✨ Try our first set of obstacles for refining your skills leading up to competition #15 ✨

Exercise #1 will be based on the Two Barrels, Gate, and the Kiwi Pickup – with extras to help your training.

Use what you have on hand to replicate the design – Maree has designed these using poles, but you can use cones, a line of blocks/brushes/milk cartons etc, or rope on the ground to mimic the lines. Use something visible to the camera if you are filming it to be submitted for feedback.

Two Barrels Within a Square

This first obstacle consists of Two Barrels setup within the corners around a square. It is ridden as if doing the Two Barrels, but with a square instead of a circle. Find the balance of your horse to prepare you to make balanced circles when putting these skills into riding the circles of the Two Barrels obstacle.

How to Ride Squares in the Two Barrels

This exercise is ridden twice. Once where a halt is completed at each corner (X), then a second time through with no halts and showing a few strides of straight on each side of the square.

• Enter and pass first between the barrels.
• Complete a full square on the left
• Pass between the barrels
• Complete a full square on the right
• Pass between the barrels and exit.

Two Barrels Setup

Gaits for Two Barrels

Intro	Prep	Prelim	Novice	Elem	Med
walk or trot	walk or trot	trot	canter	canter	canter

Gate with Pole Guides

Next is the Gate. Setup with poles (or other items on hand) to guide the horse into position and facilitate a straight backup. For a right-handed execution place the entry point slightly to the right, leaving room to quarter turn and stop parallel to the rope pickup point. Left handed riders place the entry slightly left.

Do the gate of your level.

Introductory

Approach the gate at right angle toward centre, quarter turn and halt at the latch. While the horse remains immobile, rider takes reins into one hand and lifts rope with the other (hand nearest gate), replaces the rope, and regathers the reins then depart forward.

Preparatory

Options:

1. Perform the first part of the gate with the rope, but end with hanging up rope at hinge end (opposite to latch).
2. Without rope, execute a full gate pattern without holding rope (movements to replicate pick up and latching)
3. Full gate as for levels Preliminary and up.

Gate Setup

The photo shows a side view – we would like to see filming done from either end of the gate so that the straightness can been seen in the movements done parallel to the Gate (reverse movements).

Kiwi Pickup

Place the camera at the end of the second barrel. There are no poles to setup. You will do this exercise twice with different requirements:

• You will do one time past with halt at the first barrel and pickup the object, return to the gait of your level, then halt to place the object on the second barrel, depart with a transition to the gait of the obstacle.
• On the second time do not halt to pickup or place the object on the second barrel.

Gaits for the Kiwi Pickup

Intro	Prep	Prelim	Novice	Elem	Med
walk	walk or trot	walk or trot	walk or canter	walk or canter	walk or canter

📹 If submitting for panel feedback, you may film all three parts as one video or submit them as 3 separate videos (per obstacle). Ensure filming is not too far and not too close! The setup of all the marked lines should be visible in order to help us give you accurate feedback.

💰 Exercise submission fee: $30 per horse/rider or handler combination
(No charge until your video is submitted)

📅 Exercises are judged as they are received.
📥 Submissions open June 2026
🎥 You may submit Exercise 1 (June) and Exercise 2 together

🖥️ Submission details are available on our website.
🎉 Discount available for competition #15 entry with each exercise June/July/August submission!