Clear round...may be not

OwnedbyChanter

OwnedbyChanter

With out my boys life would be bland
Apr 16, 2009
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Raininghamshire
We had clear round at the yard today so I thought I would let ginger have a little play.

At £5 a round I allowed by myself three rounds and I knew in my head what height I wanted to go for.

So first round 85cm - Took a bad line and missed a dog leg but didn't touch a pole.
Second round 95cm - Same bad line opps and had 1 pole
Third round 95 with three up at 1m - awesome pony got the line but had 1 pole down

I couldn't stop smiling he is such a dude, He got very excited in the middle round and I had to take a circle to re-group before we went for the spread. It was a very tight course.

He is such a good boy but we are at the point where I need to teach him flying changes. Today he landed on the wrong lead but the course was so tight there was no time to change the lead so he took it at counter canter it was not a nice jump but honest as it was not a small jump.

I have so much love for this boy even though he was a monster to bring in one night this week.
 
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I'd be interested in your thoughts about teaching lead changes. My dressage RI has forbidden us from trying to teach Max and Oscar with leg aids as she says they are not ready. They need to be much clearer about the aids first so that when we start doing cued lead changes we can also do counter canter etc. However when they are jumping, they both usually automatically land on the right lead anyway as long as the girls are looking round at the next jump in the air. If they do land wrong they auto-correct most of the time. Jumping squares has been very helpful for that:
 
KP nut said:
I'd be interested in your thoughts about teaching lead changes. My dressage RI has forbidden us from trying to teach Max and Oscar with leg aids as she says they are not ready. They need to be much clearer about the aids first so that when we start doing cued lead changes we can also do counter canter etc. However when they are jumping, they both usually automatically land on the right lead anyway as long as the girls are looking round at the next jump in the air. If they do land wrong they auto-correct most of the time. Jumping squares has been very helpful for that:
Click to expand...


I taught him counter canter as it is required in novice and elementary some horse once they have been then taught flying changes they automatically change when crossing the diagonal or when doing swallow loops. I have a lot of friends that have show jumpers and they do this all time. I currently don't have this issue at the moment.

But, I am not a natural SJ and not very good and adjusting my weight to look at the next fence to help him land on the right leg for the next jump. Plus he is so balanced he can land and take the next jump from counter canter or to come back through trot to pick up the correct lead. This was fine when the fences were smaller but we lose impulsion and as the fences are quite big now we need that extra to make a clean jump.

So flying changes are the only way to keep the impulsion and get a better jump.

If Ginger did it on his own I would not teach him yet as dressage is my passion and I am not willing to sacrifice our flat for the jump as jumping is purely for fun. But you go have to give very clear leg aid.
 
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Maisie changed leads of her own free will - and Rashid teaches these change of direction lead changes which come naturally to horses too. They dont really need teaching to do it. And it is sometimes dismissed as cowboy riding.
But to do a lead change on request of the rider without any change of direction, when I was learning on a RS pony we did take him up through all the intermediate dressage stages of counter canter loops etc. We did it all very quickly over successive weeks as he took to it. And we did it on both reins (i.e. both leads). What I remember most from those lesson is the steady rhythm of the canter and counter canter (i.e. Rashid style counting.) And the balance as your RI says.
There are some good Richard Davison dvds on lead change and dressage for show jumpers. I think I have 4 of his vids and he does do counter canter a lot. far more than we did in my lessons. But I think you would get come answers from him KPnut.
 
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Well done!!
Landing on the correct lead definitely helps more, so do practice looking at your next fence while you're in the air as that does help! But sounds like you did really well anyway so don't be disappointed!
 
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