Arena Obstacles for Horses - The Basic Bridge

I have received quite a bit of mail in the last couple of months asking for some ideas for easy obstacles that can be used in a small arena for training or competition. I think this validates the popularity of arena obstacle competitions.

The American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA) recently developed a competitive event concept for arenas or small fields for rider's who do not have access to six miles of trail and six people who volunteer to be judges. ACTHA calls these ATHCA Arena Challenges (AOC's).

These arena obstacle challenges are really nothing new. Craig Cameron's Extreme Cowboy Association have been doing these for years, although I reckon many riders would find these events too challenging.

Whether or not you compete in or host a ACTHA challenge or Extreme Cowboy Association Race in an arena you can still set up obstacles for training,....or yourself and your horse, or for a group.  It'll help your horse learn to think and make a safer horse for the trail. 

Consider obstacles that have more than one use. Meaning an obstacle that you can negotiate in several different methods. My example for this article is the simple bridge.

The bridge in the video below is a simple re-inforced wooden pallet (wooden skid) using two additional pieces of 2 x 4 board to re-inforce the existing braces. Then a piece of plywood is cut to size and screwed down. At least 3/4 inch plywood is best to ensure a solid platform to bear the horse's weight. Wood putty can be applied over the screws to help keep them from backing out and catching on a horse's foot or shoe. It would be a good idea to inspect obstacles like this before use to make sure it's safe.

A double pallet (2 pallets high) could be constructed to make crossing it just a bit more difficult - it's going to be heavier and harder to move around, so consider this also. On some of my bridge obstacles, I have tied a rope to it so I can drag it around on horseback. It you attach a rope to your bridge, be sure not to include any loops that a horse can get his feet caught up in.

An even simplier bridge is just a plain piece of plywood. Have some caution, on whatever platform you use, that a horse's foot can't go through it. Worse case, a horse's foot goes through the wood and gets caught up in it.

So now you have a bridge for your horse to cross for one obstacle challenge. You could require the horse and rider to cross the bridge, turn around then cross again. You could stop your horse with all four feet on the platform. You could even have the rider count out loud to five to demonstrate the horse's willingness to stand still, on a loose rein, with all four feet on the bridge.

To could add a turn on the fore-end by having the horse put his front feet on the bridge then side pass a complete circle around the bridge. If a full circle is too much then maybe a quarter or half circle. For the turn on the fore end, ideally the horse's inside front foot, the foot opposite the direction the hind end is moving, stays in place (or relatively in place) as the pivot foot during the turn. In the video below, I'm taking a horse across the bridge, turn around then re-approach the bridge and ask my horse to put his front end on the bridge then side pass a circle keeping his feet in the bridge. Practically speaking, elevated turns on the ore end come in handy. There have been several times I've followed a slight trail on a steep slope only to have that trail peter out where I had to turn my horse upslope to turn around.





Lastly you could do the same with a turn on the hind end. Crossing the bride, the rider stops with the horse's back end on the platform then while keeping the back feet on the bridge, does a quarter, half or full circle turning on the hind end.....pretty much like the spin in a reining pattern.

I am going to do a couple more videos on simple arena challenges and try to have obstacles that are multiple use. For more information of arena obstacles and some videos on how they are judged, go to the ACTHA website.

Safe Journey.