Trotting pole distances
Choose how many poles and how far apart, in feet or metres. The planner shows where each pole goes and how much of the school the line will take.
3.20 m (10 ft 6 in) of ground
4 poles, 1.07 m (3 ft 6 in) apart. Measure every gap from the middle of one pole to the middle of the next. Add the length of the poles themselves for the space across, and room to ride straight in and out.
| Pole | From the first pole | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Pole 1 | 0.00 m (0 ft 0 in) | start |
| Pole 2 | 1.07 m (3 ft 6 in) | 1.07 m (3 ft 6 in) |
| Pole 3 | 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) | 1.06 m (3 ft 6 in) |
| Pole 4 | 3.20 m (10 ft 6 in) | 1.07 m (3 ft 6 in) |
Published starting gaps, to try and then adjust to your horse: trot poles 5 ft (John Thelwall in Your Horse); short trot or jog 3 ft 6 in (Wikipedia, Cavalletti (3 to 3.5 ft)); slow canter 6 ft 6 in (Wikipedia, Cavalletti (6 to 7 ft)).
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Which distance to start with
There is no one right distance. In Your Horse, coach John Thelwall says the distance "will vary depending on your horse's horse size and their stride length". He sets trotting poles 5 ft apart, and says himself that "This is a little longer than other trainers recommend".
Wikipedia's page on cavalletti gives 3 to 3.5 ft for a shorter trot or jog, 6 to 7 ft for a slow canter, and 9 to 12 ft on the approach to a jump. Those are the starting gaps linked under the planner. Try one, watch your horse, and move the poles.
Raised poles
For raised poles, Thelwall uses "a maximum of six poles with a distance of 5ft between each one", raised "to a maximum of 9 inches off the ground". He keeps the first and last pole on the ground "at a slightly shorter distance of 4ft 6in from the next pole". Tick the box in the planner to lay that out.
He also says you need "at least four trotting poles laid out, up to a maximum of eight" for your horse to settle into a rhythm.
How the planner works
It is plain arithmetic. One foot is 0.3048 m, so 5 ft is 1.52 m. Four poles 5 ft apart have three gaps, so the line from the first pole to the last is 4.57 m. The table gives each pole's place from the first, so you can pace it out or lay a tape along the ground.
Sources
Your Horse: How to measure out trotting poles correctly (2 June 2022); Wikipedia: Cavalletti. Both read 30 October 2026.