Cobs/short striding horses and take off point

[[59668]]

A general musing.....
I have noticed how my short striding cob is more confident/comfortable taking off deeper to a fence rather than what would be a "normal" distance even for her stride.
Shes only 6 so at the moment I'm working with it, but I was wondering if this is a cob/short coupled horse trait? To get slightly deep to a fence. Has anyone else noticed the same?

 

[blitznbobs]

My welshy used to stand off a country mile - my hairy does the same - perhaps it’s a ‘your cob’ trait

 

[JFTDWS]

One of my highlands does this - gets ridiculously deep. The other takes nice, normal strides. It reflects the difference in their conformation, natural canter stride length and personality... One is very upright, covers very little ground and is a complete pudding about the concept of leaving the ground. The other is more open, covers more ground and is a dare devil idiot

 

[AmyMay]

It could simply be a sign of greeness

 

[The-Bookworm]

Mine prefers to jump from canter rather than trot.
I tend to think of it as a pony stride rather than short, she's learnt to lengthen with polework.
But in the school she has a naturally collected canter so I don't need to do anything apart from approach it straight.
She takes off where she takes off.

 

[Bernster]

Mine is more likely to chip in a stride or get in deeper to a fence. Mixture of finding it naturally easier to collect than extend, experience and his confidence. Also can come in underpowered. It’s a training thing to an extent and he gets better with pole work, practice and more energy in the canter. I try not to interfere and let him sort out his stride. It’s def better but still a work in practice!

 

[Mule]

Ime the more careful types tend to put a chip in rather than lengthen.

 

[Shay]

My daughter's cob goes deep -always has. Even hunting and XC where you expect them to take more of a flyer. It just reflects the length of his back and his natural stride. It makes an SJ round look a bit stilted - but what he lacks in speed on ground coverage he more than made up on his ability to turn tight and come to a fence from only a stride away. The fact he comes in deep did not impact his competitive success at all - but if you were not used to it that slightly steeper landing on a tiny (13.2) hogged cob - especially once you get up to 1m/1.10 - did ship unsuspecting riders out the front door a time or two.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My friend's 13hh very compact short legged pony used to stand off a mile. Very scary wondering if he would clear the fence but he always did.