I am interested in joining the ACTHA since we are avid trail riders.  What kind of obstacles can we all think of for training at home that are cheap but effective for things we see on the trail and beyond!! I can't wait to see the feedback and creativity on this one!

We purchased several colorful pool noodles and strung them on a heavy string between two tall trees (my daughter climbed the trees to tie off the string) and we ride the horses through the hanging pool noodles.  The mare was fine with them from the beginning.  The pony wanted nothing to do with them but has gotten better.  Our young Jersey heifer likes nosing and headbutting them when she's loose in that pasture.  It's great for the horses to be okay with walking through things that hang in their faces and bump them on the head.  Just make sure you hang them high enough that no one could get clothes-lined!

Another obstacle we came up with was we took the heavy, round, black cloth from an old trampoline we'd had (the frame was destroyed in a monster wind storm) and laid the cloth on the ground to create a big, black, scary "hole" for the horses to walk over.  It's heavier than a tarp and has held up well to multiple rides over it.

Can't wait to hear other ideas!

I have a whole long list of things that I practice doing with my girl. I'm loving this stuff and so is she..I hope, LOL. Have you been watching Americal Favorite Trail Horse on HRTV? (dish network carries it and I think cable, not direct TV)

I have been doing a few trail trials that are in my area. The ACTHA rides are a few hours from me so I haven't been to any of them yet. Hoping that someone holds a few of them closer to me so I can get to one. I normally set up a bunch of stuff in my pasture and do alot of ground work training with her to get her used to them and reacting to them calmly before I do anything mounted. As always, keep calm, slow, make things easy for them and have fun. Another thing to practice is going out in a group and having your horse wait while others are horses have moved out to "do the obstacle" and visa-versa. Have your horse move from the group to do stuff by itself because although you can do the ride in a group setting, the obstacle itself is done alone.

Here is a link to the stuff I set up in my pasture.

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/media/set/?set=a.148717698495608.31193.100000721362463&type=1

1. 1.     Mount from opposite side
2. 2.     12’ box. Walk in and do a 180 * turn
3. 3.     Narrow space to walk through. Put a ground pole down and have tall objects at entrance.
4. 4.     Bridge with object along the side.
5. 5.     Black drainage tubing, formed into circles to walk over. Have tall objects at sides.
6. 6.     Tarp made into a ditch with flower floating in it.
7. 7.     Kiddies’ pool to walk through
8. 8.     L shaped back through lined with flowers, trees, ect
9. 9.     Maze made out of ground poles or limbs to walk thru and around.
10. 10. High tire (tractor) filled with dirt that you have to jump onto with all four feet touching.
11. 11. Rope an object
12. 12. Pick up a bucket of water (balls, rocks, ect) and dump water into a barrel or onto the ground.
13. 13. Tent or T-Pee
14. 14. Fire
15. 15. Balloons and streamers
16. 16. Pick up rain slicker and put on
17. 17. Mail box to open and take out paper or other object and close door.
18. 18. 1 Straight pole on ground to walk over. Straddle, keeping the left feet on one side and right on the other.
19. 19. Umbrella
20. 20. Teeter Totter
21. 21. Step up platform
22. 22. Pool noodles on ground
23. 23. Hula Hoops to push a big ball into
24. 24. Car wash. Strips of tarp suspended above your head to walk through.
25. 25. Stacked barrels to walk through
26. 26. Flags
27. 27. Gate to open. Could be just a rope gate.
28. 28. Blow bubbles
29. 29. Log or branch to drag.
30. 30. Sprinkler
31. 31. Bags full of cans to drag or place on barrels.
32. 32. Fire crackers
33. 33. Use a tractor tire to put either both front or back legs in, then, move around tire.
34. 34. Ground poles or elevated logs to side pass
35. 35. Tarp on ground
36. 36. Cones with flags sticking out of them
37. 37. Bags or flags tied to fence or a rope fence
38. 38. Bubble wrap. Pop it close by and even place on ground to walk on
39. 39. Cap gun
40. 40. Leaf blower
41. 41. Mattress on the ground to walk on
42. 42. Milk jug with rocks in it to drag
43. 43. Ditch in ground to step over – boxed out in wood
44. 44. Plank wood to step over. 2x8”, with flowers in front of it
45. 45. Toss object (water balloon, apple, horseshoe) on to a table or bucket
46. 46. Pick up object off the ground with long pole.
47. 47. Hold pole to ground while riding around it in a circle. (Advanced-keep pole on barrel)
48. 48. Straw bales to jump over.
49. 49. Squirt gun
50. 50. Back up hill

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My ideas from an Extreme Cowboy competition I watched are:

This is GREAT!! I have been DVRing America's Favorite Trail Horse, I'm going to have to start watching them now!! How do you make a teeter totter for them to walk over?  My husband and I are trying to come up with ideas how make one that is safe...

I have not built my own teeter totter but I have used one before. The important things to remember is to make it big enough that the horse has some wiggle room, balance is the key and put something on the surface to keep it from getting too slippery when its wet out. That wood becomes a skating ring when its wet. Here are a couple of pics of me and Glis on one.

 If you look on the ACTHA site, under "our rides" there is a whole section describing the different obstacles, what they are judged on, and even videos showing good execution.

One obstacle a friend has that I really like is a blue tarp, with dirt, river rocks, a stump/log or two,  set up so that the only "blue" that shows thru looks like a little creek.  Sometimes she'll hang a hide over the stump--or (practicing for the ACTHA "Spooktacular" last weekend) a pumpkin or ghost!

I started my bridge work with just a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, then built it up on 4X6s.  To make the teeter tooter, I just add a fence post in the middle.

Just exposing your horse to lots of strange things is a plus (our last ride had a giant flourescent stuffed cobra!).  And practice all your good basic skills: backing, sidepass, gates, etc.

Good luck, and more importantly, have fun!

Saw that on the ACTHA site - I was just looking for other things that people have run into while working with their horses for whatever.

BeckieK:

Another one I was told about is a walk through full of beverage cans.  This was used in a Patrol horse desensitizing.  

Yes, I've done that too. I use pop cans and plastic water bottles. I suggest that you remove the caps off the water bottles. Because when they step on them with the top on, it makes a loud "POP" noise and may spook the horse. Glis did that in one of our clinic's and she about jumped out of her skin. LOL. So I start out with tops off and work up to the tops on.

My mare hated the vine simulator obstacle.  I hung a shower curtain in an open stall door and cut it into strands and practiced leading her through.  Also hung lead ropes from the top of the stall door for the same effect.  One event I attended had halloween decorations next to the obstacles - so it's good to introduce funky things like that.  Anything I can find to have my horse walk over - blue tarp, pieces of old carpet - whatever is safe.  I fill garbage bags with old cans and drag them behind.  I've only done the pleasure division (we even won once!!) and the obstacles so far haven't been anything out of the ordinary.   I also practice backing up and down hills and being able to do a proper circle - it's sometimes the simple things that get you.  It's a really fun activity.  You forget it's even a competition.  

Ohh that is something I wouldn't have thought of!! Good I like the different textures to get them used to change in terrain.  Our horses are so solid but you never know what they will perceive as scary!!  And its typically in the absolutely worst place to spook!!!