Pattern placement is an essential aspect of events like horsemanship or ranch riding. If you struggle with straight lines or gauging distances, it’s going to reflect in your scores. This is why I recommend incorporating a drill into your routine that will help you gain confidence and keep you from second-guessing your guiding ability in the show pen. Read on to learn more.

The best part about this four-cone steering drill is that it’s something you can do at home in any size arena or field to practice your horsemanship. All you need is four cones in the shape of a square and enough room between you and the arena fence for you to ride roughly a horse length away from the cones on all four sides. The goal of this drill is to be able to make straight lines and then guide your horse around the corner while always remaining the same distance off the cone. It sounds easy, right? But once you start incorporating transitions and rates of speed into your square, you might find yourself struggling to keep up.

While we typically use this drill to help our horsemanship riders feel more prepared in the show pen, this is a drill you can do for any type of riding. It’ll help your horse ride in a straight line, without leaning either direction, and help him stay framed up and his body engaged as you go around the corners. It’ll also help you gain the confidence you need to think on your feet in the show pen, as plans tend to change in the show pen, and you need to be able to adapt easily.

One

I’m going to have my rider stay roughly a horse length away from the cone on all four sides of her square and will have her start at a walk, walking around the outside of all four cones. This is a great way to see how your horse is handling. Since you’re in the middle of your arena, you no longer have an arena fence to help guide you around the arena. Does your horse like to stay straight when he’s in the middle of the pen? Or does he tend to lean left or right?

It’s also the time you can check in with yourself and your horsemanship. Are you sitting in the middle of your saddle? Or do you find yourself leaning into the cones as you get closer to them. It’s very common for riders who are knew to pattern events to want to gravitate to the cones that they’re heading to.

To avoid that, I have my rider keep her eyes up and forward and find a place on the wall that’s directly in front of her and have her ride to that point. If she’s looking down at the cone and not what’s in front of her, she’s more likely to end up super close to it.

Two

Once you can get around your square at the walk, you can ask for a jog. Here you can focus on how sharp your turn is. Can you get your horse to move swiftly around the cone and get straight again? Or do you need to use more hand and leg to guide your horse around the corner before getting his body in the position he needs to be.

I want my rider to look ahead, but I don’t want her to look too far ahead. Pretend you’re looking at a clock as you ride. Your eyes shouldn’t go past 10 and 2. If you look too far ahead, turn your head too much, or look down at the ground, you’re not going to be able to properly guide your horse on your current line. You’re also more likely to lean the direction you’re looking when you do that.

Three

To up the degree of difficulty, I have my rider start to incorporate transitions into her square. I continue to have her ride on the outside of all four cones for now, but in between cones two and three I have her go from the jog to the lope. From there she’ll continue to lope around the cones and work on keeping her horse straight between her legs.

This lope transition will also help the rider assess how well her horse is responding to her cues. Is he loping off when she’s asking him to? Or is he slow to respond? Does he want to move his hip to the inside of the square? Or does he stay straight between her hands and legs?

Four

I might even begin to incorporate pattern elements into the square once my rider is comfortable doing trot-to-lope and lope-to-trot transitions between markers. In this photo I ask the rider to stop once her horse’s nose is even with the cone, back and five steps.

Five

This is where it starts to get fun. If you’re able to, find a friend who can assist you by calling out different speed transitions and maneuvers as you go around the square. The goal is to immediately react, while staying the appropriate distance off the cone.

Plans frequently change in the show pen. Having to respond immediately when someone calls out a transition or maneuver will help you see how quick your response is to your horse. It also helps you have more control when things don’t go according to plan. Do you need to do steps A, B, and C first before getting to D? Or can you go directly to step D when it’s called for?

This is where you can throw in other maneuvers like spins, lead changes (both simple and flying), circles around the cones, and going across the diagonal to practice horsemanship.