Optimal accessories for safe riding

Mounting blocks

Mountain blocks are a widely used method to minimise the strain on the horse's back during mounting, as conventional mounting is a physical and nervous strain on the horse every time. When mounting from the ground without assistance, the rider uses leverage to heave himself into the saddle, thereby unbalancing his horse. The strain on the horse's back is more than twice as great as when using a mounting aid.

In addition, the rider rotates the saddle around the centre of gravity when pulling up. This creates torques that distort the horse's body on one side and twist the vertebrae. You can see the most adventurous things in indoor riding arenas, from wooden crates to home-made steps to upturned buckets. This does nothing for the safety of horse and rider. The industry clearly offers safer options here. But all these aids have one thing in common. They are always standing around in the riding arena.

This can be remedied by mounting aids that are integrated into the kick wall like the CURVE folding mounting block. They are folded down by the rider and automatically close back into the kick board after mounting. This keeps the riding arena clear, which is particularly important for everyone's safety in busy riding arenas, e.g. during riding lessons or when preparing for competitions.

Gates

The openings in the kick wall are closed with gates. A distinction is made between sliding gates and swiveling gates. 
Sliding doors are used where horses are worked with or where the riding arena is entered. Kick wall CURVE sliding doors are easy to operate and are manufactured up to a width of 4 metres.

Swiveling doors are used where the tractor with track leveller for riding surface maintenance or other machines drive into the riding arena. Swiveling gates are also used for escape doors. For the CURVE kick wall, the swiveling gates are manufactured with special hinges with three-dimensional adjustment options, which ensure that no edges protrude and the gates do not close by themselves. 

Path and circle points

They are bolted to the kick wall in many riding arenas: track and circle points. They mark the points in the arena where dressage riders begin or end their lessons. The points make the performances in the arena comparable and make it easier for riders, judges and spectators to orientate themselves in the arena and within the task being ridden.
Dressage letters are available in various designs, made of plastic, metal or stainless steel, for riding arena dimensions of 20 m x 40 m and 20 m x 60 m.

The order of the letters is memorised with mnemonic devices such as 

All King Victor's Expensive Show Horses Can Make Really Big Pony Farts.

or All King Edward’s Horses Can Manage Big Fences.

This orientation in the dressage arena has existed since the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.