Have you visited us to use the gallops yet? We have had a couple of customers remark that they look fun recently but didn’t think they were for people like them (i.e., not training racehorses or eventers). Well, it might surprise you to hear that there are lots of ways horses and riders enjoy a visit to the Thorpe Farm gallops and they don’t all involve whizzing around in top gear. Here are four other ways you can use the gallops next time you visit us:
To work on dressage moves
If you’re working on learning lateral movements in the dressage arena, the gallops can be an unexpectedly brilliant place to practice them! Horses can use the arena fence to mentally lean on and so when they are in a dressage arena with just boards, they don’t perform as well. By booking a gallops session and using the time to ask for shoulder in or a leg yield, for example, you’ll be testing how they respond to your aids and whether they really miss the arena fence or not!
To build confidence in a young horse
The gallops are a useful place to first introduce a young horse to open spaces under saddle. The ground is shock absorbing and stable, the running rails help to give them confidence and you can bring a friend with a steady horse to nanny them around. Starting off with lots of walking in both directions, then some trotting and transitions, before a little canter if they are listening and behaving! Remember when you hire our gallops you get them totally to yourself, so there’s no risk of someone else blitzing around at full gallop and setting off your baby.
To keep a horse ticking over when the ground is hard
We seem to be getting plenty of summer rain showers at the moment, so there’s not too much risk of firm ground here, but the gallops are a great fallback when the ground is compromised. Whether you can’t hack out at more than a walk because there’s been lots of hot summer weather without rain or the ground everywhere is slippery thanks to wintery weather for days on end, the gallops will remain foot-perfect throughout. Once you’ve hired them, you can use them how you like – for interval work, transitions and more.
Just for fun!
Some of the people who book our gallops for their horses aren’t necessarily working towards a specific competitive aim. Sometimes they book them just to have fun with their horse and a couple of friends coupled with a change of scenery – and who can blame them? That might be at a thrilling gallop, or it could just be for a gentle walk, trot and canter together with the best company of all – horses and friends. We’ve even had some pop the cork in a bottle of prosecco and enjoy a slice of cake afterwards, which sounds like perfection.