Horse riding games are a lot of fun. They sure beat doing circles in the arena all day!
Not to say that you shouldn’t be doing some nice, steady arena work some of the time, but it’s not good for you or your horse to do it every day. This is where horse riding games come in!
They’re not only a heap of fun but they help improve your riding skills and confidence at the same time – perfect for using in horse riding lessons as well. They also help to give your horse a bit of variety in life & keep them from going ‘stale’ from doing too much of one thing.
There are literally hundreds of different horse riding games you can do & there’s nothing stopping you making up your own games either. Games are more fun when there’s at least a couple of riders – it gives you some friendly competition -- but it doesn’t hurt to practice them on your own as well!
Here’s some of the best that you might like to try with your horse or pony.
Egg & Spoon Race
Requirements: 1 egg & 1 spoon per rider
Skills: Good coordination, smooth transitions, good balance.
A game that will keep the chooks busy & the riders’ on edge as they try not to break the egg! The rider needs to hold the spoon by the end of the handle (far away from the egg) and try not to drop the egg. This can be played in a couple of different ways.
First, the riders can circle around the arena and be asked to walk, trot, canter (lope) and change direction. If someone drops their egg, they have to leave the arena. The winner is the last person left in the ring.
Another way, is to do it as a race. Usually, the riders will line up at the start/finish line, ride to a barrel as fast as they can, turn around the barrel and race back to the start/finish line. The first person over the line who hasn’t dropped their egg is the winner.
Pole Bending
Requirements: 5 or 6 (officially 6) poles.
Skills: Control, agility of the horse.
Pole bending is a very popular horse riding game that you’ll find at many gymkhanas and horse shows these days.
Like many horse riding games, there are several different variations, but they all come down to the same basic principle – whichever horse can weave their way through the poles the fastest, following the required pattern and not knocking any down, is the winner.
The version you’ll most likely find at horse shows, involves using 6 wooden poles, each 6 feet in height. The first pole is placed 12 feet from the start line, with the rest of the poles being placed in a straight line, with a distance of 21 feet between each pole.
The rider starts either to the left or right of the first pole (usually to the left so the pole is on the right) and weaves their way through the poles, turning around the last one, and weaving back. If they knock a pole down, touch one with their hand or fail to follow the required course, they could be eliminated.
Open Ended Barrel Race
Requirements: 1 x 55 gallon barrel with both ends removed (or some other tunnel to crawl through).
Skills: Fast mounting & dismounting, a horse that will ground tie (stay when the reins are dropped on the ground).
The open end barrel race differs from the traditional barrel race in that the rider has to go through a barrel instead of around one.
A 55 gallon barrel with both ends removed is placed on the turning line, standing on end. The rider has to ride down to the barrel, dismount, tip the barrel over, crawl through the barrel, then remount and head back across the finish line.
Not surprisingly, having a horse that will ground tie is a big advantage with this game!
More horse riding games coming soon…
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