Advice on Horses Jumping Technique

emilykerr747

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Hi Everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice on my 14hh connie eventer's jumping technique. We are consistently jumping BE80 and hoping to move to 90 this season but I have noticed that he struggles with the large spreads when jumping at home. He is built slightly downhill and is very spooky so has a tendency to look before he jumps. In my opinion, this is what I think disrupts his momentum before the jump. I have attached two videos of us jumping to see what I meaning. He's 13 and has been competing since he was young so has had lots of exposure but his nature is very spooky so he continues to dip his head and look before take off every single time. I have excepted that this is just his personality and he is very careful as a result. To me I feel as though he falls onto the forehand on take-off and therefore has a poor jump trajectory with not much power behind to make the height or width if the fence is any higher. It almost looks like he launches himself with no real power. - These are my thoughts anyway! I would love to move him up to 90 but I don't want to knock his confidence by having him stress about knocking poles.

Please let me know what you guys think and any advice/ exercises would be very much appreciated! Thank you!

-Jumping lesson (training)

- Competing BE80
 

LEC

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I think he has enough scope for 90 and you don't look too far off. You don't mention this issue xc so I am guessing with you both a little more pumped up and off a stronger canter then it doesn't happen so much?

My immediate thoughts are you wait for him to shorten the stride into the fence and let him do it. I think he has trained you in how he wants to go. If this issue is not happening xc then you need to ride your Sjing more like you xc! Sounds simple but what I think the main difference is xc is you travel a bit more forwards, ride a little more forwards and its straight lines.

I would want to see more oomph in the canter. You allow it to get flat in the last few strides where you wait for him to pop the short one in and allow him to do it. I think you need to come off your corners with a lot more pace.

In your shoes I would work at coming off corners in a much bolder canter (not faster but energised) and really work hard on riding the withers up all the way into the fence and in the same rhythm. You can practice with poles on the floor that you are holding the same balance all the way round and moving on. Not allowing him to prop that last few strides.

I would also set up grids with 90cm spreads. I would be doing cross, one stride (7ft) to upright, two strides (11ft) to spread. This will then give you the confidence to know he can do it and give you the feel for the canter you need round your courses as would be built on slightly shorter distances to help.

Your method of supporting him into a fence is really good he just needs to stay up into this and keep him up to the mark while staying confident doing it. I think a few tweaks and being disciplined with yourself will make all the difference.
 

paddi22

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ah you's look like a great pair and he is very cute. This issue is your canter. He has a lovely scope jump but he kind of pulling himself around by his shoulders and tipping forward in the canter. he kind of has to 'hop' himself up off his shoulder to clear it, so he could just be being careful that he can make it because he doesn't have the confidence of having the power behind. He is tipping around corners and pulling you into a flat canter where you have no adjustablility.


If you sit deeper in, and lean back more and really collect him with your legs to get a bouncier, more compact canter you will have a super pony. you just need to get his hind legs under him and more sit in the canter. he has plenty of scope.
 

emilykerr747

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I think he has enough scope for 90 and you don't look too far off. You don't mention this issue xc so I am guessing with you both a little more pumped up and off a stronger canter then it doesn't happen so much?

My immediate thoughts are you wait for him to shorten the stride into the fence and let him do it. I think he has trained you in how he wants to go. If this issue is not happening xc then you need to ride your Sjing more like you xc! Sounds simple but what I think the main difference is xc is you travel a bit more forwards, ride a little more forwards and its straight lines.

I would want to see more oomph in the canter. You allow it to get flat in the last few strides where you wait for him to pop the short one in and allow him to do it. I think you need to come off your corners with a lot more pace.

In your shoes I would work at coming off corners in a much bolder canter (not faster but energised) and really work hard on riding the withers up all the way into the fence and in the same rhythm. You can practice with poles on the floor that you are holding the same balance all the way round and moving on. Not allowing him to prop that last few strides.

I would also set up grids with 90cm spreads. I would be doing cross, one stride (7ft) to upright, two strides (11ft) to spread. This will then give you the confidence to know he can do it and give you the feel for the canter you need round your courses as would be built on slightly shorter distances to help.

Your method of supporting him into a fence is really good he just needs to stay up into this and keep him up to the mark while staying confident doing it. I think a few tweaks and being disciplined with yourself will make all the difference.

Thank you so much for getting back. This has been extremely useful advice, and I can't wait to try it out! The issue isn't as bad in the cross country, but the propping and waiting before the fences does cost us a lot of time in the cross country because he always likes to look first, however he does seem to be more confident jumping cross country than he is show jumping for some reason. Maybe as I am riding more forward being quite time cautious!

I will definitely try out your suggestions and hopefully we can both build our confidence for this season!
 

emilykerr747

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ah you's look like a great pair and he is very cute. This issue is your canter. He has a lovely scope jump but he kind of pulling himself around by his shoulders and tipping forward in the canter. he kind of has to 'hop' himself up off his shoulder to clear it, so he could just be being careful that he can make it because he doesn't have the confidence of having the power behind. He is tipping around corners and pulling you into a flat canter where you have no adjustablility.


If you sit deeper in, and lean back more and really collect him with your legs to get a bouncier, more compact canter you will have a super pony. you just need to get his hind legs under him and more sit in the canter. he has plenty of scope.

Yes I definitely suspected it was the canter that was the problem. I have had comments in our dressage that the canter is falling a bit flat so I suspect it's the same issue jumping! I'll definitely try out your suggestions soon! Would you be able to suggest any suitable exercises which might help to build a bouncier canter? It's been a long-standing problem for us and I'm not sure what is best to practice at home to help.
 

Starbucks

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I think you both look fab! Agree with PP if you could get his canter a bit more balanced on the corners etc. and then a bit more umph into the fences. If 90 XC insn’t an issue then I think he should easily be able to do the SJ.
 

paddi22

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Yes I definitely suspected it was the canter that was the problem. I have had comments in our dressage that the canter is falling a bit flat so I suspect it's the same issue jumping! I'll definitely try out your suggestions soon! Would you be able to suggest any suitable exercises which might help to build a bouncier canter? It's been a long-standing problem for us and I'm not sure what is best to practice at home to help.

the best one is a really simple one. place two poles about 6 or 7 strides apart. ride down it a few times and count the strides you get between the poles and see what your average number of strides is. then next time, just try and add an extra one. think of it as if you want to take as long as you possibly can to get to the next pole. sit deep, hold her with your legs, keep your back straight and compress the canter as much as you can. use the corner turn to really collect your horse, almost think as if you are gonna go from canter to halt in the corner but don't. think of nearly bouncing on the spot for three strides as you do your turn, but don't pull back with your hands, do it with your seat and your legs holding the horse.

what you want to be able to do is add strides when you need to. a good showjumper could go from say 5 to 10 or more strides ion that pole exercise by just compressing the canter. but add one stride in when you can, then try two. what you want to be able to do is adjust the canter as you need it. when the horse has a good canter they learn to take weight behind and that gives them the power over the fences. you can extend or collect them as you need and that stops the dodgy half stride chip jumps.

what you need to watch is that you understand the difference between oomph and speed. if you just speed up then the canter will go flatter and more on the forehand. think of it like bouncing a basketball. if you run forward bouncing it with massive gaps between where it lands it has less power. if you bounce it up and down on the spot you can feel the power and how it's contained between your hand and the ground. that's the feeling you want with the canter. but it doesn't come from just pulling back with your hand, you really need to sit deep, sit back, and get the half halt in the canter and the feeling of what a proper jump canter is. if you could find a good dressage instructor it would raelly help your jumping because ye both have tons of talent, you just have the wrong canter and no balance on turns. both are fixable.
 
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emilykerr747

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Wow thank you! I really appreciate the time you’ve taken for this detailed reply. Those analogies definitely make things a lot clearer, I can’t wait to try this out tomorrow. It feels really good to finally have some sound advice from everyone on this forum and some new methods to try ?.
 

Lyle

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He's super cute! I'm going to say the problem is the quality of your canter. He's on the forehand, pulling himself around, the canter is flat and lacking impulsion. I can see that he is looky, but from the quiet canter he is looking after you both by popping in a short stride, because he doesn't have the impulsion from the canter to move out and meet a more correct distance. He also chipped in another stride through the double, a tell tale that your canter is not active/strong/bouncy enough. Course distances are set at 12 foot strides; you'd be amazed at how forward this can feel! A great exercise is to set up 2 small jumps, 5 12ft strides apart. Canter down it, and see how many you get! you'll probably get something like 6/7! Try pushing the canter out until you comfortable get 6, then try for the 5. This is a simple exercise to get the feeling of having a canter with enough impulsion.
The issue of the flatness/on the forehand comes down to your dressage training :) There are lots of ways to encourage him to be more active on his hind legs, carrying more weight behind. Good luck, I think the future is bright!
 

greenbean10

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He is lovely!

Have you tried jumping him down grids with a slightly bigger fence at the end? He looks comfortable at 80cm but he'd rather chip in than be a little further off (probably due to him being spooky). I think he only struggles with the oxers when you are a bit off it, then he chips in and then loses momentum so finds the width a bit harder, but this is the same with a lot of horses. When you meet the oxer on a good stride or you commit to a more forward stride he is fine.

Even though he is careful he is very efficient, which could be what makes you think he'll struggle because he doesn't overjump anything. You may find that around 90cm he is the same, but just jumps 10cm bigger and 10cm wider!

Theres really not that much different between 80cm and 90cm, and looking at him there I really don't think he would struggle too much. Just commit to a forward stride!
 

Red-1

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I thought the jumping looked ready for 90 in the lesson on the arena, but he looks different in the competition.

You both look a lovely team in both videos, but I think the arena fence is helping him regulate in the first video. In the second, he has a larger space and no walls to guide him, so is more reliant on you. In turn, you need to be more prescriptive.

I believe he is "looking" more in the competition video, but it is because he is less balanced and he is clever - if he didn't prop an extra stride in he would struggle as his canter is flatter.

To remedy, I would practice in an open area/field, even with no jumps, and see the track that you would like to ride in mind's eye and ride on it. Ride straight lines and turns, on the line and with correct bend. If you look at the track you are taking in the competition, you are cutting the corners and are not even straight by the time you reach the fence on some fences. The pony doesn't know the course, so you need to be more prescriptive as to where each turn will start and finish. Having more accurate straights and curves will also help you to keep the canter from becoming too strung out.

All the basics are there, just more training in the open and then be strict with yourself when in a competition. I would even risk time penalties for a time or two to make sure the lines and canter are correct, it would pay dividends in the long run and would soon speed up again, whilst keeping the quality.
 

Rowreach

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There’s some fabulous advice here already so I’m not going to add much, just to say it may help if you think about “riding the hind legs” more - it’s very easy with a slightly downhill built horse to end up “riding the shoulders”. I think if you can be very disciplined about sitting up (more than you think you need to) you will find he engages more because he’s carrying you differently, and that will keep him more upright on the turns, he’ll be on the correct lead, that will save time, and it will improve the canter no end.

This applies to sj and xc- it’s worth looking at some decent jump jockeys in action and seeing how they use their body weight coming into a fence - non-interference in the most perfect way, keeping the horse in balance and giving it the freedom to jump the fence ?
 

DabDab

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Yep, my first thought watching the vid is that you need to shift your focus to make sure you are riding the back legs. Along with the exercises and tips up thread I think really focussing on the feel you are getting from the engine will really help you start to improve the canter quality
 
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