100 Things To Do With Your Horse

This guide lists 100 fun horse activities you can do with your horse, including groundwork, riding exercises, trail ideas, and creative bonding projects for riders of many levels.

At A Glance: Types Of Horse Activities On This List

• Quiet time, basic care, and low-key bonding with your horse
• Groundwork, handling skills, and confidence-building exercises
• Riding position, flatwork patterns, and dressage-inspired activities
• Poles, small jumps, and simple gymnastic exercises
• Trail riding and outside-the-arena ideas
• Grooming, style, and just-for-fun creative projects
• Gear practice, learning days, video, and show goals

How To Beat Boredom With Your Horse

You beat boredom with your horse by deliberately changing your routine, adding new groundwork and riding challenges, and mixing in creative bonding time. Many riders drift into a rut of grooming, riding the same pattern, cooling out, and going home, which feels stale for both the rider and the horse.

• Safety basics for new activities:
  • Always wear an approved riding helmet for mounted work.
  • Know your current skill limits and stay within them.
  • Learn new skills on the ground first before trying them under saddle.
  • Wear gloves for groundwork that might get energetic or spooky.

Rotating between groundwork, quiet hang-out time, simple training games, and schooling rides keeps your horse mentally fresh and strengthens your relationship.

Quiet Time & Basic Care Horse Activities

Quiet-time horse activities let you connect with your horse on low-energy days while still building trust and observation skills.

• Hang out with your horse in its field
• Grooming (brushing)
• Pick out your horse’s feet
• Give your horse a bath
• Give your horse a massage
• Have a complete spa day with your horse (deep grooming, conditioning, and pampering)
• Hand graze your horse
• Find your horse’s favorite itching spot
• Give your horse a hug
• Check your horse’s pulse and temperature

Groundwork, Handling & Confidence Builders

Groundwork activities improve communication with your horse, increase safety on the ground, and build your horse’s confidence with new situations. The good news is there are a lot of different groundwork exercises to strengthen your bond riders can do with their horses to keep things engaging.

• Practice saddling your horse, and then do not ride
• Get your horse used to being sprayed, like fly spray or shine spray
• Clip your horse’s bridle path
• Practice bridling and unbridling your horse calmly
• Take your horse for a walk, like you would walk a dog
• Work on backing up in hand (horse steps back from light cues)
• Teach your horse to move away from pressure in hand (yield to halter or hand cues)
• From the ground, walk a dressage pattern with your horse
• Take your horse for a jog in hand
• Lunge both directions and move all around the arena
• Back your horse over a ground pole in hand
• Back your horse through a simple pattern in hand
• Desensitize your horse to a plastic bag (noise and movement confidence)
• Desensitize your horse to a tarp or water jump (footing and visual confidence)
• Learn how to ground drive your horse (steer from behind using long lines)
• Get your horse to bend without using your reins (respond to leg and body position)
• Back your horse in a circle
• Practice loading and unloading your horse into a trailer without going anywhere
• Drag your arena and then work your horse through clear patterns in the fresh footing
• Teach your horse to lower its head for haltering and bridling
• Teach your horse to smile (lift upper lip on cue)
• Teach your horse to bow (lower front end with one leg extended)
• Teach your horse the Spanish walk (high, deliberate foreleg steps on cue)
• Teach your horse to come when called
• Teach your horse different stretches (carrot stretches for neck and body)
• Practice yielding the hindquarters and forehand from the ground (move hips and shoulders sideways)
• Practice leading your horse past mildly scary objects calmly

Riding Basics & Position Practice

Position-focused horse activities improve how you ride and help your horse understand clearer, more consistent aids.

• Practice mounting and having your horse stand still
• Work on inside rein and outside leg in the arena or on the trail
• Ride in a two point position and time how long you can hold it
• Practice a three point position and time how long you can hold it
• Perfect your sitting trot (quiet seat that follows the motion)
• Practice rising trot (posting rhythmically with your horse)
• Learn how to feel the correct diagonal while in rising trot (rise when the outside shoulder moves forward)
• Drop and pick up your stirrups without looking down
• Walk without stirrups
• Trot without stirrups
• Ride in two point without stirrups
• Canter on your horse in a balanced seat
• Practice walk to canter transitions (no trot steps in between)
• Practice half halts (brief rebalancing cues without losing impulsion)
• Practice sitting on your horse at the halt in a neutral, aligned position
• Try to touch your toes while in the saddle to stretch and improve balance
• Have someone lunge you and your horse so you can drop reins and focus on position
• Remove the stirrups from your saddle for one ride to build an independent seat
• Ride for 15 minutes longer than you normally do to build stamina
• Ride to music to improve rhythm and relaxation
• Ride bareback for balance and close contact
• Ride with a neck rope (steer using seat and leg aids)
• Ride on a loose rein and let your horse choose where to go in a safe arena

Flatwork, Patterns & Dressage-Inspired Fun

Flatwork patterns give you and your horse specific shapes and exercises that build balance, suppleness, and precision.

• Learn how to counter canter (canter on the outside lead on a curve)
• Learn how to do a flying lead change (change canter leads in the air without trotting)
• Practice a side pass in both directions (horse moves sideways without forward steps)
• Learn how to do a shoulder in (horse bends around inside leg, travels on three tracks)
• Learn how to do a shoulder out (haunches on the track, shoulders displaced inward)
• Practice walking a straight line down the arena
• Trot a perfect circle (even size and tempo, usually 20 meters)
• Canter a perfect circle (maintain balance and consistent bend)
• Ride an introductory dressage test (simple pattern judged on accuracy and basics)
• Spiral in on a circle (gradually decrease the circle size while keeping the bend)
• Ride a regular serpentine pattern (series of connected half circles)
• Trot a figure 8 pattern (two equal circles with a smooth change of bend)
• Find a horsemanship pattern and practice it (pattern tests precision and responsiveness)
• Ride a cloverleaf barrel pattern (four-leaf shape around three barrels)
• Ride a reining pattern (western pattern with circles, spins, and sliding stops)

Poles, Jumps & Gymnastic Play

Pole work and tiny jumps improve your horse’s coordination, stride control, and strength even if jumping is not your main discipline.

• Walk your horse through a simple obstacle pattern using cones and poles
• Lunge your horse over ground poles to encourage rhythm and reach
• Lunge your horse over a small jump or cavaletti (low, raised pole for coordination)
• Build a gymnastic and jump it (line of small fences at set distances)
• Jump a small jump without stirrups to test balance and security

Trail & Outside-the-Arena Horse Activities

Trail riding and outdoor activities expose your horse to new environments and build real-world confidence.

• Go for a trail ride at a walk or with gentle trot and canter
• Walk your horse up and down hills to build hind-end strength
• Open and close a gate while mounted
• Ride your horse through water such as puddles or a shallow stream
• Ride your horse to your mailbox if your property allows
• Ride with a friend and practice passing and leading on the trail
• Practice transitions between gaits while out on the trail

Fun And Creative Things To Do With Your Horse

Creative and style-focused horse activities add variety, help desensitize your horse, and create fun memories.

• Braid or band your horse’s mane
• Learn how to braid your horse’s tail safely
• Make a costume for your horse for photos or events
• Have a photography session with your horse and print and hang a favorite photo
• Groom your horse like you are going to a horse show using a full show grooming prep routine
• Make homemade horse treats for your horse
• Make or buy a toy for your horse

Gear, Skills & Learning-Focused Activities

Gear and learning-focused horse activities help you handle equipment correctly and expand your skill set.

• Learn how to do a turn on the forehand (horse pivots around front feet, moves hindquarters)
• Learn how to do a turn on the haunches (horse pivots around hind feet, moves shoulders)
• Learn how to apply polo wraps (protective bandages on lower legs)
• Practice putting boots on your horse’s legs correctly
• Try riding a different discipline with your horse
• Try riding bitless (use a hackamore or bitless bridle)
• Take a professional lesson with your horse to get expert feedback

Video, Shows & Extra Motivation

Video, virtual shows, and structured goals keep you and your horse motivated and accountable over time.

• Video record your ride and then watch it, using a hands-free auto-tracking camera if available such as auto-tracking Pivo pods for riders
• Film your ride and have a friend or coach critique it, or explore why every rider should film rides regularly
• Enter an online horse show with your horse
• Set a riding or training challenge with your horse and track progress over a month

Comparison: Groundwork vs Riding Horse Activities

Frequently Asked Questions

What can you do with your horse when you cannot ride?

When you cannot ride, you can focus on groundwork, grooming, stretching, and relationship-based activities with your horse. Hand grazing, in-hand walking, desensitizing sessions, and simple trick training keep your horse engaged without putting you in the saddle.

What are good groundwork activities for horses?

Good groundwork activities teach your horse to lead politely, yield to pressure, and stay calm around new objects. Backing in hand, yielding the hindquarters and forehand, ground driving, lunging over poles, and leading past mildly scary objects all build confidence and respect.

How do you keep your horse from getting bored?

You keep your horse from getting bored by changing the routine regularly and mixing groundwork, arena work, and trail rides. Adding new patterns, cavaletti exercises, obstacles, and short training games helps your horse use its brain and body in fresh ways.

What fun things can you do with your horse on the ground?

Fun ground activities include teaching tricks, obstacle courses, and creative grooming sessions with your horse. You can teach a smile or bow, set up a tarp and cones to walk through, practice stretches, and do a photo session or costume day.

What can beginners do with a horse besides riding?

Beginners can safely do basic grooming, simple leading, and easy in-hand exercises with a horse under guidance. Quiet hand grazing, learning to pick out feet, walking over ground poles in hand, and checking vital signs all build skills without advanced riding experience.

Conclusion: You Will Never Run Out Of Horse Activities

With a mix of quiet bonding, groundwork, riding exercises, trail ideas, and creative projects, you and your horse will not run out of activities on either riding or non-riding days.