The Power of Polework and Why Getting Your Distances Right Matters
- Horses Inside Out
- 8 hours ago
- 9 min read
Polework is an incredibly effective and accessible training tool for horses of all ages, disciplines, and abilities, but only when it’s done correctly. One of the most common questions we receive at Horses Inside Out is: “What’s the correct distance for poles?” It's a good question and one that is important to understand not just for ease and performance, but also for the horse’s musculoskeletal health, posture, and confidence.
In this article, Gillian Higgins explores the importance of getting your distances right, whether it’s for walk, trot or canter poles, and helps you to learn what the distances are. She shares practical advice, insightful biomechanics, and helpful exercises that you can try at home.
For additional information there are two tutorial videos available for you to watch. They are available in the Horses Inside Out Academy. Take a look at A Guide to Distances and Top Tips for Walk Poles. To view these tutorial videos you do need to be a member of the Academy, it’s free to sign up and once you have joined you will gain FREE access to the Tutorial Video channel.
Why Distance Matters
As many of you will know, Gillian is a big believer in the benefits of using poles with horses. She encourages all horse owners to use polework but the distances need to be right.
“Knowing the correct distances to use really does make a difference,” says Gillian. “It’s about giving your horse confidence. Also, biomechanically, when the distances are right, polework can help improve posture, build core strength, and develop a more balanced way of going.”
Correct distances not only allow the horse to step comfortably through the poles, but they also help them think about their movement and where they are placing their feet. This can positively impact balance, straightness, symmetry, and regularity of step and rhythm.
As Gillian explains, “It’s not just about lifting their legs up to negotiate the poles. It’s about the placement of the feet. We’re reducing the options where the horse can put their feet, which sharpens their awareness and encourages better posture.”
Gillian uses an analogy to illustrate this point. If you're walking along on a nice, smooth road, you just walk without really having to think about it. However, if you are walking through some woods over rough terrain that's got loads of sticks, you must pick your feet up, so you don't trip. But it's not just about picking your feet up. It's how you put your foot down.
Sometimes you need to change the angle if the space is small and as you think about where you're putting your feet you have a feeling of pulling up through your tummy. We see a similar effect when horses work through poles.
“Let the Poles Do the Work”
One of Gillian’s polework principles is simple and if you have been to any of her live lecture demos you will have heard her say – “Let the poles do the work.” But you can only do this if the distances are correct.
“When you’ve set up your poles correctly, you shouldn’t need to put any pressure on or worry about leg or rein aids,” she says. “Instead, relax, soften, and let the horse look at the poles and adjust their body in response to the poles. If the poles are right this will help to correct his way of going without you having to put any pressure on. Your horse is looking at the poles, assessing the situation just by looking down at the poles it encourages them to lower their head, activate their core, and engage their brain.”
It’s this natural self-adjustment that makes polework so effective and not just for training, but also for rehabilitation and posture correction.
Understanding the Biomechanics of Polework
When horses move over a series of poles, it changes the biomechanics of the gait, so it’s not what you would see if the horse were working on the flat.
“It’s important to understand the biomechanical effects of poles and what’s happening. When we understand that and what we’re aiming to achieve, it can be really beneficial to the horse.” explains Gillian.
To deepen your understanding of the biomechanics, Gillian recommends watching the following on-demand recorded webinars that available in the Horses Inside Out Academy.
Understanding and Assessing Your Horse’s Movement is a 3-part collection that studies, in detail, the biomechanics of walk, trot and canter. Discover exercises and useful tips to help you to improve each of these paces.
Poles for Posture focuses mostly on walk and trot poles, in-hand polework and exercises that will help to improve bending and lateral stability.
Polework and Gymnastic Jumping looks more at the use and influence of canter poles on the horse.
How to Measure Distances
When setting out poles, whether it’s on the ground, raised poles, or a line of jumps, we need to think about how we measure the distances between the poles. Below are the suggested distances for walk, trot and canter poles.
The distances are in metres and centimetres but how can we walk them out in a practical setting such as in the arena? You might think a tape measure is an option, but many riders will pace the distance or use fairy steps (heel-to-toe) - this might work for walk poles, but when you start doing longer distances, it's just not realistic.
Gillian encourages riders to develop the ability to walk a consistent one-yard step. It takes a bit of practice but once mastered it will make it so much easier for you to get your distances correct.
“Mark it out, using chalk on the ground. Measure several yard markers and walk through it – a bit like stepping stones. Then it’s a case of practising and learning to walk the correct distance consistently and naturally.”
When you are walking distances in the arena or at a competition it’s really important that you have a consistent step and that you don’t shorten or lengthen your stride length to the distance you think it should be.
The Effect of Using Incorrect Distances
You often hear people say that the horse should be able to alter their steps to walk or trot through a line of poles. If the poles are too long, they extend the step. If they're too short, shorten the step.
There are exercises where the poles are placed randomly. The whole point of this exercise is about hoof-brain coordination, proprioception and really getting the horse thinking about where his feet are. This is fine if that’s your aim. However, if you're aiming to improve posture, regularity in the step, rhythm and lateral stability, the exercise that you need to be doing is very different and the distance needs to be right.
“I often see poles where the distances are too long - especially walk poles,” says Gillian. “As a guide with walk poles, if you can comfortably walk through the distance yourself, it's going to be right for the horse. If you have to stretch or add an extra step, it’s not right.”
The problem with working a horse through poles in walk, trot or canter at a distance that is too long is that the back will go into extension, which is not what we want. If the horse isn’t strong enough, they drop through the thoracic sling, the head will come up and the back goes into extension. A similar thing happens to the posture with trot poles that are too long. It can look a little like passage as the horse goes through the poles. This might look impressive because the horse is hovering in the air but it's not having the effect that we necessarily want through the back, even though your eye is drawn to what the legs are doing.
Gillian’s top tip
Put the poles shorter than you think, especially in walk. I'm a size seven shoe and I recommend three fairy steps for a horse that's 16.2hh – 17.2hh. For 14hh - 15hh you might want to reduce that down to two and a half or even two steps. For my two companion ponies that are 13.2hh and 12.2hh they’re walking through a two fairy step distance.
A note on raised walking poles
Often when we post a video of a horse walking over raised poles on social media the comments are usually; “The horse isn’t tracking up.” It’s important to point out the biomechanics of raised walk poles.
The aim of working a horse over a series of raised walk poles the aim isn’t to get a long overtrack. The aim is to get them to lift their legs up higher, to slow down and take more time with each leg in the air. It gets them using their core muscles more and also, for the legs that are on the ground, the lateral stability and balancing muscles. Having those distances shorter, especially if you're going to be raising them up, and especially in walk, is going to have a better benefit for core strengthening, balance, lateral stability, and increasing back rotation than if the poles are long.
Being Adaptable
It’s all well and good knowing all the distances, but it’s also important to be adaptable to ensure the distance is right for your horse. The distances in the table are the recommended standard distances, but you need to look at your horse's stride length, their strength and posture. It can be easy to get a bit stuck and say that’s the distance but if you tweak it a little and get it exactly right it will really help to improve their way of going.
How do we know if it's the right distance?
To answer this question, you need to look at where the feet are being placed in relation to the poles. It can be easier to do this if you just focus on the front feet.
If the distance is correct the foot lands midway between each pair of poles.
The distance is too short and needs lengthening if the horse lands progressively closer to each of the poles.
If the distance is too long, the horse will lose ground. He might start with the foot landing in the middle of the first two poles, and then between the second and third, he lands closer to the second pole than he does the third. And then closer to the third than he does the fourth. By the time you're at the end, he's really struggling to make that distance without putting an extra step in.
Exercise 1 – Adjusting the stride length in trot
There are pole exercises you can do to make the trot more adjustable. One exercise that Gillian recommends and is particularly effective in trot is having three sets of trot poles in a 20x40 arena on the inside track - one at A, one at C, and one across the E-B line.
The set on the E-B line are the normal trot distance for your horse (e.g. 1.5m)
The set of poles at A are a shorter distance (e.g. 1.25m)
The set at C are on a longer distance (e.g. 1.65m)
Ride a figure of eight or three loop serpentine pattern, adjusting your horse’s trot to suit each pole length. This encourages rhythm, balance, and adjustability. Each time you ride across the centre of the school you go over the poles in a nice relaxed working trot. Then you turn and collect to go through the poles at A. Back through the middle in a working trot, change the rein and ride forwards to make the distance over the poles at C.
This is an effective exercise to work on the adjustability of the trot. The secret to getting this exercise right is to change the stride length well in advance of the poles – don’t leave until you get to the poles. Establish your shorter more collected trot or medium trot once you have changed the rein.
Check the distances are correct for your horse and monitor that he is not altering his posture in a negative way especially over the lengthened stride poles where, if they are too long will encourage the horse to extend in the back, which is not what we want.
Exercise 2 - Canter Stride Adjustment
Place two single poles down the long side of the arena at least five to six strides apart.
Ride down the line in working canter and count the number of strides your horse takes. Do this a couple of times to check you are getting a consistent number of strides.
Once you are happy, collect the canter as you approach the poles with aim of adding a canter stride between them. Make sure the canter is rhythmical and consistent.
Now ride canter forwards and reduce the number of strides between the poles.
You can play about with the number of strides you get between the poles to help make the canter more adjustable, train stride control and improve the balance in canter.
“I hope this article has inspired you and helped you understand more about the power of polework. When the distances are correct,” says Gillian, “Wow, the poles can make such a difference to the horse’s way of going, balance, core stability, and posture. And of course, it’s a fun and rewarding way to work with your horse.”
The next time you lay out poles, take the time to check your distances and watch your horse – adjusting them where necessary, and of course, enjoy it!
Commentaires