Instructors! Teaching jumping. . .

[Lucie]

I’m in the process of doing my BHS stages - part time whilst also at university finishing a non-equine degree (stages are more of a hobby than a career venture at the minute ).

To gain more teaching experience, I’ve been helping out at a riding school. The yard isn’t BHS run, but they’re my most local school by miles, so for the time being (until my degree allows me more time), I’m appreciative of the opportunity.

The problem: I’m REALLY having a struggle teaching jumping to beginner jumpers.

It’s an ironic twist because I’m a keen jumper myself and while I’d never profess to be an expert, I’m fairly proficient at it. I have competed BSJA from a young age (rarely on an easy pony/horse) and have hunted for as long as I can remember.
It has been broached that this in itself could be the cause as to why I find it hard to communicate beginner instructions. I have taught several more advanced jumpers who’ve all felt they got a lot out of my lessons (and as proof have booked mores lessons since and asked for me specifically ).

What I’ve tried: Since November I’ve had afew jumping lessons from different instructors (some on my own horse, some on a riding school ned) – two of which have been at a BHS establishments. The hope being it might help me get my head around it. In every case, the RI knew my problem, but I’m still none the wiser .

I spend any free time watching any beginner jumping lessons going on, but the school isn’t the best teaching establishment itself (and I’ve not noticed them being anymore helpful towards the riders than I’ve tried to be when giving explanations).

Please note: This isn’t a case of the riders simply not being ready to jump. I’ve never attempted to teach anyone jumping who doesn’t have a secure, balanced seat in walk, trot and canter, good hands and showing a sufficient level of ‘handling’ (ie, bending, performing effective circles and serpentines etc). The horses I choose are also very suitable for this type of thing.

I would love to hear how any of you teachers progress to jumping and if you could give me any tips I’d be really appreciative .

Thanks for reading

 

[Mehitabel]

can you be more specific about what you're struggling with? is it showing them jumping position, or actually getting them over the fences, or something else?

what i do is start with jumping position on the flat - first just in stand, then in walk, trot and canter, and then going in and out of it, so for instance i'll ask them to canter to the rear of the ride, and when they're in canter i'll say 'jumping position now' and then a bit before they get to the end i'll say 'sit up'.
then doing things in the jumping position - school figures, transition etc, so they can learn to be effective and not just passengery, so that when it comes to the fences they can use their legs, steer etc.

at the same time they're doing trotting and canter poles and cross poles, both sat up and in jumping position, so it's mixed up a bit, but i want all the above pretty well established before they are going over anything bigger than a tiny cross pole.

i do introduce the cross poles before it's all 100%, because otherwise it's easy for the rider to feel they're not progressing - which for the leisure rider with one lesson a week or fortnight, is a big consideration. it's an expensive hobby and easy to get fed up if you don't see visible progression, and tempting to go somewhere where you'll go faster, even at the expense of the basics/fundamentals - which of course the rider doesn't necessarily know they're skipping...

i also mix it up with pole-courses - so single poles on the floor, set out as if for a simple course, and riding over them in trot and then canter, going into jumping position each time. making sure they don't collapse and stop riding after a single fence, practise using corners, approaches etc. then when you go to proper jumping courses the only new thing is the height of the fences, and the rest should be easier to cope with.

then counting strides and seeing them - starting off with tiny cross poles or even a pole onthe floor, just so they get used to counting strides in canter.

actually getting the fences up should then be relatively easy - you just move from x-pole (about 6 inches or so) to a straight bar. the hardest bit is when the horse actually starts 'jumping' as opposed to a bigger canter stride, but that is just practice. you do inevitably (or i do, at least) have to have a few lessons where it is just one jump and they just go over it repeatedly, while they get used to the feel and how much to give and all that. i sometimes have them hold the mane about halfway up the neck as the horse takes off, so that if they get left behind the mouth doesn't get a yank. this can latter cause problems as they tend to reach hands to ears rather than mouth, but sometimes you need to do it, it's a lesser of two evils thing and depends on the pupil.

does that help at all?

 

[eml]

Often people build up a great barrier in their mind that jumping is going to be hard. I tend to start work on the flat in walk and trot in light seat even before starting canter work and use pole work for early exercises in steering.

I build it up in much the same way as Mehitabel just a bit at a time during a lesson using small X poles as something just popped over while doing a class exercise and don't actually do a 'jumping' lessons as such until they are about the level you identified but have people arrive at that stage happy with the basic concepts and feel and ready to progress. I then tend to do a mix of gridwork and low courses.

I must admit I have modified the way I actually teach the basics over the years and now put much more emphasis on control before and after the jump rather than the jump itself.

 

[Fanshawe]

Oooh Mehitabel I want jumping lessons with you! Theoretically I'm experienced but just very nervous (previous accident) and wish you were closer so you could give me lessons- I like your way of teaching.

 

[Lucie]

can you be more specific about what you're struggling with? is it showing them jumping position, or actually getting them over the fences, or something else?

Yes sorry Mehitabel I haven't been very specific at all . Will try and be clearer.

Age wise, there are 2 classes of similar standard - 1 four ladies in their late 30's and the other three girls 18 - 25.

At the minute, I teach the jumping position at a halt. This bit isn't a problem and the riders then progress to holding the jumping position in w,t + c.

Once they're balanced with this, I ask them to sit up and fold into their jumping positions over some trotting (then canter) poles. There is again no problem here (or if there is, I have no trouble ironing them out).

I do teach (jumping aside) estimating strides (trot and canter) from one point to another, the ask them to ride it and see how accurate they've been.
Then we move onto shortening those strides to fit more in, and lengthening them to fit less in inbetween these same two points.
And I do use this exercise actually as an introduction to their first jump (with trotting poles leading upto their first little x-pole).

But I always seem to end up with a class of people getting left behind, or jumping ahead, or basically not getting into a jumping position at all. Despite all being well established in the above exercises and despite the jump being so tiny it's barely a jump at all.
So I can only assume there's something I'm not getting quite right. I don't expect perfection, but it's like everything they know goes to pot.

For the time being I've asked not teach such groups (though I should add no ones been near to falling off or yanking the horse in the mouth etc). But the other RI's there seem to get better results - though these aren't the type of RI's I'm aiming to be if that's not too blunt a thing to say.

Once uni allows I will try to orgainise something at a more reputable yard, but for now I'm interested to hear how other RI's handle it.

Thank you for your input .

Edited to add thanks to eml also.

 

[eml]

I think you are being a bit hard on yourself, adult classes are difficult to start off jumping, particularly if they have been riding a while and are successful in their flatwork but have never done any jump work.

If you look at the other instructors who seem not to have the problems you will probably find they are not being so 'correct' as you in approaching the task. Lots of instructors position the rider in jumping position on the approach which gives an apparently good position over the jump but means the riders have to relearn when they need to 'ride' into a jump.

I make mine reach forward for the neckstrap on takeoff which at least reminds them to do something. I personally don't like starting with trotting poles before the first jumps, in theory it helps position the horse but in practice just makes a distraction for the riders

 

[Mehitabel]

i agree - this sounds entirely normal. everything you know does go to pot when faced with a jump, unless you're an exceptional student!
it's just a mater of practice, like when you learn rising trot. you knwo the theory, you can do it at stand, at walk, but then you trot on and bump bump bump until suddenly it clicks.

 

[Lucie]

I think you are being a bit hard on yourself, adult classes are difficult to start off jumping, particularly if they have been riding a while and are successful in their flatwork but have never done any jump work.

Thank you for your suggestions. It's interesting that you state age to be factor and in hindsight I suspect you're perfectly right. All have also ridden (but not jumped) before coming to the riding school so this possibly accounts for quite a lot of my troubles with this.

But I do feel my communication skills could be a little sharper. With advanced riders I have fewer problems (the occasional one, but no more so than other good RI's seem to have). And on the flat I have yet to struggle teaching even the most clueless beginner - but something fails me in jumping.

For example; Yesterday, one (fairly) beginner jumping student said to me that before the horse takes off she feels as though she is ‘thrown’ backwards, before being launched forwards again.
The ‘jump’ is a tiny x-pole and the horse is not an ‘over’ jumper.
She can competently perform all of the exercises I posted in my first and second post, and we have tried the jump with and without poles yielding the same results.

Technically I suppose what she says is true and certainly I have had other more advanced students complain of the same (for which I find bounces helpful). There IS a backward feeling prior to the ‘launch’ for want of a better word, but I’m not sure how to help her sit to it.

So today I rode my own (overly enthusiastic) horse and really attempted to FEEL this movement and sit to it in a less habitual fashion (ie, to analyse what exactly I was doing to remain balanced), but I can’t think of ANY way to describe it other than ‘you just have to go with it’ which is obviously not helpful.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

 

[LindaAd]

I'm not a teacher, but my RI does much the same as Mehitabel - jump position on the flat, at halt, walk, trot, canter; trotting poles in normal position, in jump position and standing up in the stirrups, little cross poles, then building up to little courses.

I know the 'left behind' feeling that you're describing; I think it happens if you fold too early or too late - I had another instructor who used to say "sit still and wait for the jump to come to you". The current one says "sit up and ride towards the jump".

I found when I started that holding onto the mane helped me not to get left behind only the danger is that when you land if you forget to let go you get pulled forward, so maybe you shouldn't recommend it!

Have you tried little grids? These are quite hard, but they do help you to learn to 'go with the movement' and fold at the right time and sit up again quickly, especially if you shout instructions ...

 

[IrisSilverMoon]

you could try having your students sit before the fences and letting the horses push them into jumping position. this gives them a good idea of how much push the horse will give them and where they should be ending up.

I actually learned jumping in a pretty unorthodox way. My instructor had us sit back over all of our early fences, no jump position (this is how riders used to go over fences about 200 years ago). It teaches you to follow with the seat and helps if you get stuck in a bind and need more control over a fence or if you get a bucker!

my main problem over fences when i first started was throwing my hands forward and getting in front of the motion like i was jumping four feet, when in reality it was probably six inches, then i started getting left behind and now i've more or less settled. I think its a pretty common problem and doesn't necessarily say anything about the teaching.

 

[Fanshawe]

I'd say you have all the qualities of an exceptional instructor. You look at what you do, you analyse it and look at your own riding to try to help them. You care that they get it and that you do the best job you can. I can't imagine what else I would want in an instructor (oh apart from a good sense of humour and lots of praise!). There is nothing worse than a teacher who just teaches the same old thing the same way without trying to improve or listen to what is happening for the pupil. Sounds like you are doing a brilliant job already (even if it sometimes feels like you aren't!)

 

[horsesupport]

Hi there,

I teach jumping by getting the riders into there jumping postition on the flat first like what has already been said above then i get them to ride over poles going into jumping postition at the start of the poles and sitting back at the end of them.

It does take adults sometime to be able to go forward with the horse as he goes up and over the jump.

 

[Kate F.]

I do sympathise Lucie!! It happens to me too - it's so difficult when you're trying to teach something you love doing yourself, and find it comes naturally - and the people you're teaching have all sorts of problems with it! But the others are right - what you're getting sounds completely normal!

One thing that sometimes helps is to get them to think about something other than the jump. I tend to leave counting strides etc. until much later when the seat over the fences is established, as focusing on the strides can get in the way of the natural balance and timing for some people. I sometimes build a course of just poles on the ground (4 or so is enough to start with) and get them to ride it almost like a dressage test - thinking about the turns and the balance. We do it in walk, then trot, and in a light/half seat. Then put it up into tiny cross poles and the do the same. Don't tell them to fold - just stay in the light/half seat and think about where they are going - it ride the path and let the horse worry about the obstacles. It also helps to give them "targets" to look at on the other side of the fence (a letter or mark on the side of the school or similar.) that will keep them straight and keep them looking and thinking ahead. Then try it in canter.

By the time they've been round the same course several times in different paces, they are so used to the feel and timing of it, they keep the rhythm as the fences get a bit bigger.

Beginners often seem to "over fold", and tense up as a result, therefore getting thrown around. If they just stay in a light seat and stay relaxed, the folding (such as is needed for small fences, which is minimal anyway) looks after itself.

Depending how extrovert your pupils are, you could also try getting them to sing while jumping! That forces them to breathe - another major problem for beginners (and not such beginners too) is that they hold their breath which again makes them tense and prone to being thrown around. If they are shy about singing, reciting the 2 times table works for some people, or reciting a nursery rhyme. Some people find words better, some numbers, some singing. This works a) to make them breathe and b) it takes up the bit of the brain that over analyses what they are trying to do and makes them tense and over concentrated.

Hope that helps!

Kate