Feeling down about jumping.

[Elvengirl]

I am often reading on here of people who regularly jump 1.20m and 1.30m and that is HUGE. I am now feeling like the crap rider of the century as I find 1.00 to be massive and so many people jump bigger all the time. So..my question is...how long have you been jumping, not in years, but in saddle-time, and what height do you jump?
I'm starting to wonder if I'm really no good at jumping (even though I love it and will always do it!) as I can never see distance to bigger jumps!
I have been jumping 2-3 times a week and show 4-5 times a year for about 3 years and can only jump a 3ft course with a couple 3'3 (.90 - 1.10m jumps) jumps (I was able to walk, trot, canter for a few years before I started jumping). I have jumped 3'9 but it was out of a grid so it doesn't count. Is this good progress? do I need to work harder? I really don't know how to gauge myself. I sometimes feel like I've improved and then I go and do something dumb like miss a million distances and bother my poor horsey.
Just curious about other's progress. I know everyone progresses at their own pace and stuff, but I have really devoted all my time and energy into this sport and sometimes I feel very silly and talentless.

[WelshJumper]

It dosent matter how big a jump is, its weather you and your horse ar enjoying it, my mum is fritand of jumping a 1ft X pole, yet i jump semi pro.

Just enjoy what you are jumping and dont over do it as you might knock your confance and the horses {sp}

[alwaysfallingof]

I don't really jump any higher than 2ft 6/2ft 9, and I've never been around a course that's any bigger than 1ft 6. I enjoy jumping this high, but if it gets any bigger then I just don't enjoy it as much, as it seems so much scarier. And this is only ever on very reliable ponies.
Regards striding, I never even try! I just leave pony to sort it out because he knows what he's doing better than I do :o. And although I haven't been jumping for as long as you have, I'm sure that even if I carry on for another 20 years I'll never want to go any higher. Its all about finding the height that YOU feel confident jumping, and if you like going around 3ft courses, but others like jumping 5ft something, then that doesn't lessen your achievement at all, and certainly shouldn't lessen your enjoyment of it.

I guess the only advice I can really give is to keep doing what you like doing, and if you really want to jump higher and higher, then there WILL come a time when things will click and you will start to see what you've been missing (In your case to see distances to HUGE fences :) ) Its just a matter of time. But even if it does take a while, don't get too despondant, and enjoy the heights and courses that you're jumping now. :)

[WelshJumper]

Whear abouts in london are you? as im Walthamstow nr epping forest. Do you ride at a riding school, share or own a pony?

[Tetra]

I jumped for nearly 5 years without truly understanding how to see a distance. I finally got one instructor who just had the right method (and a wonderful school horse for me to learn on). Different instructors and friends had earlier tried to help me with distances but this one teacher's method just really clicked for me. Even now that I have a solid hold on judging distances I can sometimes miss, it happens to everyone, and sometimes even the professionals can misjudge a distance! So don't let that get you down. Maybe you could try working with a couple different people/horses on your distances and you'll get lucky like me and find a match!

It certainly sounds like you're moving along fine! Not just any beginner can jump the 3 foot fences you have been jumping, so obviously you have been improving.

[Sophini]

I'm one of those annoying people who will kick on and jump any height and always have done - my biggest achievement to date is a course at 1.45m. I think i get a lot of my guts from having known jumping poines and from hunting when a lack of brake smeant i had to jump some huge fences!!

The height isn't the thing with jumping though, it is all about rhythm and control, which is why flatwork is so important. Your canter should be one constant unchanging rhythm then the jumps just come up in between and you pop over them. For spread fences you may have a more forward stride but that doesn't mean your rhythm or speed change.

Once you've got the hang of jumping a course really well at about a metre and your horse is confident and jumping smoothly, maintaining rhythm, then seeing strides becomes automatic and you can put the jumps up bit by bit. The one thing you find with bigger jumps is as the horse makes a bigger shape you may loose some balance in the air, so maybe try putting up 2 of3 fences in a course of 6 till you get used to it.

Like all things it's just practice!

Have fun!

JJ.

[jumpinizmything]

ive been riding 11 years since i was 7 and i can only just jump 4ft. 3ft is huge and u should be proud of your self. do u have lessons or have you got you own horse?

i could be ** horse that is unable to jump bigger, or is it ** confidence, i only jump 4ft if i know the horse can do it to. you and your horse need to give each otherconfidence, if you are unsure of your horses ability, then lunge him over jumps and keep doing it till he refuses (and keeps refusing) or trys his hardest to get over a big jump. :(

[DITZ]

with riding you can always find someone worse than you and in this case its me!

I ripped my jods AND KNICKERS this morning jumping. What I would give to just get OVER a fence right now!!!

[Elvengirl]

Thanks for all your replies. I do have my own horse and also ride two other horses for a change of scenery and for extra practice. My trainer and I have been slowly putting one or 2 jumps up from 3ft, and it is going ok, and yes I do sometimes feel a little precarious when we go over the bigger jumps as my horse likes to jump them quite a bit higher when they get larger than 3ft (very strange). I know he is capable as he was a competitive hunter up to 4 ft (I think) He's not the scopiest thing in the world but he is safe at higher heights.
I wish I could have had the experience of jumping when I was younger and less worried about bodily harm, it's very frustrating being aware that pain and injury could occur easily and then I may not be able to work or attend class at uni..etc.
Anyways, lesson went well the other day, with 3ft. course with two 3'3 verticles and I had no distance problems. It's very strange as this habit comes and goes and I'm not really sure the exact cause (aside from height changes), a friend suggested fatigue?
Riding is such a challenging sport, it really takes decades to get even close to mastering it, and even then you learn until you die!

[Elvengirl]

ouch!
I hope you are ok ditz, nothing like ripping the unders!
A friend of mine had her shirt ripped off once by a bratty horse (bra and all)! Lucky for her, there was only girls around..poor thing! (although we laugh about it all the time now!:D )

[DITZ]

yes it was quite embarrasing as I had to go back out through the crowd. Fortunately I had a jumper on so I took it off and tied it round my waist.

Its starting to ache now and I have a 6inch blue bruise on my thigh looking exactly like a pole.:mad:

[^_^pEpPeRpOt^_^]

your lucky to be able to jump i really want to become a showjumper (like it'll eveer happen lol) but at the moment i dont have my own horse and the riding school i go to doesnt have a big enough areana really at the moment to do much jumping in in the past year i have jumped about 3-4 times !!! 3'3 is really good

[canadianbeaver]

I've only jumped up to 3"4 so that's big for me and I'm really proud of the fact of that. 3"9 is brilliant, congratulations! Remember that some people have been riding longer, or with different coaches and a lot can impact on how high they jump. It can also be limited by the chalibur of horse you have.

[jenren!!]

hey i've been jumping years and i still won't exceed 3ft! (in practise) if it's a chase-me-charlie and they put it up higher than my usual heights i think sh*t can't do that but the next minute i find myself doing it - who knows why? i suppose it's something to do with belief in my pony. give me milton and i would be jumping 6ft in practise every day, but with my pony, it's about 2ft6 - 2ft 9! whatever you do though, never EVER try to jump higher than your limit just to impress someone or everyone. this is from personal experience. you'll just end up going backwards and looking worse than you did originally. remember, jumping is for fun (or in some cases, competition) but it is NOT for showing off.

X jenny X

[Elvengirl]

Thanks for the advice Jenren, I totally agree with you about going beyond your limits to impress others. I see it happen all the time in the show ring here and it's terrible. :(

For me it's not really about impressing others than impressing myself (does that make any sense?) I think I'm ready and capable of jumping a bit higher, but it takes some getting used to I suppose. I also have tons of faith in my horse, although I sometimes feel I might disappoint him if I screw up, but he can definatly go higher.

I just was curious what others jumped on here as I am totally impressed by people who jump those huge fences (and completely jealous:p )

[Cochise]

Don't worry about it! I am really proud of myself for jumping 1m regularly! I don't really plan on going much higher either!

I have cleared 1m20 on Cheeky and he enjoys it, but I would rather stay where we are happy and improve our technique from that.

I cracked my tailbone about 10 years ago when a pony I was riding for someone else jumping on me when we parted company over a jump. I didn't jump again until I got Cheeky...

Now I actually consider myself a fairly good rider for just getting back into it and doing the best I can even at 1m!

[Casper]

i have to start by saying i hate to read these types of posts because i used to be the same!! All you have to do is realise that despite what people may say "size doesn't really matter" My dad pushed me alot to jump higher and as i result my jumping position went down hill! Best thing to do is stay at 1m, It's a very good height, I'v been riding over 10 years and wouldn't go much higher on my horse as she is only 4. The horse has a lot to do with it, some people mistake "riding" a horse over a jump, with just facing a horse at a jump and not falling off!!!!(NOT riding)
by the way i have seen a pic of you jumping and think you are good, try not to take the fun out of jumping!!!:D RELAX!

[Horseswillrule1]

Hi! I'm 12 and I jump 1.30-1.35 I have been riding for 10 years..

Lots ov love
xxxooo

[nf ponies rock!]

wow that makes me feel bad i have only jumped 1 foot 3 lol.
o well will get there someday also i havent had a jumping lesson only did this on my friends horse in her feild lol

[colouredcrazy]

Ive been riding for 8 years. The highest I've jumped is 5ft on my instructors horse, and 3ft 6 on my pony. I'm ok jumping thos heights, but ive always jumped (my mum jumps and i started jumping when i was 3 on my shetland bilbo). But it doesnt matter how high you jump so long as your happy.
Ellie

[hel88]

i'm 16 .... been riding for 10 years, jumping for 9 1/2 years (we were started early!) - i'd happily jump 5 or 6 foot... but i know when a horse can and when a horse can't... if its just out of the horse's reach i sit up and kick - if its much bigger i don't try

ive never had my confidence knocked really (although i've been knocked out twice! :eek: :o ) but i don't worry about it... if i die then i'll die, if i get injured then i'll get injured... worrying about it will just ruin the fun

[Colorado Sunset]

well, lots of people have replied to your post, saying they are happy jumping 5/6", i dont really think this is gonna make you feel much better!! But when you say that you dont exceed a metre, that sounds HUGE to me!! The HIGHEST iv jumped is 3", i dont jump often but usually i only jump about 2"6!! So dont fret!! :)

Ive been riding for 10years, im 16, and have been able to jump for a lot of that time, but i stopped having weekly lessons cos we couldnt afford it. But I swear, now that im a way better rider, i can still only jump to the same standard as i could then!! hehe :) But, as long as you enjoy yourself it doesnt really matter what hight you jump, for me, jumping a metre would deserve a huge amount of courage and a big pat on the back!! :)

Have fun!

Jo

[louisesj]

Hey Elvengirl, I'd just like to say, to not even think about the heights of jump. Most of the top showjumpers don't school ay home over anything bigger than 1m. Height doesnt matter at all. I've competed over 1m10 on my grade B 13.2hh when i was younger, and then on my 15.2hh I competed over 1m - 1m10 but I worked up really slowly. It took me about 3 years to start jumping 1m on popeye, just gradually putting the fences up when we were both confident.

There's no way I'd jump 1m on any of my horses at the minute as Toni and Rosie are both 4, and Im still on trotting poles and tiny grids with toni, and im working up to courses of about 60cm in trot on rosie.

I'd also like to add that i totally disagree with jumpinizmything,
lunge him over jumps and keep doing it till he refuses (and keeps refusing)

A trainer at my old yard used to do this a lot to "see what the horse can do" and it really knocked the confidence of so many good horses, as they get hurt or frightened. I believe that its much better to go really really slowly and build up the horse's confidence to teach him that jumping is fun.

Sorry this is so long by the way! I just kept rambling!!!!:D

[Colorado Sunset]

I definately agree with louise, i dont agree with "lunge him over the jumps until he refuses'".

This will not only ruin your trust in each other, but make him realise refusing is an accepted way out. Dont jepordise what time and effort you have spent, building up a good relationship with him, to force him to refuse. If he is obviously having difficult jumping a certain hight, id go down a few holes, get confident over this height and then gradually work your way up again.

Ive gone off the subject completely now!! :)

I still stick to my point that 1metre is HUGE in itself to lil ol me!! :)

Jo

[Elvengirl]

I completely agree with you two. I just ignored that comment as, for one, my horse is beyond his chute jumping days. (He's 11) and two it would be rotten for a horses confidence. We usually free jump by age/experience here. For example a green first timer maybe chute jump from.65m to .85m and so on, and just work it up over time. It's better for the horse to have jumped a jump many times before he reaches his peak and has a refusal because the one-time refusal won't mean as much to him if he has had lots of pleasurable experiences over fences beforehand. The height is put up a bit for sale photo purposes sometimes but really anyone resposible will only put it up enough to see how correct the bascule is etc.

My guy has been shown in 4ft so I'm am fairly aware of his scope, and did so-so, I think he it was more the rider than him that made him unsuccessful. I've never chute jumped him or "tested" him as frankly I'm not really concerned about his scope at the mo. (It'll be a fair few years before I get anywhere near 4 foot courses) I'm more concerned with improving my own performance as a rider and making him a more fit, happy and healthy horse on the way. Hopefully by the time we reach the big time, he and I will be mentally and physically capable to do the job.

Lessons have been going great as of lately, I'll try and get a picture from the show we are attending next week in which we will be entered in the 3-bar, hmmm, I wonder how long we'll hang in there for?

[Colorado Sunset]

yey!! Sounds like you and your horse are well suited to each other. Dont feel bad about jumping, have fun at a height that you enjoy :)

Good luck with your show, we want lots of piccies :)

Jo

[Evol_or_revert]

It's most likely already been said.

but I dont think the jump height is important!!!

It is far better to be a good rider going around a small course doing it well and listening to their horse. Then to be struggling around a high course because it requires more "skill".

I stayed doing 70cm - 80cm for years. Then slowly as different areas such as my dressage started to come up so did my jumping. I still do 80cm classes at shows, You will always have more stuff to learn, and Id much rather learn it at that height!!.

Aslong as your having fun, the jump height doesn't matter.

[YR_SHOWJUMPER]

well, i have been jumping since i was 5 years old, i affiliated at 7 was at HOYS at 10. I am still jumping now, but concentrating on the novices and doing the YR when i have the horsepower for it... I had a fall recently pole got stuck between horses legs and when he tried to rid himself of it it smaked me square in the face, i got back on a jumped the jump after 3 refusals, it was 1m20 but i did it so i was convinced that the fall hadnt affected me... and i even got on the youngster and worked and jumped him 85 cm... it was fine but someone came to look at the horse i fell from and i had totally lost my ability to see a stride i rode like **** and it was a disaaster... so there we go... it had affected me, i jumped small at in 2ft6- 2ft9 for a week and we gradually built up again and now i feel thatw e can go to a shaw and be okay!!!