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No Dressage Arena, No Problem!

I’ve been talking directly with a lot of my students recently as we went through the Training Scale Masterclass, and it occurred to me that LOTS of you guys want to ride dressage but feel the lack of arena is holding you back! This week’s video is here to help. Here are some great tips for riding dressage WITHOUT a proper arena!

Set up some cones! This is important for a few reasons:

  1. This will give you some sense of direction or perspective when riding movements and will allow the much-needed precision as you won’t just be riding into empty space! When you are able to ride accurate figures, it means your horse is on the aids and paying attention.
  2. Riding accurate shapes means also means your horse is supple and symmetrical. 

What to do with your cones: 

  1. Use 4 cones (if you don’t have cones, literally anything will do so long as you can see it!)
  2. Set them out in a square about 20m apart. 

Here are two basic but fundamental exercises to do with your makeshift arena and some tips for how to do them

20m Circle. 

  • Make sure you have a nice arc between the cones
  • The inside leg at the girth and the outside leg goes slightly behind the girth
  • The outside rein turns the outside shoulder, and the inside rein tips the horse’s head to the inside (think of the inside rein as a blinker on your car!).

The Yin-Yang

  • To change direction, ride the Chinese Yin Yang symbol: Go around the cone to the right, turn through the middle and go left at the other cone.
  • Your left and right circles will be different. Most horses are hollow to the left so will overbend, use your outside aids to correct this and keep them close to the cones
  • Move up to the trot and practice your circles and yin-yangs at the trot.

You’ll find that the cones give you direction and help correct any asymmetries. Add lots of changes of direction and use your aids to shape your horse’s body to follow the line. 

Watch this video where I demonstrate this on Kensington and let me know if you find it helpful if you don’t have a dressage arena!

Thanks for watching and happy riding!

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
A smiling woman wearing a helmet and riding gear stands beside a chestnut horse with a black bridle and white saddle pad, holding its reins outdoors in a sunlit, green setting.
Hey there.
I'm Amelia
I help foster a trusting, confident bond between horse and rider. By combining natural horsemanship with classical dressage, I create a holistic training approach tailored to the unique needs of each horse and rider.
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We see and feel the difference!! Thank you Amelia for this difficult but very helpful program. Our #1 issue was giraffe head in transitions. Downward as well as up. Don't look at my position, I was giving everything to the aids for him to maintain roundness in the trans. Now it will be time to work on our position more!
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