Showjumping today :) *Pics and Vids*

ILurfSmurf

ILurfSmurf

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Nov 27, 2006
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We kept this secret, in case it all went wrong, but we've upped our game and moved up the showjumping ladder :)

We did the 75cm and 80cm classes (we were doing 65 and 70cm before), and he was a STAR :D

We went down in the morning to enter and see how busy it is (the show was only round the corner, literally) and they'd had BSJA on yesterday, and left the flowers out :rolleyes: there were flower fillers, and ribbons everywhere and hanging baskets and :eek:

We went back to the yard, and got ready and hacked down, down the main road and they were both foot perfect :)

Got there and warmed up, he was ok, but a bit distracted, and a couple of times i had to let him get in too close, for him to pick up and realise that he needed to listen :eek:

Took him into the first class, he was great! One down which was a bit unlucky/partly my fault.

No pictures were taken of the first class, as the photographer thought the class had finished :rolleyes:

Put our number down early in the next class, so after walking the course, headed back for a quick trot/canter round and over a couple of uprights to get him going, then back in again.

He was a star once more :-D 2 down this time, as he was getting tired, and also in the 'i know what i'm doing i'm not going to listen now' frame of mind :eek:
The 2nd jump down was my fault, too much hand and not enough leg :eek:

Despite not getting clear or into the jump off, i was thrilled to bits with both of us, as he was chilled out mostly, and jumped very nicely and behaved very well - and didnt once look at any of the flowers! :D
I was pleased with me as i didnt panic, and was confident, and enjoying it (anyone who i speak to regularly knows i've had huge issues jumping before!)

Pics and vids to follow :)
 
75cm class
80cm class

Pictures from the 80cm :)

felbridge19thapril0980cm2.jpg


felbridge19thapril0980cm4.jpg


felbridge19thapril0980cm1.jpg


Also, i forgot that we jumped a 1m spread in my lesson yesterday, and got some videos off of my phone (not great quality!) of that too :)



 
DavidH said:
Lovely rythmical round. A pleasure to watch:D
Taking the canter up a gear is all thats needed to get the clear round.
Click to expand...

thanks for that :)

He used to gallop round at 100mph, with no control what so ever :rolleyes:
Spent about 6 months getting him to slow down, and now its a psychological thing on my part letting him go forwards, we're working on it, and hopefully next time we can go forwards a bit more, and build it up from there :)

I'm very honoured to be told its a pleasure to watch, i always watch with interest your threads - i think your a great rider :)
 
ILurfSmurf said:
He used to gallop round at 100mph, with no control what so ever :rolleyes:
Spent about 6 months getting him to slow down, and now its a psychological thing on my part letting him go forwards
Click to expand...
The speed is spot on. keep the rythm just as it is. When I say shift the canter up a gear I'm talking about the quality. The canter needs more engagement or 'jump' to it. Think about the horse as a spring and you need to push the back of the horse in to the front so the canter gets a little more bouncy. One stride from the fence you 'release' the spring allowing the horse to jump. This will cure the odd 'extra' stride your boy puts in occasionally and make the jump smoother for you.
 
DavidH said:
The speed is spot on. keep the rythm just as it is. When I say shift the canter up a gear I'm talking about the quality. The canter needs more engagement or 'jump' to it. Think about the horse as a spring and you need to push the back of the horse in to the front so the canter gets a little more bouncy. One stride from the fence you 'release' the spring allowing the horse to jump. This will cure the odd 'extra' stride your boy puts in occasionally and make the jump smoother for you.
Click to expand...


wow, thanks for that :)

How do i get more 'jump' in our lessons we work on walk to canters, and canter to walks - will this help?

Every now and then we get a really lovely bouncy 'spring' canter, so i know exactly what you're talking about, i'm just not sure how to get it :eek:

I'll do anything to cure the extra strides, they do my head in as they always seem to creep up on me :eek:
 
ILurfSmurf said:
How do i get more 'jump' in our lessons we work on walk to canters, and canter to walks - will this help?
Click to expand...
This could get long :eek:
The first thing you need to do is to set a standard for him to work to ALL the time. I've watched your vids several times and the big thing that comes out of it is the canter is getting there in the lesson on approach but on landing after every fence you let him run on then wander back to trot then walk.
Even if you are only jumping a single fence keep in mind that every second you are on the horse you are teaching him.
The landing of a fence is the start of the approach to the next fence. If in training you allow him to flop after the fence then he will see that as the correct thing to do. This will make it much harder to keep the canter together when jumping a course as he will want to flop after each fence. Thats what you trained him to do ;)
So the first thing to do is focus as much after the fence as on the approach. Imagine you have a 5 foot wall to jump 6 strides after landing. The first stride on landing belongs to the horse to regain his balance. After that the standard you set for the canter has to happen. Sit up, make your legs as long as you can, wrap them around him and push him in to the contact half halting with what will be your inside rein when you turn. Make the canter stay together for at least half the areana. If you then want to trot, make it a proper foward transition with a strong half halt just before asking so you really get his quarters underneath him. If you want to walk then same thing, ride a proper transition. By doing this ALL the time (even out hacking) he will learn to maintain the canter with very little effort from you. This is what I mean by setting a standard. Every time he canters it must have the quality you want, not just when approaching a fence.
Getting more jump in the canter takes time as the quarters need to develop to hold more weight behind. Working on small (10-12mtr) circles is great for this. Again its about pushing the horse in to a contact with a strong leg and half halt (inside rein) but you must sit tall when asking. The important thing is the horse must learn to hold this canter when you release the contact which is what should happen one stride from every fence. So as soon as you feel him engage, soften the contact immediately. With time you will be abale to give the contact away almost completely and the horse will stay on his hocks.
The reason this is so critical is that a horse needs the last stride before a fence to look at it and make final adjustment to the takeoff point. That's his job, not yours. He can only do this if given the freedom from contact. If he hasn't been trained to hold his weight on his quarters when you release on that final stride he will drop on his forehand loosing that spring so essential to good jumping.
So imagine the canter you want and ride for it ALL the time. You'll be surprised how quickly the canter develops if you do this and how light the horse will become in the rein. Remember you are not holding him in this canter, you set it up then let him hold it. As soon as it goes 1% off what you want you set it up and hand back to him.
Have fun:D

ETA...Walk to canter will help considerably with getting him engaged. Even more so, halt to rein back to canter.
 
Last edited:
DavidH said:
This could get long :eek:
The first thing you need to do is to set a standard for him to work to ALL the time. I've watched your vids several times and the big thing that comes out of it is the canter is getting there in the lesson on approach but on landing after every fence you let him run on then wander back to trot then walk.
Even if you are only jumping a single fence keep in mind that every second you are on the horse you are teaching him.
The landing of a fence is the start of the approach to the next fence. If in training you allow him to flop after the fence then he will see that as the correct thing to do. This will make it much harder to keep the canter together when jumping a course as he will want to flop after each fence. Thats what you trained him to do ;)
So the first thing to do is focus as much after the fence as on the approach. Imagine you have a 5 foot wall to jump 6 strides after landing. The first stride on landing belongs to the horse to regain his balance. After that the standard you set for the canter has to happen. Sit up, make your legs as long as you can, wrap them around him and push him in to the contact half halting with what will be your inside rein when you turn. Make the canter stay together for at least half the areana. If you then want to trot, make it a proper foward transition with a strong half halt just before asking so you really get his quarters underneath him. If you want to walk then same thing, ride a proper transition. By doing this ALL the time (even out hacking) he will learn to maintain the canter with very little effort from you. This is what I mean by setting a standard. Every time he canters it must have the quality you want, not just when approaching a fence.
Getting more jump in the canter takes time as the quarters need to develop to hold more weight behind. Working on small (10-12mtr) circles is great for this. Again its about pushing the horse in to a contact with a strong leg and half halt (inside rein) but you must sit tall when asking. The important thing is the horse must learn to hold this canter when you release the contact which is what should happen one stride from every fence. So as soon as you feel him engage, soften the contact immediately. With time you will be abale to give the contact away almost completely and the horse will stay on his hocks.
The reason this is so critical is that a horse needs the last stride before a fence to look at it and make final adjustment to the takeoff point. That's his job, not yours. He can only do this if given the freedom from contact. If he hasn't been trained to hold his weight on his quarters when you release on that final stride he will drop on his forehand loosing that spring so essential to good jumping.
So imagine the canter you want and ride for it ALL the time. You'll be surprised how quickly the canter develops if you do this and how light the horse will become in the rein. Remember you are not holding him in this canter, you set it up then let him hold it. As soon as it goes 1% off what you want you set it up and hand back to him.
Have fun:D

ETA...Walk to canter will help considerably with getting him engaged. Even more so, halt to rein back to canter.
Click to expand...

errm, wow... thanks :D i will make sure i work on that, we've got our dressage championships on sunday, so frantically practising for that, but my goal as of tuesday (he'll prob have monday as a lazy hacking day to stretch his legs :eek:) our mission is our 'bouncy, quality canter' at all times, :D

Thanks so much for all your help - watch this space (hopefully soon) you'll have plenty of videos of us with a lovely canter :D ;)
 
Looking good :) Very relaxed & flowing. You've done a brilliant job getting him so chilled, good luck for the future :cool:
 
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