How Many Times a Week Should I Do Pole Work?
A great question!
But as always with horses, there are at least 10 variables we need to consider.
The Variables You Need to Assess
For the Horse:
Does the horse have any pain? If yes - vet first, then bodyworker
What is the horse's posture like?
What is the horse's age?
What experience does the horse have with poles?
Is pole work the right step at this stage for what my horse needs?
For the Rider:
What's my state like today? Am I calm? Stressed? Annoyed?
What is my skill level like?
Do I know why I am doing this exercise?
Do I know the signs of progress?
Do I know the signs of fatigue?
A Real Example: Fiona and Benny
Fiona, a client I'm working with online, asked me this exact question.
We went through it together, question by question.
Her horse Benny:
Pain? No - vet and bodyworker cleared him last month
Posture: 16.2hh Irish draft with 3 correct paces, but noticeably weaker through the left ribcage and left hind
Age: Only 7 - young for a draft
Pole experience: Had jumped in Ireland, but only a handful of pole exercises in the 6 months since Fiona owned him
Right step? This is where it got interesting.
Based on everything above, ridden pole work wasn't the answer.
Benny needed to build strength through that left side without a rider's weight creating compensation patterns.
The plan: Ground work. Two sessions per week. One pole in walk with no rider for two weeks, gradually building to six poles over eight weeks.
Then we looked at Fiona:
State: I asked her to log her mood, energy, and how she felt for one week. Even in just seven days, we spotted the pattern - when she skipped breakfast, her patience dropped. Her energy crashed around 4pm every day.
Skill level: Over 30 years with horses, great groundwork knowledge, 10+ years long lining experience
Why: Yes, we discussed in detail
Signs of progress: Yes
Signs of fatigue: Yes
The Insight That Made Me Smile
Here's what made me smile during this session.
Fiona has incredible experience and knowledge. She could have done ridden pole work just fine.
But that wasn't what Benny needed right now.
The joy in her voice when she realized ground work was the answer told me everything. She wasn't disappointed. She was relieved.
Because she already knew how to do this brilliantly - she just needed permission to trust what she was seeing in her horse instead of following a generic "pole work twice a week" rule.
What This Teaches Us
This is what The Horse Listener framework does. It gives you a process for reading what your specific horse needs right now, not what the training plan says you should be doing.
When you know how to observe, ask, test, and adjust based on what your horse shows you, you stop second-guessing yourself and start making confident decisions that actually serve your horse.
⤥ Learn more about The Horse Listener: https://www.nikavorster.com/the-horse-listener
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