The following sequence of exercises is very convenient to do on a quiet dirt or snow covered road with no traffic and good surface, race track will work too. Long narrow path of a road gives a great opportunity to combine movements in a chain without interruption of a corner.

Walk work

• Start on a side of a road with steady, rhythmical and straight walk
• Leg-yield to the opposite side and walk straight
• Leg-yield back, straighten and shoulder-in, bending your horse toward the road, do it for about 20 m
• Straighten and leg-yield across the road, shoulder in bending toward the road, for 20 m
• Straighten and leg-yield back, haunches-in, bending toward the road, again for about 20 m
• Straighten and leg-yield across the road, haunches-in bending toward the road for 20 m
• Straighten and leg-yield back, start shoulder-in and then half-pass across the road
• Straighten, start shoulder-in and half pass across the road
• Zigzag across the road to finish (half-pass)

It takes about 200-300 m of a road to complete the above sequence. Your horse will be asked to bend and straighten numerous times and you can repeat a certain portion more than once if you find a problem. Aim to flow from one movement to another, from one side of the road to another. Pay attention to equal crossing in leg-yields both directions, equal bend in shoulder-ins, haunches-in and symmetry in half-passes. Notice how many times I repeated straighten, Absolutely make sure you can straighten and make your horse "wait" for the next movement. Horses are smart and eager, they quickly catch on and start to anticipate and offer the movements ahead of the rider. Pay attention that each movement started on your terms. Keep the walk pure, four-beat, steady and fluid. Use small transitions to slower walk if your horse likes to be in a hurry or tension creeps in, it will help him "wait" for you and relax. After the sequence your horse will be calm, attentive, supple and ready for more work,

Arena adaptation If you have no access to a long narrow path you can still do the sequence in the riding arena, you just need a few adaptations. For example, use long side of a ring to complete one portion of the sequence, example - shoulder-in, leg-yield, shoulder-in. Add a variation of a turn on the forehand or on the haunches at the end of the long side. You can stay between the wall and the centerline, or you can use one quarter line and the other quarter line as your "sides of the road".

Trot and Canter I also do trot and canter work on the side of the road. However, I do not like to work across the road in faster gaits. I ride a leg-yield not across but a head to the "wall" version. I ride lots of transitions between walk and trot, or within trot in shoulder-in and haunches in. Also, straitening in between lateral work and going forward extending the trot, stretching the neck is a very good refresher. Difficulty of canter work depends on the horse's level of training. Arroyo, who is coming 5 this year works on transitions from trot to canter, different leads, shoulder-fore, haunches in, transitions between lengthening and collecting his canter, changes in neck position. Santo can do all of the above plus walk-canter-walk, flying changes, transitions within canter will be more advanced all the way from pirouette canter to extended. Your imagination is your limit. You can play with combinations, frequency, flexion, tempo control, etc. You will be not only training your horse's body but also his mind. Keeping his focus on you is not as easy on a road as in a ring. It gives you a great practice for the show/clinic situations without going to one.
P.S. Pay attention to road surface, levelness, hardness, potential vehicles.

Happy riding...