Looking down over fences

[Larlotte Hunny]

This is a really bad habit I know!

When jumping I look down over the fences. I'm fine on the approach, and can keep looking ahead until quite literally the horse is in the air.

This drives my instructor mad and he's forever shouting at me to 'look up over the bloody fence!!!'

I know it's a terrible habbit and I don't realise I'm doing it until I've done it.

Has anyone got any tips to try and make sure I look UP whilst jumping?

[taffy]

as you approach the jump just think look up look up look up - works for me

[Mehitabel]

have your instructor stand at the other end of the school and hold some fingers up - they change the fingers as you approach, jump and land, and you shout out the number of fingers each time it changes.

[Larlotte Hunny]

Thats' a really good idea Es - thank you! :)

Charlie X

[IrisSilverMoon]

Since its a good idea to always look ahead in jumping you can try to pick a point in the ring you want your horse to go after the fence and look at that instead of down or right at the fence.

I have the same problem when I jump and usually thats how I fix it...:)

[Larlotte Hunny]

That's what I tried to do - thats fine for the approach and literally the stride before the jump, but once the horse has taken off I look down! :rolleyes:

Watching my instructor make odd gestures with his hands should encourage me to look up though! :D :D :D

[jUmPingIsLifE]

knot your reins, set up gymnastics and have someone stand at the end of the gymnastics do differant things with their arms like putting them behind their back, to the side, behind their head and you copy them (you gotta be looking up to see what they are doing). we do it a lot (called simon says).

we also have someone stand at the end of the gymnastics (or in front of the single jump) and hold up fingurs and you yell out how many they are holding up.

a lot of the times when jumping my instructer will randomly ask what i see. and if the answer is "a horses neck" im in a whole lotta trouble:p

[helenc]

Don't just think about looking forward, try looking all over the place so you alternate it & sometimes look left, sometimes right, sometimes diagonally, you shouldn't always be looking straight ahead, if you were jumping a course, you should be looking in the direction of the next fence so doing the above exercise should make that easier & at the same time it will get you out of the looking down habit!

[DITZ]

So are you not supposed to look at the fence at all then? I always make sure that I dont look down but I know I am looking that the fence as we approach it.

[Mehitabel]

other than looking to see where it is and that you're on the right line to approach, no. you should, ideally, be looking past it so you're not dropping your hands or head, all of which can provoke a stop or a knockdown, and as soon as you've taken off you should be looking for the next fence to get a good line to it.
of course, this is much easier said than done!

[DITZ]

That OK then, I think thats what I do. I know by take off I've stopped looking at it for sure.

[SwiftwindSpirit]

I have the same problem too, although I'm slowly improving! :D
DITZ, what my instructor gets me to do is, once I've found my straight line to the fence, I keep looking at the middle of the fence until I can no longer see the jump. Once I can't see the jump (there's usually about 2 more strides until the jump), I look beyond the jump. I usually pick something in the distance (like a huge tree) to keep my focus on, which really helps, unless I forget about what I was supposed to be focusing on, as sometimes everything just goes so fast! :rolleyes: Sometimes I'm so focused on the fence that I completely forget to look up!

[wildponies]

when i used to have lessons i looked down at the jump and my instructor told me to count down the strides b4 take off, out loud, (literally shouting them)... e.g....3....2....1.... n then u have to recognise when you're completely off the ground and shout NOW!! that took up all my concentration that i completely forgot that i was actually going over a jump, strange i know, but it worked!

[Danni]

Hi....another suggestion.....I used to have the same problem and one of my Instructors suggested looking directly between the horses ears when jumping....it does work!

[CityGirl]

What works for me is working on lots of bending lines. You can't look down over the fence b/c you need to be looking at your next jump off to the left or right in order to make the turn. It has pretty much cured me of the looking down problem.

Now if only I could figure out how to stop that jumping ahead thing;) :D :rolleyes:

[jUmPingIsLifE]

citygirl- jumping bareback on a VERY boney high witherd horse, that'll solve it right away:p

[DITZ]

Ouch!!!

I have that horse and its all I can do to walk on him bareback! Like sitting on top of a fence!