Teaching Bounces-week 1

[fishiz3434]

I'm planning on eventing with my horse Jessie(17yr, 15.1hh, arab) and have been teaching her to jump up to 70cm successfully and have just started doing double bounces with her which we are both picking up very quickly. It was my fist time at measuring out two canter strides between the jumps and getting her over the 1st one strait so that she was perpared for the second, and getting more impulsition and less rush etc and i've been so proud of us both but i have some q's
1) wats the best way of judging how far each stride is betwen the jumps
2) should the bigger jump be 1st or 2nd or doesn't matter or both same
3) other than trotting poles and cross bars what are good ways of introducing the bounces (i will want to be doing three one day)
4) how can i make the second jump if it is smaller(she only likes the big ones) look more fun lol as she has a habit of loosing impultion and cat leaping over the smaller jumps cos she doesn't seem to think they are worth it no matter how much i push her into it. keeping in mind i only have 1 pole, four barrels (on there sides) and 6 car tires in a small arena

thanks to anyone who helps
:)

[CER1389]

I'm at school, doing this quickly before the lesson ends!

Either make the jumps the same height, or the second one larger.

Start with a flat pole and then a x pole.
Then raise the first pole so you have two jumps.
Build up the height like that.
(From that soudns of it, thats what you've been doing!)

Striding wise - a horses canter stride is 4 large human steps. 2 large human steps are the equivalent to landing/taking off.
So if you wanted 1 stride in between the two fences then you need 8 large human steps (as if you're pacing something out, not a normal walk!).
But for a bounce you need 4 large strides - enough for landing and taking off, but not big enough for a stride.

I'm not explaining this well as my lesson is about to end! Hope it helps anyway, and feel free to PM/reply to this thread if I can help any more!

[KateWooten]

There's really quite a lot to it - figuring out your own horse's current stride, measuring it all out, exercises for adjusting the stride ... if I were you, working without an instructor, I'd just go ahead cough up the ten pounds or so for a good book. I've used 101 Jumping Exercises, and found it very good. It takes you through all the basic gymnastics in a very steady, systematic way, and as you go through it, all your questions just kind of fall into place. It spends a long old time on ground pole exercises though - I skipped a bunch of that.

[dilaika]

One thing to do to try and stop her from getting bored and being casual is to put things up and down. If you can get a "jump crew" (usually a long-suffering friend), jump it a couple of times, putting the first or second jump (switching off) from an x-rail to a vertical or up and down, also keep doing it from different directions and different approaches, also switching up what you do afterward (go one way, go the other way, halt, trot, etc). That way, she can't anticipate and get bored.

In general, the second jump is the higher one, but you can switch it up. You can also try making the second one a small oxer (putting it up and down) to make her pay attention.

[fishiz3434]

thanks everyone! CER1389- i understood it all :)