “But you’ll learn how do a variation of different stride numbers between each by collecting and lengthening your horse’s stride and by changing your track. I hope you have fun doing it.”

Here’s a highlight of Hesslink’s top tips on how to navigate this exercise in five, four and six strides and how to increase the difficulty with stride and track variations. Try incorporating this exercise into your regular training routine to improve your and your horse’s overall performance in the hunter ring.

Warm Up on the Flat

“When you’re warming up on the flat, practice collecting and lengthening your horse’s stride to make sure he’s listening to you. I ask Stewie to lengthen his stride by getting into a light seat or two-point position and then encourage him to almost go on in a hand gallop. Then, I’ll sit up and ask him to collect.

“Next, I’ll do a few upward and downward transitions to make sure he’s on my aids and doesn’t break to a trot when I ask him to slow and collect the canter. I don’t want him going sideways or looking around. He should go straight and forward when I ask him to extend. If you do this flatwork correctly, it will set you up for success when doing this exercise.”

Finding Five, Four and Six Strides

“To begin, I have my riders practice doing a set number of strides riding this exercise in both directions to encourage the horses to use the muscles on both sides of their bodies evenly. Like we talked about in the warm-up, this exercise requires you change your pace. You need to have a forward canter for the four, a collected canter for the six, as well as what I call a normal or ring pace for the five.

“Doing the exercise in five strides is going to be the more natural stride. In the six stride, your horse will have to collect himself and sit more on his hind end to add the extra stride, so you’ll want to slow your pace and use the wider track. The four stride will be the opposite. You’ll want to ride a more direct line and take the bend out of the curve per se. It’s also important that your horse is engaged, paying careful attention and looking for the next jump for those more forward rides.

“Ideally, you want your horse to land on the lead you’re tracking on, but if he doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world. You’re not going to get the lead you want every time in the show ring, so it’s important to practice and work through those moments.

“When collecting a horse for this exercise, it’s crucial that you don’t lose the quality of your canter. While it’s tempting to just pull on your horse’s mouth to get him to go slower, you want to make sure he continues to engage his hind end. You don’t want him to ‘tranter’ where he’s going more in a four-beat canter. He needs to maintain a true three-beat canter, which requires him to use his core and back muscles to make his stride physically smaller with sacrificing the quality of the gait.”

Up the Challenge With Stride Variations

“After doing the four, five and six strides in both directions, I have my riders start to do different variations of those strides to make the exercise more challenging. So, we might do four strides between the first and second cavalletti and six between the second and third. Then, we might do a five to a four. This is where your track really comes into play. The more direct the line you take the less space you have to make the four stride. When you take the wider or outside track, the more space you have to fit in the six strides.

“Again, make sure you establish a true canter for the forward four stride, but here it’s even more important that your horse is balanced. You don’t want him too low or inverted. Make sure he’s focused and his attention is on the jump in front of him. That way, he’s able to do the more direct track. If he’s a bit distracted going in at the more forward canter, he’s more likely to land on the wrong lead than when he’s collected.

“Riders of all levels in this sport utilize this exercise or some variation of it because it’s so beneficial for finding your pace, eye and track. But it’s not easy. It’s a very difficult exercise, so it’s important not get frustrated. It might seem simple, but every horse is different and tends to prefer one way of going over the other.

“When you work on bending lines like this, your approach to the first element is very important. For example, if I’m doing a six to a four, I might approach the first jump from the outside track and then move to the inner track across the jump to eliminate some footage to make the second part of the line in the more forward four strides.

“On the other hand, if I’m doing a four to a six, I would approach the first element from the inside track and then hold him straight or even slightly out on an angle to ensure I have more space to kind of exaggerate the line to allow the collection for the six to appear almost invisible.

“From the rider’s perspective, it’s essential that you remain balanced and centered on your horse to help him land on the correct lead after each jump. If you’re unbalanced or meet the jump at an awkward angle or you’re out of stride, your horse is more likely to land the outside lead which will through you off and create a domino effect. From that point, it’s going to be pretty hard to complete the exercise correctly. I hope these tips were helpful to you and your horse!”

About Geoffrey Hesslink

Geoffrey Hesslink owns and operates Hesslink Williams farm in Wellington, Florida, with his partner Brendan Williams. He is one of the leading hunter riders in the country and is a top trainer for juniors and amateurs in hunters, jumpers and equitation. Some of his most recent accolades include being named 2023 Pennsylvania National Horse Show Leading Hunter Rider, winning the 2023 $100,000 WCHR Central Hunter Spectacular at Traverse City Spring and placing second at the 2023 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship, both aboard Drumroll. And in 2022, he piloted Mon Tresor to the win in the prestigious $100,000 USHJA/WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular. 

For More:

• To watch Geoffrey Hesslink’s full lesson on changing your pace and track on a curved line of three raised cavalletti on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• To check out his lesson on how to ride gymnastics to improve your hunter rounds, click here.
• You can also watch his brand-new training lesson on how to execute proper hunter lines here.
• Learn how Hesslink fosters a positive training environment to instill confidence in both his students and horses here.

Coming soon: Be on the look out for more video training lessons with Hesslink, a barn tour of his stunning facility in Wellington, Florida, and for our exclusive interview with him and his longtime friend and business partner Bethany Lee, founder of My Equestrian Style.