loosing balance + a bunch of other questions

[tpf]

I had a jumping lesson today, which of course was super fun. This was my second time jumping. I have two problems (that I'm aware of!). One is that when trotting over poles lying on the groud I fall forward too much. The other is that after the bigger jump, I loose my balance. How can I stop this?

I also have problems cantering sometiems. With certain horses it works fine, and others not. I sometimes have difficulties getting the horse to canter at all, instead it just starts trotting really fast. I think its hard to keep my legs where they should be to squeeze for the canter, and then get unbalanced again, and if the horse does start to canter it takes a while for me to get balanced again. If we're supposed to canter sitting down, I almost alway loose my stirrups. If I try to push my heels down, I end up standing in the saddle instead. What am I doing wrong?

Something I've never been able to do is "bend" the horse, or whatever its called. Its supposed to be bent sort of like a cheese doodle when going around corners instead of just being straight. I don't really know how to explain it... If anyone gets what I mean, could you explain how to do it?

I prefer the faster, more enthusiastic horses. Some of them sometimes (well, often) like to go a bit faster than we're supposed to. How can I slow them down, without using the reins too much?

I only ride once a week, in a group of 10 people. Are there any things I could do at home to improve my riding?

Thanks!:)

[Whatanejit]

Hiya tpf,

In my learner experience, the issues you are having are perfectly normal and we have all been there done that.

You have highlighted that a lot of your problems are related to the flat work and not necessarily the jumping.

When we started to learn to jump, we were so apprehensive and yet desperate to do it that we wanted to do loads of it. But what happens is that although your confidence increases knowing that you are able to stay on if your horse takes a leap when you are out hacking, it exposes weaknesses in your flat work.

Getting the canter, balance, getting inside bend and controling the pace of the horse are some of the things you have listed.

Once we realised thatwe began to believe the people who kept saying to us that 'jumping is all about flat work'. I just did not understand what they meant before.

Can you afford the odd private lesson inbetween?

We used to ride in a group of 6 and were frustrated with our speed of progress - moved to semi private and we have improved leaps and bounds.

Much more knackering, though.

10 is a HUGE group:eek:

Anyway, I hope this has been useful. One step at a time keep at it and things will become more natural as each month goes by.

Enjoy!

xx

[tpf]

Thanks for the answer!:)

I'll look into getting a private lesson, but I doubt I'll be able to. Riding is so expenisve here!:rolleyes: We've got 2 lessons of dressage, 1 of preperation jumping, and then jumping, and then start over again. I guess I'll really have to try to make the most of all the non-jumping lessons, even though they aren't nearly as fun.:p

[Tarlor]

With your jumping first of all. Falling forward when doing poles sounds like you are leaning too far forward maybe? Trotting poles only require a little lean forward otherwise you are overbalancing. With bigger jumps, get someone to check your hand position. If you aren't moving your hands forward with the horse, when the horse lands you'll just collapse onto thier neck. This will sound stupid, but you have to feel your horse as it goes over and adjust yourself accordingly.

With horses going to fast, my horse FLIES over jumps or can just speed up when he wants too. I just bring him into a collected canter, then allow him to move normally once he is listening to me.

Hope this helps. It's what I have done.

[Bay Mare]

Personally I'd work on getting your position correct, balanced and stable on the flat and over the poles before I went onto doing jumps. If you aren't getting it right on the flat then it's going to be much worse going over a jump and you could end up getting hurt.

Going into the jumping position you need to think about pushing your butt towards the back of the saddle, release with your hands, weight into your heels. If you lean too far forwards or throw yourself up the neck you're leaving yourself vulnerable if the horse puts in an extra stride, jumps long or stops. You can try going in and out of this position on the flat as you're going around and then over poles.

It really would be worth getting a private or semi private (only 2/3 of you in a lesson) to sort out your position and balance as any faults you have now will only make things worse as you advance. It's much better and easier to sort them out now before you get into bad habits.

[tpf]

I think I probably do lean forward to much. I'll have to start thinking about that! My RI tells us all the time that when we jump (or even just go over poles) we must release with our hands, so I do do that. I wonder if maybe thats the reason I lean foward to much; I move my hands down/forwards and end up pulling my upper body forward as well.