Conditioning Exercises:
-Spiraling In and Out
Begin in an active working trot rising on a big circle. Probably 20 meters or larger. After a few times around the circle to ensure you are maintaining a steady and rhythmic trot, begin the shrink the circle down as small as possible without losing tempo or balance. With each stride, as him to move over a little more until your circle gets smaller and smaller. Try to aim to get 10 or 12 meters in diameter. After two revolutions around the small circle, begin to guide your horse one step at a time out to the larger circle you started on. Repeat this exercise twice in each direction. Make sure you give clear and proper aids.
-Transitioning Downward
Begin in an active working trot, tracking to the right around the rail of the arena. In the middle of the long side of your arena, when your horse's body is fully straight, transition down to a slower trot. Do this for three strides like this and adjust your posting to rise lower and closer to the saddle. Then, from the slower trot, transition down to a walk, waiting to sit down fully onto your horse's back until the first complete stride of walk. During the transition, ensure that your horse reaches his nose out slightly so that his face is slightly ahead of the vertical. Immediately energize the walk following the transition and practice this in both directions.
Strengthening Exercises:
-Rein-back up a hill
Find a gentle uphill slope with hard ground. Stand your horse with his hind end facing up the hill. Ask your horse to lower his head, ideally to shoulder level, before beginning to back up. Ask for as many steps backward as possible, aiming for 10 at the minimum. Each day, add four more steps. If your horse becomes crooked or braces his neck/head upwards, stop the movement.
-Gymnastic Jumping
Develop and active working trot. Trot straight over the middle of three trot poles. After crossing the last one, come into a half-seat or two-point position. Go forward over a cross rail. Give your horse a short rest by trotting once around the edge of the entire arena. Repeat for a total of 20 minutes, including the "rest" periods where you trot around the edge of the entire arena. If your horse is not "jumping" but rather trotting over the cross-rail, you may need to either raise it slightly or encourage him to approach it with more energy. You can also add two cross rails, and after you trot over the first cross rail, immediately canter one stride straight ahead to the second cross rail. Res him at the trot for 2 minutes around the edge of the arena before repeating.
-Sets and Reps for the arena
There are three sets you can do. I'm gonna explain workset B.
In an active trot, go straight over a row of five raised ground poles. Pick up the canter and ride a shallow loop down the long side and come back to the trot. Turn down he centerline and leg-yield to the rail. Canter halfway around the arena again. Halt and rein-back eight steps. Try and repeat this in each direction.
Neck Exercises
-Horizontal Frame Conditioning
-Striding in, striding out
Before you begin, set up eight ground poles. Place the first four poles spaced apart at a distance that is roughly 1 to 2 inches shorter than the length of your horse's normal stride in the trot. After this set of four poles, leave a 32.8-foot gap and then set up four more poles, this time spacing the poles at a distance 1 to 2 inches longer than the length of your horseshoe's normal trot stride.
Develop a brisk working trot. Aim straight over the first set of four poles. About 3 feet before you reach the first pole, ask you horse to slow down a little and shorten his stride. Proceed over the poles in just four strides. Your horse should not take any strides between the poles or try to cover two poles at once. Proceed straight to the next set of poles and start to push his trot more actively forward. Ride over the second set of poles visualizing an extended trot. Again, your horse should cover the poles in just four strides, no more or no less.
Stifle Exercise (the Stifle is critical)
-Trotting poles in an arc
Mark out a 20-meter circle in your arena and place five ground poles in a fan shape on the arc of the circle. The middle of each ground pole should be a stride apart from the next. Walk your horse over the ground poles to ensure that the spacing is correct for his stride. Remain on the arc of the circle while traversing exactly over the middle of each pole. Do not drift to the outside edge! Once your horse is going well in the walk, ride the ground pole circle in the rising trot. Repeat several times in each direction, keeping an active trot and maintaining inside bend through your horse's neck and rib cage. Make a note in one direction of the exercise seems more difficult than the other. This indicates asymmetry in your horse's way of going.