Horseback games?

Hello, I was looking for game ideas that 1-2 people could play horseback... Games that one person could play by him/herself, and games that 2 people could play...

Like for instance carry the "potato"...

Can't wait for some answers!

Horseback soccer (needs a really big blow up horse ball that can be kicked or bounced between horses and people).

Broom Polo (the grand sport of polo! Done at a walk, or trot, and of course, with a barn broom).

Either could be played solo, duo, or in company. Great for desensitizing horses too.. with something flying at them and such...

We play 'catch up' but its not REALLY a game..... It can be played a couple of ways, and I like to use it when teaching a green rider. You both ride around the arena at a walk, one right in front of the other. The first rider speeds up (we usually start by staying at the same gait) as much as they can and go around the arena until they 'catch up' to the rider who was in the back. They holler 'CATCH UP' and the rider who used to be in the back, but now is in front speeds up and goes around to catch up. You can use it to learn speed control within a gait, to work on gait transitions (the person trying to catch up goes from walk to trot, or trot to canter), or to work on horses who won't leave the group, or who get a little speedy/antsy when horses come up behind..... Most kids really enjoy it.

We also do follow the leader, usually with obstacles set up around the arena/pasture.

Ribbon race is a fun partner event. Both riders hold one end of a 3-4 foot piece of fabric or ribbon (I like to use surveyor's tape, because it stretches a bit, but then it breaks, so no risk of pulling someone off their horse). You both start at a 'start line' and run down, turn around a barrel and run back in a straight line to cross the finish line still holding the ribbon. It can be a lot harder than it sounds.

I'm not sure these were what you were looking for....

We play tag around here. The bigger the group, the better. Keeps horses on their toes, teaches quick stops and rollbacks too. Super fun.

They're great! I was just looking for something I could do by myself horseback or with 1 or 2 of my brothers... Everyone is doing fine! I love the ideas, perhaps it will give others ideas too.

Polo? I've never played it before...Can you list the basic rules?

Playing with a big ball sounds appealing.(Oh no there goes the kids ball).. You could almost pretend you're "jousting"!

You all have GREAT ideas! Maybe I can coax my neighbor to come and play...

About the tag game. What do you do with the horses that are not so eager to be buddies? Also it might be fun to play "freeze" tag... Test the horses standing still patience!

Great games! Hope you can come up with more!

Has anyone played Mother may I on their horse? I could see that as being a fun game! Red, Light Green light could be fun too...
Here the instructions I found for kids But I think one could use a horse instead...

"
One person is designated as “it” and plays the part of the stop light. The other kids line up about 20 feet away from “it.” Facing away from the other kids, “it’ calls out “Green light!” The other kids move toward “it.” “It” then calls out “Red light!” and turns around quickly. Any of the kids who are caught moving must go back to the start line. Play continues until someone reaches and tags “it.” That person then becomes “it.” The trick to winning this game is to move smoothly so that you can freeze instantly until you are within reach of “it.”
Variations
When playing with children of different ages, you may want to designate two start lines, the closer one being for the smaller kids. In one variation of this game, "it" may call out "yellow light," when means that the players can continue to move but must move slowly."




Or a person on a horse could play "what time is it MR. Fox"



It might be not as fun with only 2-3 horses but if you had a "caller outer" that could keep things lively it could be interesting...


Or maybe I could set up a mini race course with small jumps that you have to race across with a bucket full of water with a hole in the bottom...Whoever has the most water in the bottom wins...


Any more Ideas?

Ahhh, I wish you had a group just a tad bigger as I'd have lots of awesome games for you then!

But your mention of jousting made me think of an idea I once had, but was not allowed to execute (as is the case with most of my brilliant ideas)

I had this idea for jousting, where the riders would wear like white shirts (or I guess it could be and solid colored shirt) and carry a pool noodle (you know, these things), fashioned into a sword.
Each 'knight' (lol) would have a tray of different colored paint stationed and their end of the arena, they'd dip the end of their 'sword' into their paint, then line up at opposite ends of the arena, like they do in jousting. You'd then haul but towards each other, like jouster do and if you manage to get a hit, you'll know because your opponents shirt will have you paint color on it!

If you do this, I insist you have someone take pictures, so I can see my dream realized
Just be careful, hauling butt head on towards another horse that is hauling butt at you, could end pretty badly.

Maybe a person should use thickish Jello? At least the shirts wouldn't be ruined...If you used enough colors the shirt might take on a marble effect!

How many more riders would it take to use your games? The max total I might be able to get is 5...But for sure 1-3...Pony included...

We were thinking of just getting some cheap tees from walmart or something. Thought it might make an interesting tiedye. I don't know if jello would stick to the end of the pool noodles.

5 people would probably be about the minimum for the other games

One of my favorite is musical cones (or musical pole/musical barrels/whatever). Just like musical chairs except on horse back. Obviously space the cones further apart than you do chairs. Everyone rides around on the rail and when the music stops you have to get to a cone and halt. If you aren't halted, it's not your cone! Last one left without a cone is out. And so on until there's a winner. This game requires someone on the ground to control the music and remove cones.

Another favorite of mine is called Herd the Cow. Do NOT play this with any horses that kick! You could probably play this one with just 4 or maybe even 3 people.
One person and their horse are designated the 'cow'. Everyone else are the herders. The 'cow' starts at one end of the ring. The 'cows' goal is to get to other end of the ring, while the herders try to prevent it from doing so. If/when the 'cow' reaches the other end of the arena, the game ends.


I also like Steal the Bacon. There are any number of ways you could set this up, but we always put a barrel in the middle of the arena. Then place the 'bacon' on top of the barrel, which is really just an object that would be reasonably easy to grab (ie. A hard brush, a tennis shoe, whatever).
Split your group into two teams and have each team assemble at opposite ends of the arena. This game also requires a neutral party, to call the shots or a referee as I will refer to it. Assign numbers to each team member.. if you were playing with six people. Team A would have a 1 person, a 2 person and a 3 person. Team B would also have person 1, person 2 and person 3.
Once everyone is lined up and ready, the referee would yell out something like 'Team A, 2; Team B, 1; ready, go!' So, person 2 from team A and person 1 from team B, go as fast as they can to the barrel and try to grab the 'bacon'. Once you have the bacon you have to get back to your teams side with it, to score a point. BUT if the person from the other team beats you back to your teams side, the point is negated. So if it's your turn and your opponent gets the bacon before you can, you want to try to get to their teams end of the arena before they can, to block them from getting the point. If someone goes when their number wasn't called, their team loses a point.
We've also played this game, where each team only had one horse, so when the numbers were called, the rider had to quickly mount up before running to get the bacon. This made it a bit more interesting/exciting/scary for those of us supervising. The teams had to work together to help each other mount. But you should only do this with really quiet horses and the players tend to get riled up.


And of course red light, green light is fun. Basically same rules as when you play on foot. But after the 'caller' yells red light, they count to 5 out loud, to give the riders time to get stopped, and then turn around. If anyone's horse moves once they've turned around that rider must go back to the start. The first rider to get close enough to tap the caller wins.


You can also play 'Ride the Buck'. We've always played bareback, but you could do it in a saddle too. All you do is place a dollar bill (or anything else that would work. We've also used poker chips which are a bit more difficult than dollar bills), place the object under the inside of each riders thigh, about halfway between knee and hip. The rider is NOT allowed to touch the object once it has been placed. The the riders are instructed to walk, trot, canter, reverse, post, sit, whatever. The rider who manages to keep their object under their thigh the longest wins!


That's about all I can think of at the moment, I'll try to remember some more later.

Way to fun.