I just saw a video of myself and need a few pointers

[Waikato Valuta]

I just saw a video of myself jumping and doing a few small jumps.

Ekk

At the trot I am ok but at the canter I rock. I know I am ment to but my leg seems to follow my seat so it is sort of swinging forward and back with each stride. Would this be because my stirrups are to long, as I sometimes feel I am reaching for them.

The next thing is goign over jumps. I have only been doing about 60cm and the jumps seem to come and go so quick that I dont have time to realy bend my body and put my arms forward. I do ocasionaly jerk him in the mouth but this is not too bad as I slip my reins very easily. This may be somrthing to do with the fact I didn't lengthen my stirrups for jumpping.

He is just learing to jump and is very bold but jumps this small (60cm) he just seems to step over not realy paying much atention. He is almost 18hh so they are not very big. I am slowly tring to build him up to 95cm. Top of drum height. Do you think he will start to listen and consentrate more at that height.

[LisaS]

I get my hubby to video me now and again and I sometimes cringe watching myself.

Some would say for stirrup length ride three holes shorter than usual, I normally go for two.

A balanced canter is the key to good jumping, so maybe practise canter exercises on the flat like lenghtening and shortening. When my boy started to jump I put a pole at 'B' and the other at 'C'. Trotting first in a 20m circle just to keep the rhythm. I then replaced the poles with jumps and let him go round sorting his own feet out. Do it in trot first and then when you're happy move to canter. Remeber to do it equally on both reins.

This should help you both.

Enjoy

[FreedomStar]

I think the reason your legs are swinging so much is because you are bracing on the stirrups.

As for the jumping, try approaching in a 2 point or half seat, if it won't disturb your balance, then just kind of 'fold' at the waist over the fence.

When jumping, some horses get to a pint where they don't need to jump the fence anymore. It's more like a cavaletti to them. That's fine, but if you need them to jump it then you need to do something to tell them that they need to jump it. So trot towards it as normal, and at the base of the fence give a firm squeeze, signaling to the horse that they need to use a little more power and jump over the obstacle instead of just stepping over it.