This month I cant believe that I am still bleating on about peoples use of the school, before the 1921 Olympics I could understand how hard it could have been to be creative because of the lack of arena markers but now there are markers, why is it still prevalent and even compelling to wander round the outside of the track with an occasional wander across the center line or even the odd circle. Whenever I hear some say my horse finds the school boring I am never surprised because if that were my experience of the school I wouldn't even take my rider in! 
                     Reading is a good start, there are many books on schooling now and plenty of articles within magazines for ideas, we are responsible for making the horses work interesting, the amount of horses we have schooled who just cling to the side and get mentally exhausted very quickly when we ride them between our legs is a little upsetting. As a general rule the rider need to get a conversation going with their horse with enough exchanges that the horse is always asking what next, don't just drip round without telling the horse what is next because they will get bored.
            Here is just one simple exercise to get you all started: The block serpentine; imagine a loop serpentine with as many loops as your riding space will allow but divide it into equal spaces, we will simply ride up to one end and then repeat returning to where we started, first make sure you have impulsion in your chosen gait, ride an accurate corner off the track riding a straight line to the next three quarter line and then ride your opposite turn to travel to the next turn, turn off the track and at the three quarter line make sure your riding perpendicular from the arena boundary, prepare for your next turn and repeat, the geography of this exercise is not as important as the accuracy or the deliberate delivery of aids. When turning don't give away your outside hand, don't fix all the aids ,keep them flexible and attentive, remember to listen to how your horse responds and react in both directions of force; both more and LESS. Ride your horse straight with your legs by equally asking for equal impulsion from Both hind legs don't pull them around. The body and the legs set the directions with a small hint at the turn not pulling and remember inside to outside hand. Remember to have fun and vary this exercise and keep it simple. K.I.S.S.