distances..

[EventPony]

Could someone please explain to me what finding and seeing the distance to a jump is? i have no idea!!

[lamprellsarah]

it's when you can tell when a horse is going to take off and knowing where the horse should take off, i am not great at it but i am improving the more i practise.
you do not have to help the horse till the jumps about 3 ft + after this the horse can not tell as easily where to take off so you have to set him up so he ends up in the right place to take off and not hit the jump!!
when you are approaching a jump count to three where you think there is only 3 strides left, so on 3 he should take off.
practise this and you will start noticing where he should take off. vary the height and practise, it becomes altomatic after a while.
soon if the a horse is too far away or to close i realise straight away and i often ask for an extra stretch or a shortened stride.
as long as you keep the canter bouncy and forward going you should not have to panic about these situations!! :)

[EventPony]

thank you so much! also...isnt there a way to tell how many strides your horse should take between jumps while your walking your course?

[lamprellsarah]

yeah although i do not too worry to much about this you have to work out how big your strides are compared with the horse,
and i have heard that how every big the jump is, this laid out at the bottom is where your horse should take off, eg a 4 ft jump you need to take 4 ft off before the jump!!
if you get your horse into a nice canter they sort themselves out, and you will often find there is no need to correct or check your horse, i have taken about 10 horses over courses, and only one of them a 4 year old, i had to sort out and check because he really didn't know where his legs were!!
if i am walking a course i mainly chack for dipped areas or churned up ground because this is the worse thing, to do my horses stride i have to make a lsight jump form one leg to another because her strides are so big!!
how big is your horse, and how old is he???

hope this helps!! :)

[EventPony]

maya is 17,but u wouldnt know it..she acts more likke a 5 y.o.!, adn im not quite sure how tall she is..probly about 13.3-14.1 hands. (i only just started leasing her)

[lamprellsarah]

well she is properly a pro at it!! as she is properly fairly experienced, also because she is only small, she will find it easier as ponies find it easier anyway and they also can add in an extra stride easier