Better control of the stride and aids with the "Death Circle" exercise.
If you have to ride in a smaller arena due to winter weather, want to break the monotony of training, or are looking for a new exercise to test the effectiveness of your aids, it’s a good idea to add the "Death Circle" to your training program.
This exercise gets its ominous name from the fact that you must ride and guide each individual stride to successfully pass through it; therefore, it relies as much on skill in the saddle as it does on focus and analytical power.
Rachel Rawder, a hunter/jumper coach who owns and operates Native River Farms in Princeton, Texas, regularly challenges her students with this difficult exercise to teach them how to use their outside aids more effectively, take sharper turns, and improve their horses' adjustability.
This exercise also helps improve your balance, rhythm, control of stride, and accuracy in jumping, as it requires you to find the correct number of strides between the cavalettis with complete focus on your aids.
Additionally, it helps you better understand how your line affects distances and the number of strides, and it is beneficial for horses that tend to rush, as it encourages them to maintain a steady rhythm.
Using Rawder's tips, successfully navigate this notorious "Death Circle."
The layout of this exercise consists of a simple arrangement of four cavalettis on a circle.
You can approximate it on a 20-meter circle, but the final size also depends on the shape and dimensions of your arena.
Rawder prefers to set the distance between the cavalettis slightly at half a stride between four and five strides to teach her students how to create different numbers of strides between each cavaletti by adjusting rhythm and line.
(For more information on measuring distances, you can use these practical tips from Rani Reimer, a show jumping rider.
) Note: If you are a beginner or semi-professional rider at lower levels, this exercise should only be done under the supervision of a coach or a professional.
Breaking the exercise into smaller parts, Rawder suggests that after a complete warm-up on flat work and ensuring that your horse is attentive and responsive to the aids, you start by simplifying the exercise: first, just ride cavalettis 1 and 3 on the left lead in a canter, and then work in the opposite direction, from cavaletti 3 to 1 on the right lead in a canter.
In both directions, focus on using your outside aids so that your horse stays straight until reaching the first cavaletti and "closes the door" with the outside leg when turning towards the second cavaletti to maintain this straightness and balance.
To familiarize your horse with the "Death Circle," first break the exercise into simpler parts.
For example, on the left lead, start working only in a canter over cavalettis 1 and 3.
Then she recommends that to get a better sense of putting the whole circle together, you can ride from cavaletti 2 to 4 on the left lead and from 4 to 2 on the right lead in a canter.
You may notice that one section of the circle rides differently than another.
Putting together the "Death Circle" now that you have a sense of riding over all four cavalettis from both the left and right leads, it’s time to put the whole circle together.
The rider starts from Cavaletti 1 and begins with a left lead, initially asking his students to complete the circle with a collected canter and five strides between the cavalettis.
With this mindset, he encourages the riders to establish an uphill canter before entering and to maintain contact with the reins so that a half-halt can be used if necessary.
When approaching the cavaletti, be ready to immediately guide your horse towards the next cavaletti by looking at the next section of the circle and preparing the outside leg for closure, so that your horse stays straight and moves on the line.
Before Cavaletti 1, be prepared to immediately guide your horse towards Cavaletti 2; to do this, look slightly to the left and towards the next section of the circle and be ready to close the outside leg so that your horse stays on the line.
If you use the inside rein too much for the turn, you will take the horse off the line and prevent it from staying straight and balanced.
If it takes several tries to pass through the circle, do not get discouraged.
It may take a few attempts to understand how much rein and leg you need, but the rider constantly emphasizes that if you are using the reins, you must support it with your leg.
If your horse naturally has a longer stride, you may need to choose the outside line to ensure five strides are correct.
And if you find yourself overly concerned with the distances, just think about riding a nice, rhythmic 20-meter circle at canter that happens to have four small cavaletti along the way.
Once you have executed five strides from the left well, change direction and try from the right as well; in this case, you start from Cavaletti 3 and work the circle in the opposite direction.
Keep in mind that you may need to adjust your aids in the other direction, as most horses have a preferred and softer direction to move in and may not be as straight or adjustable in the other direction.
During this challenging exercise, the rider asks his students to first collect the canter to have five strides between the cavaletti and then to lengthen the stride so that this distance is covered in four strides.
Next, the rider asks his students to perform this exercise in four strides and emphasizes that although you need to open the horse's stride slightly for four strides, the horse's canter should not turn into a flat and running state; a state in which the horse empties its back and leans on the forehand.
Even when lengthening the stride, you must maintain that uphill feeling.
After executing the exercise in five strides, four strides will seem faster; therefore, it is important to be completely focused on your aids, look at your path, and ride each stride.
As you progress and your horse's adjustability improves, challenge yourself more by changing the number of strides between the cavaletti.
For example, you can cover the distance from Cavaletti 1 to 2 in five strides, the distance from 2 to 3 in four strides, the distance from 3 to 4 in five strides, and from 4 back to 1 in four strides.
We hope these tips help you overcome the "death circle" and become a better rider after successfully executing it.
About Rachel Rohdeer
Rachel Rohdeer, with over 17 years of competitive riding experience, works at Native River Farms in Princeton, Texas, helping horses and riders achieve their goals, from young horses to those with national rankings.
She focuses on the development and progress of young horses as well as training riders at all skill levels, relying on her background in competing in hunter, show jumping, and equitation disciplines.
Rohdeer began her journey in the equestrian sport in Colorado, where she primarily competed in Zone 8 during her junior years.
She demonstrated a high ability in riding unfamiliar horses and gained extensive experience participating in hunter competitions, derbies, equitation medal finals, and show jumping while training under Mark Mead, Larry Juneman, and Steve Johnson.
Having earned her qualification for the Maclay Finals in 2010, she also competed on the East Coast of the United States, including in indoor competitions, as well as in Wellington, Florida.
After finishing her junior career, Rohdeer attended Baylor University in Waco, where she earned her degree in finance and accounting.
Simultaneously, she commuted to Flower Mound, Texas, to compete with Woodhill Farms and Matt Seifert; a path that ultimately led her to settle in Dallas and establish herself as a professional rider in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Source: Practical Horseman – Training