Laura Collett gridwork

Laura shares her simple grid that'll sharpen up your skills

The great thing about this grid is that it’s suitable for all horses, which is really handy for me when I have so many rides at varying stages in their education. It can be easily tailored to suit your horse’s ability and experience, and will work every part of his body without the wear and tear that comes from bigger fences or lots of courses.

By working through the layout gradually and keeping the fences at a comfortable height for your horse, you’ll see improvements in his agility and co-ordination.

Set it up

For this exercise you’ll need 12 poles and six sets of wings. It’s a progressive exercise, and you’ll end up with two cross-poles on a bounce distance, then one stride to an oxer, followed by one stride to two more cross-poles on a bounce striding. 

I set up this type of grid on the centre line in the middle of the arena so it can be jumped from both reins and directions.