When your horse can't see a stride..

[Daffy Dilly]

Daffy struggles with jumping straights. He jumps really nicely over spreads, and fine over crosspoles, but of a 12 jump course, 8/9 of them are straights, so that doesn't help us much!

Basically he either tries to take a stride out, or to fit another in. Tried a ground pole, no ground pole, putting the jump up to 2'6 where it should be easy enough to see..

Suggestions? Is this going to be something I have to take over, or will he get it (I'm sure he had it before!) with practise?

[ashlingm]

do lota and lota of grid work! ive found if theres any humping problem i have grid work works wonders...if that doesnt work id do to a instructor and see if theres any thing they can do

[Painting Horses]

I'll 2nd gride work, it did an amazing job with D. He would do the same thing. Something else you can try in about 6 ground poles and lift the last one. D really had fun with this and I can't remember jumping so smoothly.

[Daffy Dilly]

We only have 8 poles (two sets of wings) so grid work is reasonably difficult...

as 4 of them are only 2' long, a pole was stood on and broken recently. :rolleyes:

I might take the straights back down to 1ft, I don't recall him having problems back then.

[Iron Maiden]

Loose jumping or jumps on the lunge should help, he'll have to see a stride for himself then! Grid as the other say will help him with his agility. Also, make sure he's not on his forehand - about 3-4 strides from the jump, hook him a little back & get his bum under him. That way if he needs to adjust his stride he should be balanced enough to do so.

[Painting Horses]

You can maybe set up two 2' jumps and then you'll have 6poles left. Place one, one stride before each jump and you can put the others before the first jump? OR have two different jumps and then place 3 poles before each jump lol.

[ashlingm]

do u have any old cas canisters or barrels lying around - no the best but when you need a couple of jumps there better then nothing. or renting out an area in a riding school -mine does it for 10euro an hour

[Iron Maiden]

do u have any old cas canisters or barrels lying around

Ermmm no not gas canisters. They are pressure vessels (even if 'empty' they will have a residual pressure in them) and if you damage the canister or regulator enough there might be a great big bang. If it's flammable gas there might be a flash too. Not recommended. Please stick to crates, barrels etc!

[ashlingm]

oh ok, the tops of them are missing so air is free to flow in and out...just found them at the back of our sheds...dont use them much - bit too small. but thanks for the tip

[Iron Maiden]

Phew! That's OK then. Panic over!

[Daffy Dilly]

We don't anyway. And 4 of the poles are only 2ft long, so no use to anybody!

[PinkGlamourGurl]

try putting a cross under a straight

so like

__
X

So you use the same wings so its not a spread, but it looks kinda like a cross. Or make a star jump thing like

-X-
Sorry my drawings are a bit naff!

Just a thought, no idea if it would work! :p

[kirstie]

I have a similar problem to amba, she used to always add strides in, but i think now has started to take a stride out.

This link might be of use?

http://lorienstable.com/articles/jumping/150-the_horse/

[Rips]

You can do a 'grid' with just two jumps and a canter pole in between.

Make the first a nice spread with the first jump set as a crosspole, so that he'll get the first part right, then have 3 strides and a canter pole, 3 strides and the last jump - a straight. For the canter pole, you can put two short poles end to end.

What size of an arena are you jumping in?

I find Mocha's natural ability to pick a stride has gone to pot since we've only been riding in a small arena. If she's lucky there is a max distance of 3.5 strides availible from the turn, so we have to be spot on all the time. It sucks! (or maybe its my riding as it degenerates... :o )

[sonnet]

Loose jumping or jumps on the lunge should help, he'll have to see a stride for himself then! Grid as the other say will help him with his agility. Also, make sure he's not on his forehand - about 3-4 strides from the jump, hook him a little back & get his bum under him. That way if he needs to adjust his stride he should be balanced enough to do so.

Agreed, but I woudl suggest getting his bum under him in the flatwork before jumping, not just 3-4 strides out, but all the time. :)

[Iron Maiden]

Thing is, sometimes even a well schooled horse that works well can 'run down' into a jump & this puts them on their forehand. You don't want to be trying to correct this right in front of the jump because you'll interfere with the jump. Setting them up 3-4 strides out I find is the best way to stop this happening, especially xc when they tend to get a bit 'onward bound' but for sj it can still be useful.

[sonnet]

Thing is, sometimes even a well schooled horse that works well can 'run down' into a jump & this puts them on their forehand. You don't want to be trying to correct this right in front of the jump because you'll interfere with the jump. Setting them up 3-4 strides out I find is the best way to stop this happening, especially xc when they tend to get a bit 'onward bound' but for sj it can still be useful.

I can see your point, but I'd try to working correctly all the way in, and for XC I tend to collect about 8 strides out from the gallop, bring more impulsion and less speed, then about 4 strides out sit down, legs on and ride in.

[Iron Maiden]

Interesting! For what it's worth - my sj philosphy is 3 strides out, fence belongs to horse, let horse focus - no interfering! Hence set up then ride quiet. For xc on the horse I compete, I can't afford to check back that far out, he's a flying cob but he needs to motor on or we'd never get the time! As it is we are usually bang on, last time we were a couple of seconds inside which is a record. I guess we do what works for us & our neds.

[Ali_fewins]

is your horse fully balanced in his canter?

Are you getting him in on the right stride each time?

How experienced is he?

Person above said 3 strides out fence belongs to the horse? i sort of agree but dont..you can still change things if you have too, and you still have to support, and keep your leg on..well i have to anyway, if i don't 1 of mine will spook and end up balloning it, and the other will prob relax and have it down. Supose its about knowing your horse.

[Daffy Dilly]

is your horse fully balanced in his canter?

Are you getting him in on the right stride each time?

How experienced is he?

Most of the time, but not collected

Errrr...

Not particularly experienced, but tries and looks after me. 15, but couldn't jump when previous owners got him, they began teaching it on the lunge, then I've started it under saddle. So he's been lightly jumped for the last 2 years at competitions, and then we've done a bit at home since August, albeit only small stuff until recently due to no saddle, or confidence. He won't jump on the lunge/freeschooling, only does it once then runs out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Daffydilly/th_capture0016.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Daffydilly/?action=view&current=capture0016.flv)

It's old (from early last year when we didn't jump at home and he was knackered/hot) but I'm not sure we've improved massively since. He doesn't look at jumps so much as he goes over them, and we do canter, but he tends to lose impulsion on the approach, and I help him out about the same amount as I did then.

[sonnet]

Interesting! For what it's worth - my sj philosphy is 3 strides out, fence belongs to horse, let horse focus - no interfering! Hence set up then ride quiet. For xc on the horse I compete, I can't afford to check back that far out, he's a flying cob but he needs to motor on or we'd never get the time! As it is we are usually bang on, last time we were a couple of seconds inside which is a record. I guess we do what works for us & our neds.


I've had to adjust a horse within 3 strides before to avoid what would have been an awful jump which could have resulted in an accident. Oh right re: your XC, I've always had the opposite problem- as you said, different strokes for different folks, or neddies anyway :)