A little help seeing a stride please........

[redmerl]

Im really struggling to see a stride at the mo, and the more lessons and practise I have, the wrost it seams to get. I think in my head its becoming and 'issue'. My old horse jumped totally different.

So any ideas? Im currently trying placing poles, grids and lungng (so he can find his own feet).

Ta much,

 

[Skhosu]

Dont look for it! look away, sing, just keep a constant forward canter and they will be able to jump from whatever stride.

 

[Mrs_Wishkabibble]

Don't get so hung up about it.
I was just the same, I got in a panic as I couldnt see a stride but funnily enough I never missed over lower fences as I wasnt trying but when the fences went up I was getting it wrong (usually too deep.) It was because I made an issue about it and the more I "couldnt do it" the worse it was.
Just keep a decent bouncy forward canter stride and let the fence come to you. Keep them low and you will soon realise you can do it but need to stop trying too hard.
Hope that makes sense?

 

[Peanot]

I had an issue with this until I realised that it is the quality of the canter as the saying goes. If you have a nice bouncy short canter, it is easy for the horse to adjust itself at the fence as we do stepping up a pavement. Make sure you have a good quality canter, not fast, but moving and dont interfere. As long as the canter is good, the jump is easy.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[jules89]

yep
seeing a stride comes from the type of canter. work on the horses canter and make sure it is a proper working canter, otherwise it will never come, this is something i have, and still do, struggle with
if you have to work with a fence (which i also had to do to feel i was going somewhere), keep it to crosspoles or poles on the floor, whack em anywhere in the school and keep coming to them for hours and hours until you get bored. this was drilled into me by a brilliant trainer who kicked me into gear.
good luck, it will come, and dont forget, even the pros get it wrong sometimes, noones perfect xxx

 

[lannerch]

as others have said, the qulity of the canter is most important, do not worry about seeing the stride, but to help you try counting the canter strides as you approach the pole/jump and carry on counting for few strides after.

 

[seabiscuit]

Everything to me suggest that there is no quality in the horse's canter.

When the canter is right, you will ALWAYS be able to see a good stride, but you dont have a chance when the canter does not have quality.

With my current horse , most of the time I could not see a stride on him, even though I *thought* I had a good quality canter, (controlled power) it obviously still was not good enough, and he was not coming through on the right way. Trainers said that it was appalling !!His flatwork was OK, working at Novice level, but was still not good enough to transmit to going jumping. He finds it very difficult to sit on his backend in the right way. We will be doing mostly all dressage this winter to work on this.

But when I got on my other horse ( who I have sadly just sold) I could see a stride every single time without fail. He had such a lovely balanced canter all you had to do was sit there and relax!he cantered well like that naturally, from day one, he was just lucky enough to be on of those horses that just had the balance there. His canter was one of the best Ive ever sat on- so it made me realise how all the pro's find it so easy as obv. they only buy horses with extremely good canters. That is what makes them able to get those horses out winning and upgrading very quickly! Unless you are doing it the long slow way ( like we are) with a horse that has ability but just does not have that natural way of going, so it has to be taught.

So yes, work on the canter and you'll have the stride there always, it will be just like magic! Perhaps ask to ride someone else's horse ( one with a good canter) just to give you confidence and remind you that you can do it!

 

[Scarlett]

*waves hand*

can I come join the 'Can't see a stride even if there are flashing lights' Club?

My mare has a decent canter on the flat, but we are still working on making her adjustable and thus I screw up our jumping on a regular basis. Last event we done I tried to just sit and kick and let her sort it out, I had a neck strap and instead of trying to adjust her I held that and left her alone. We met every jump in the SJ and the XC bang on (admittedly it was only 2'3), but I cant seem to replicate this at home and have got to the point of not jumping again until my Instructor comes and tries jumping my horse to see if it really is me screwing it up!

Try not to worry about it, maybe have a lesson on a more experienced horse - I'd love to go for a lesson on something that knows what its doing - or get some lessons on yours...?

Good luck!

 

[saskia295]

I find this tough too, but know what you mean about the canter. My youngster finds it quite hard to maintain a decent canter but we had a lesson with Shane Breen last week and that has really helped us both HUGELY

Hope we can pull it off again at an ODE this weekend!

 

[kerilli]

as above, if the canter is right, you can FEEL the stride as much as you can see it. work on the canter, until it feels balanced, powerful, not rushed but purposeful, and light in the hand (if the horse is heavy and on the forehand it is harder for it to take off, and it will rely on you more, imho), then circle and come to a small upright without changing anything at all... and enjoy!

 

[mrogers]

and me, but only on the smaller jumps. Fine over 2ft 9 and xc. Think the horse just looks and say "are you insulting me with this" lol

 

[redmerl]

THanks guys, more canter work I think.

 

[kombikids]

i had the exact same problem with my new horse -hes 16.3 and about 20ft long - well maybe not but hes a lot to hold together! anyway i posted for some advice on here and someone said just work on tiny jumps til it improves- so i have mastered trot so i stay in trot and jump nothing over my knees AND I DONT WORRY ABOUT IT! As soon as i did this its fine so stop worry keep them small for a month even count one two one two on your way in and over and it will soon come.

i am now working on my canter and have started jumping from that (all the way up to 2ft6 !) and as soon as i have a decent one it just clicks.

goodluck!