About 20 years ago I was fortunate enough to take several lessons with the great horseman Ronnie Mutch. Obviously, he made a great impression on me because I can still play back those lessons in my mind. One of the real “light bulb” concepts that he introduced to me was how effectively you could use ground poles as a way to improve your jumping without pounding your horse over fences every week.
I still use ground poles and think back to those days (at the New Canaan Mounted Troop). The video below shows a useful exercise that I plan to try next time the ground is a bit softer.
I love this exercise. I usually raise the poles onto a cavaletti, just to add degree of difficulty to it. My students refer to it as the ‘circle of death’, because when i first introduced it some of them struggled with how quick things happened and how on the ball you and your horse needed to be to go around nice and smoothly on an even stride.
For those interested I have compiled a list of my top 10 gymnastics, each with a diagram and an explanation on how it works and how to set it up.
Here is the link to it: http://clear-round.com/index.php/2018/07/16/top-10-jumping-exercises/
Hope its helpful, and remember, less is always more with gymnastics. ALWAYS start really small and ONLY raise it when your horse is going through it comfortably and confidently. A process that could take several weeks.