Triple Bars

[sweetbriar]

Are you allowed to have triple bars in very novice jumping classes? I have been to a couple of local shows recently and they've had a triple bar in the 2'3" and 2'6" classes with quite disastrous results. Either people fell off going over the jump or their horses refused, then they fell off. Some of the riders got quite hurt (one had a broken nose, the other was knocked unconcious). Is a triple bar meant to be in more advanced classes?

Does anyone have any good tips on how to approach and ride a triple bar successfully?

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

[Amy L]

Generally novice classes should be aimed at trying to improve the confidence of a novice horse or rider. Obviously putting in triple bars is not going to encourage this and from my experience I have never seen any in novice classes. These classes are meant to encourage confidence and a flowing round rather than being extremely technical. But this is just from my experience so.....
The best way to approach is to jump it like you would any other. Make sure you have a very controlled powerful canter. NOT FAST but full of power. Don't focus too much on the jump because a triple is no harder to jump than an upright, it just looks scarier!! Keep a steady contact and if it is wide make sure you don't let your horse stand off otherwise the width will be hard to clear. If it is a novice course then it definately should not be wide.
Don't panic about them, just make sure you ride positively and forward.
Good Luck

:) xxx

[sweetbriar]

Your comments are really helpful. I'll definately remember to treat one as an upright.

The triple bars I've seen at the local shows do look a bit on the wide side. When I jumped one last year my pony really stood off it and we were lucky not to fall on landing. Every time I see a triple bar now I get a bit nervous because of our previous experience.

Personally, I think its v. dangerous having these jumps in novice classes. Very novice jumping should inspire confidence in you and the horse.

[ilovebacara]

I USED TO BE THE SAME WITH TRIPLE BARS UNTIL ONE DAY I HAD THE CONFIDENCE INSIDE ME TO JUST GO IN THE SCHOOL AND TRY MY MARE OVER AS MANY DIFFERENT JUMPS AS I COULD. AFTER I HAD GOT USED TO RIDING OVER THEM I FOUND MYSELF REALLY CONCENTRATING MORE ON THE LANDING AND THE FLIGHT THAN THE APPROACH. IF YOU JUST TACKLE IT WITH ALOT OF ENERGY AND IMPULSION AND GIVE YOUR HORSE ITS HEAD IT SEEMS JUST AS EASY AS AN UPRIGHT. I DONT JNOW IF THIS WAS JUST ME BUT I ALWAYS LIVE BY THE CONCEPT THAT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT SO JUST KEEP TRYING!!!:p

[rockstar7]

i adore triple bars because you really feel like you're flying over them. :) but then i disagree to the idea of having them in novice classes. personally, i have never seen any of them either... amy L explained pretty well why they shouldn't be in novice classes. anyway, you ride a triple like how you'd ride a typical jump, when horses refuse it's usually because they feel their rider is scared. imagine you're the horse, and you feel the rider *you're* trusting to get you around the course safely is scared herself! you'd never trust yourself to get over the jump! so it's better to at least psych yourself that the jump is just a wider version of an oxer. don't go at a triple long and fast, you should have a collected and controlled canter with lots of impulsion. you need power and not speed to get over the oxer. if you're too fast, the horse will make a more shallow arc and you'll be more in danger of knocking it down. good luck! i suggest you try your next few triples in the presence of a good, capable instructor, s/he'll guide you through it, don't worry. tell us how your next few oxers go!

[sweetbriar]

Thanks for your comments. My pony is still pretty green and novicey even though she has a tremendous jump. Having jumped a 2'3" triple bar she tended to take a stride out and leap over it.

I just thought it was a bit dangerous because very few people jumped it well. In fact, most people had refusals or fell off.

I am having some jumping lessons at present which include gridwork and I've told my instructor that I want to try jumping some really scary fences including triple bars!

I do understand that in order to compete and do it well you have to do your homework!

[rockstar7]

ok, i just read that your pony is a bit green. learning how to jump triples on an unsteady pony is just flat-out dangerous! i suggest you ask your instructor to school your pony over a few triples, so your pony learns to see the correct distance under an experienced hand himself. no matter how well meaning you are, you might give him bad habits by allowing him to leave out a stride and take off too early to the triples... so i really suggest some schooling on his part. and maybe you can ride a more experienced pony learning your first triples, so you can get a feel of the correct distance and everything.

[adashman]

Hi I have just read about your problem. I have to say triple bars are my favourate fence. They are meant to be the easiest of fences for the horse to jump. I think the problem is that more novice riders may be slightly worried about this fence therefor don't ride to it with enough power as they should to get the width. Horses should get the height easily enough as it's a gradual increase in height. The ideal way to ride this fence is to have a good rhythm and aim for the base of the fence, and don't let your horse know your worried. Read Mark Todd's articles in the latest issues of the Horse and Hound I think he's is one of the best horsemen ever. Good Luck:)

[HoRsE ChIcK]

I LOVE TRIPLE BARS AS MY HORSE HAS A BIG JUMP AND IT REALLY FEELS EVEN BIGGER GOING OVER THEM!NO, I REALLY DONT THINK THAT A TRIPLE BAR SHOULD BE IN A NOVICE CLASS ALTHOUGH I HAVE SEEN THEM MANY TIMES!I REALY AGREE WITH "ILOVEBACARA" ABOUT JUST GETTING YOUR CONFIDENCE AND MIXING AND MATCHING WITH COURSES WITH ALOT OF DIFFERENT JUMPS AS IT WIOLL GIVE YOU AND YOUR HORSE EXPERIENCE OVER MANY KINDS OF JUMPS!GOOD LUCK
~HOLLY~

[myEllie]

I don't think having triple bars in a novice jumping class is a bad thing. The whole point of being in a novice class is to move up to the next level. You can't be stuck at novice forever. It is a lot easier to jump a 2'6" triple bar, then a 3'6" one. Triple bars are actually really easy for horses to jump, so the problems in the class were likely caused by the riders not trusting their horses.

[sweetbriar]

I have ridden in several novice horse/rider competitions and they have been challenging without intimidating either horse or rider.

I agree that you have to jump all types of fences and move onwards and upwards. However, novice horse or rider competitions are meant for very inexperienced combinations. I would seriously doubt if, unless you asked, you would be jumping that kind of fence in normal jumping lesson. For first timers at a show its a hell of thing to jump.

I have been getting my instructor to build me various kinds of fences so that I am better prepared this year. I jumped a triple bar and it wasn't as scary as I thought. My pony jumped it OK and with confidence and it was a lot bigger than 2"6'.

Just as a footnote I did have a chuckle about being in a novice class and moving up to the next level. I don't know what its like at your shows but, at the ones I go to, that is not always the case! We get a lot of 'pot hunters' whose horses have won at that height for years and the riders never move on to the bigger classes. They constantly win at the same heights, in the same classes at different venues all the time.

[MadWoman]

Sorry to display my ignorance here, but by triple bar, do you mean three bars, all parallel to the ground, each one higher than the other and a foot or so apart horizontally? This is all I can imagine triple bars to be, and was very interested to read the difficulties people have with them. This is the sort of fence I started jumping with Archie, as I understood them to be more inviting to the horse than uprights, and both of us would sooner jump a 3'6"spread than upright anyday. I intend to enter my first competitions shortly, and personally I would be delighted to see these jumps in my class.

Am I just odd?

[ilovebacara]

Nah u aint the only 1 that luvs triple bars!! they are so easy to jump and your horse just feels like it is jumping bigger and wider. It feels so much smoother! you can go up to a triple bar on the wrong leg and unbalanced but always land saftley on the other side! :) well that is wat i think anyways!

[Rachel C.]

Looks to me as if we have a UK/America divide here! In Gloucestershire triple bars are found in almost all showjumpig courses from beginners 1'6'' to Grand Prix jumping. They are generally the easiest fence on the course in my and my friends opinions because they encourage the horse to make a good shape, they are inviting to jump and they give a nice feel.

Why people have had lots of problems at them I have no idea! The one and only thing you have to remember is to try and get a deep stride to the fence, so that the spread isn't too far.

Just remember most horses have some common sense. They would usually stop rather than take a spread which would risk them landing on the back pole, as riders we sometimes forget that a horse can actually make spreads of upto twelve foot, so a three to four foot wide triple bar isn't really too strenuous!

Treat the fence with confident respect and I'm sure you'll enjoy jumping them.

[ilovebacara]

12 foot!! crikey!

[myEllie]

Yeppers, if you watch Grand Prix show jumping, the water jumps are very wide, of course they are on the ground, so I don't think I horse could make a twelve foot spread if the fences were even four feet.

[ilovebacara]

Originally posted by myEllie
Yeppers, if you watch Grand Prix show jumping, the water jumps are very wide, of course they are on the ground, so I don't think I horse could make a twelve foot spread if the fences were even four feet.

blimey!! how wide do u rekon the water jumps are?

[MadWoman]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the longjump record for a horse is just over 27 feet.

[intouch]

A horse's normal canter stride is 12'. I believe the Olympic Games water jump is 4.70 meters about 16 ft. I agree that the problem with a spread/triple is lack of confidence of the rider, looking into the jump and blocking the horse. As a rough guide, if the fence is 2'6", the horse will take off 2'6" in front and land the same distance behind, and the distance will increase in proportion to the height. So to jump 12', you need to think of jumping a 6' fence. I'd rather not think about that.

[ilovebacara]

i think i will just stick to 4 foot spreads!! :) the thought of jumping 12 foot makes me sick! can u imagine pushing a horse that far:mad: oh well :)

[ilovebacara]

oooohhhhh i hav just found a piccy of the tallest jump ever jumped!! It is at spruce meadows in Canada It was wen i was on holiday. It has got sum random ppl standing in fron of it :)

[maverick927]

I hate wide jumps. to scary!!

[Casper]

how high is that jump???

[FreedomStar]

I'm betting that jump is about 7-8 feet. If you take a look in the Guiness World Record 2002 (Americans) and go to equestrian sports, you'll see something about the highest a horse has ever jumped was a little over 8 feet.

[maverick927]

Oh my goodness. i jumped my first triple bar yesterday. It was so scary. i was so afraid of my pony not seeing the sprread and falling, but he lept it. i got over a 3ft 9" spread!!! but then my sister got him over 4ft 6".

Here is us jumping a simple XC fence even if it is 3ft.
http://berniesyard.homestead.com/files/gemmasmacXcou.jpg

[ilovebacara]

aw! thats a sweet piccy! i will av some xc pix of me and bac soon from the one day event that i did on weds! so soon u will all b bombarded with pix!! :D

[ilovebacara]

Originally posted by Casper
how high is that jump???

it does say on it but i cant c it! i think that it was 7foot9 or somethin like that!

[~Bethan~]

Oh My god! Its HUGE!!!:eek:

[DavidH]

Triple Bar fences are the easiest fence for a horse to jump as the incline of the poles naturally brings the horse up. If jumped properly they are also a complete non event for the rider. The problem is that a lot of riders aren't taught to jump them properly.

When jumping a triple bar you should approach in a normal, collected show jump canter with plenty of implusion as you would and upright. The difference with a triple bar is that 3 strides out you should allow the horse to come forward more and lengthen its last 3 strides in to the fence. This will put the horse in to the bottom on the fence and the fence will bring the horse up.

DO NOT try and place the horse at the take-off point. Allow the horse to do it by giving the freedom to lenghten the stride. You do not need to go forward anywhere near as much as you would for other types of fence as the curve the horse makes over the fence is much shallower and therefore there is much less tendency to throw the rider backwards. Going forward too early will prevent the horse from lengthening and put it on the forhand which then makes the horse stand off or loose impulsion causing the problems.

So sit back, push on and leave it to the horse. ie the complete opposite of jumping an upright.

[Holly B]

God, just LOOKING at that jump makes my legs turn to jelly! :eek: :eek: :eek:

[MagicRidge]

Oh I love spread/wide jumps, Monty collects himself so much better at them and really puts in a effort. As the triple bar goes I LOVE them but I have never seen them at a novice show.

ilovebacara that is a huge jump! I know!! *Bows down to the horse that jumped it!* lol

[Mazpup]

hehe has anyone noticed the 2 year gap between posts on this thread!

[DavidH]

Guess that makes this the longest running thread
2001 - 2004:D

[Equisgurl]

Those huge jumps make my stomach turn inside out..yikes. I remember the first time I did an oxer, i was terrified mainly because my horse was very slow, and I was afraid she would refure or jump real big, but i finally got the courgae to jump it, and it wasnt too bad. :)

[Elvengirl]

I love jumping oxers although parallel ones with rather large spreads can be scary sometimes...large open space!

[horse_crazy4eva]

I think the Jump in the piccy is 2.10m. scarything is though... thats not the highest jump ever!

[canadianbeaver]

some horses are just born bouncy!!! I wonder if they continually jump out of their fields at home? hmm...

[westley_jacobs]

sure theydo canadian beaver, theyre the ones that always go missing.......:p

[canadianbeaver]

Originally posted by westley_jacobs
sure theydo canadian beaver, theyre the ones that always go missing.......:p
lol... an expensive trick!!

[colouredcrazy]

remember - a galloping 15 hander covers 24ft per stride. JUmp out of a fast canter and you can clear around 20ft if the jump is low.

[MeMe]

lol at the date! Def got to be the longest running thread!

Agree with DavidH about triple bars though, there is no particular reason for everyone to be messing them up, its mainly because riders over ride them.

Down here we have allsorts of jumps in our Novice's, especially the Trailblazers, there is no progression in just jumping poles.

[Waikato Valuta]

I just did my first one day event at grade 4 level and we had a tripple bar. I didnt even think about it and he jumped it realy well, the brick wall was the scary one.

I have always prefered to lengthen the spread before jumping higher. It feels better and i'm more confident over them. I am very surprised to hear about the horse refusing and riders falling off, i always thought of them as the easy jumps.