FAO anyone interested in Fergles...

[JFTDWS]

I wasn't going to post this, 'cos my position etc is just shocking, but...

I'm quite proud of him, he's only little - and although the jump isn't massive, it is quite big next to him

However, although he's very honest, he does tend to get in deep and jump quite vertically... He's better coming out of grids, but I can't do gridwork until my field dries enough for me to jump in there If anyone has any tips for that, or for sorting my woeful position, they'd be gratefully received.

If anyone feels like being insulting, that's also fine

 

[dafthoss]

More to the point how could you not love fergles?!?!?!?

How big is the last one out of intrest?

 

[JFTDWS]

More to the point how could you not love fergles?!?!?!?

How big is the last one out of intrest?

I don't know - I think he's the best thing since sliced bread... Actually, sliced bread is an abomination, so he's the best thing since the best thing before sliced bread But I am biased

I dunno... Over a metre, certainly...

 

[Shantara]

Who said cobs can't jump :O

Stunning chap, he really is! Want to swap? Honestly Neddy is everything I never wanted in a horse, Fergles is amazing! Goodness knows why I fell so madly in love with him, I'll never know ^^ He's like a drug, you never wanted to get on it in the first place, let alone get addicted!

Anyway, enough about Ned, he takes over all my posts, haha!
Fergles is a fab horse!

 

[JFTDWS]

Who said cobs can't jump :O

Stunning chap, he really is! Want to swap? Honestly Neddy is everything I never wanted in a horse, Fergles is amazing! Goodness knows why I fell so madly in love with him, I'll never know ^^ He's like a drug, you never wanted to get on it in the first place, let alone get addicted!

Anyway, enough about Ned, he takes over all my posts, haha!
Fergles is a fab horse!

I dunno - he's not a cob

Haha, it's fair enough - F nicked Ned's thread, so it's only right! Bless him I'll pass on the swap, thanks - Ned's lovely, but I like ponies I can scramble on without too much energy being expended

 

[Shantara]

I dunno - he's not a cob

Haha, it's fair enough - F nicked Ned's thread, so it's only right! Bless him I'll pass on the swap, thanks - Ned's lovely, but I like ponies I can scramble on without too much energy being expended

Fine, who said Highlands can't jump

Haha, poor Neddy! XD He certainly does require energetic scrambling!

 

[dafthoss]

NO I'M HAVING FERGLES!!!!!

 

[JFTDWS]

Oh dear... Whilst I'm loving the Fergles appreciation (he'll get big headed and his bridles won't fit ) I was hoping for some cc really

I'm working on getting him to lie down to make mounting easier - there's no way I'm scrambling onto a bigger horse like Ned! And he should be relieved about that too

 

[Shantara]

NO I'M HAVING FERGLES!!!!!

:O!!!
He looks like he could carry two people...give a new meaning to "sharing a horse!" haha!

Only messin' around as I don't feel I can give CC Other than he looks lovely!

 

[JFTDWS]

:O!!!
He looks like he could carry two people...give a new meaning to "sharing a horse!" haha!

Only messin' around as I don't feel I can give CC Other than he looks lovely!

Haha, fair enough, thanks...

You have NO idea how close you are to the mark there... I can't post photos on here though

 

[dafthoss]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!! You have no idea how funny that is

AHhhh I'm going to fall off the back seems familiar eh?

If you want cc yellow po used to get really close but as he has got more confident and the canter is better he seems to have stopped it.

 

[JFTDWS]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!! You have no idea how funny that is

AHhhh I'm going to fall off the back seems familiar eh?

If you want cc yellow po used to get really close but as he has got more confident and the canter is better he seems to have stopped it.

Very familiar

Interesting... He is getting better, with confidence and canter quality - this is a similar height jump to the first one, 11 months ago:

 

[dafthoss]

I have a very similar set of photos and if the canters not great he can still go back to the old crawl over it style.

 

[doratheexplorer]

Fergles is awesome!

Now for some advice - canter poles!! Use them for flat schooling and jumping.

So for flat - have say 4 poles down one lengthend canter stride apart down one side of the arena and 4 poles a more collected canter stride and have a play with lengthening and shortening his canter.

When you have that cracked, place some canter poles in the approach and after the jump. As well as a good ground line kicked away from the jump.

I am rubbish with measuring strides, so I normally just put down canter poles and then see how B copes - if he kicks them all over the place I get off and readjust, if they stay in place I crack on!!

Good luck!!

 

[JFTDWS]

I have a very similar set of photos and if the canters not great he can still go back to the old crawl over it style.

Yes that sounds about right... It might just be a confidence experience / greenness thing. He hasn't done masses of jumping, really so I can't blame him there is hope at least - if he ends up jumping like Rob

Fergles is awesome!

Now for some advice - canter poles!! Use them for flat schooling and jumping.

So for flat - have say 4 poles down one lengthend canter stride apart down one side of the arena and 4 poles a more collected canter stride and have a play with lengthening and shortening his canter.

When you have that cracked, place some canter poles in the approach and after the jump. As well as a good ground line kicked away from the jump.

I am rubbish with measuring strides, so I normally just put down canter poles and then see how B copes - if he kicks them all over the place I get off and readjust, if they stay in place I crack on!!

Good luck!!

Thanks. Yes, I'm working on canter poles He's getting better at them - we can just about lengthen over them - and I can get some lengthening / collection on the flat - it's a work in progress Will be easier when I can work in my field more often. Thanks for the suggestion - reassuring that it's in keeping with my current plans

 

[Jesstickle]

I agree with the poles. Poles are my new favourite thing. Not BH's though as he finds them very hard! I am, infact, working on the exact exercise doratheexplorer suggested. That and raised trotting poles to get him to pick his feet up/use his bum more!

If you want to help him find a stride into a single fence just shove one ground pole out a stride away and then you'll know where to kick. I find this really helps me jumping single fences at home as it helps us both get a measure of where we're aiming for. It's more for me really as I find that as I know I can't see a stride I tend to really kill the canter looking for one and it all gets slower and slower. With a placing pole out I feel happier to let BH flow a bit more and can keep my leg on. It's all in my head but these things often are with me unfortunately

I can't cc you position as mine is exactly the same and I can't fix my own, let alone someone else's!

PS, although I do love Fergs my heart really does belong to J

 

[JFTDWS]

I agree with the poles. Poles are my new favourite thing. Not BH's though as he finds them very hard! I am, infact, working on the exact exercise doratheexplorer suggested. That and raised trotting poles to get him to pick his feet up/use his bum more!

If you want to help him find a stride into a single fence just shove one ground pole out a stride away and then you'll know where to kick. I find this really helps me jumping single fences at home as it helps us both get a measure of where we're aiming for. It's more for me really as I find that as I know I can't see a stride I tend to really kill the canter looking for one and it all gets slower and slower. With a placing pole out I feel happier to let BH flow a bit more and can keep my leg on. It's all in my head but these things often are with me unfortunately

I can't cc you position as mine is exactly the same and I can't fix my own, let alone someone else's!

PS, although I do love Fergs my heart really does belong to J

Raised poles Good point - I must set some of those out when my field's dry too I hate setting out poles as I'm rubbish with distances and I feel like a jack in the box jumping on / off to fix the distances but they do make a big difference...

I hate placing poles with a vengeance because J always either jumped the placing pole and jump eek or tripped over it and put an extra stride in. However, Fergs is a lot less insane so I really should put one out for him. Same problem getting them in the right place though

Your leg position looks much more stable in the xc photos - I'm very jealous. Why can't you fix mine

Jasper... The horse who taught me to ride like this...

You're welcome to him

 

[Jesstickle]

Fergs is not going to jump the placing pole! If you think he is, put it two strides out. It doesn't matter how many strides out as long as in your head you know how many strides it's supposed to be. Then you can ride for that many.

I say this like it's super easy. It isn't. Even with a pole out I have to be very definite that I am right and that BH is wrong. His natural inclination is to chip in a short one so I have to be very positive and make sure he knows I mean business and that he can't just canter slower and shorter and have three strides where I think there are two.

I am naff with distances too. I'm really lucky as K usually does mine for me and then she'll usually hang about and shout at me to keep my leg on too as left to my own devices I will kill the canter as dead as dead and then of course BH starts chopping in little strides/getting too close

 

[shortstuff99]

I find it difficult to cc from a picture but maybe try slightly shorter stirrups? They look a little long to me! Cute ponio though!

 

[MeganLindsx]

You could try doing some flat work or work over poles in light seat? It improved my jumping

But very cute ponies!!

 

[rhino]

You may find that partly it's a 'highland' thing; they do like to pretend they are stags

One trick I've used to open them up a bit is to hire a gallops with fences to school over at speed - don't know if you'd be up for that or not though

Love his ickle tidy knees in the second picture!

 

[Polo*Pony]

He is so cute. So so so cute.

Love the way he's standing up and reaching in the second pic! Very tucked in front legs - he doesn't want to touch that pole, does he?!

I don't know how experienced he is, but the short stride might be a confidence thing. When my mare first learned to jump, she'd put in sudden, unexpected short strides before almost every fence, even when the fence was all of 60cm. It used to really unnerve me, as with my Welshie we used to just bomb at all the jumps and fly over them in a long and low fashion, and if the stride wasn't perfect he'd just jump bigger. Amazing fun. Then I got the mare and suddenly I had to be all grown up and serious and actually teach her what to do with jumps.

I found that a lot of pole work and grid work helped, as did lengthening and shortening canter exercises. When her confidence improved, the short stride gradually went away. The other thing is of course I got better at actually riding every stride to the jump and being in control of every second, rather than just letting myself be carried towards it on a pony I trusted 100% to jump it - totally different experience! Being able to spot a few strides out whether we were spot on or not was something I was not good at initially but now the canter is more consistent I can usually spot it and adjust in advance to avoid that little extra stride.

Single fence which you work on over a figure of eight is quite useful too - you can make the figures into circles, long loops, come in at an angle, etc. There's another exercise I've got in mind too but going to look for some diagrams online first as it takes some explaining, which isn't always easy when typing!

 

[JFTDWS]

Thank you all, for your comments. Most appreciated. He's just been a complete [insert expletive of choice] today (spring grass I think) so anyone who wants a stag-like highland is welcome to him

Fergs is not going to jump the placing pole! If you think he is, put it two strides out. It doesn't matter how many strides out as long as in your head you know how many strides it's supposed to be. Then you can ride for that many.
...
I am naff with distances too. I'm really lucky as K usually does mine for me and then she'll usually hang about and shout at me to keep my leg on too as left to my own devices I will kill the canter as dead as dead and then of course BH starts chopping in little strides/getting too close

You're right he's not going to jump the pole I just need to man up and use them I'm jealous of your "floor party". I normally have my mother, who is lovely, but gets confused by words like "cross" and "spread" I'm terrible for killing the canter too - I either just stop riding as I'm too busy looking for a stride / wetting myself, or I just hoon into at full speed

I find it difficult to cc from a picture but maybe try slightly shorter stirrups? They look a little long to me!

Ah, stirrups are an issue - if I jack them up any more, I end up with my knees well in front of the saddle, the issue with having a small horse, vsd/wh saddles and long legs

You could try doing some flat work or work over poles in light seat? It improved my jumping

Yep, I do ride in a 2-point quite a lot (low branch bridleways ) and over poles

You may find that partly it's a 'highland' thing; they do like to pretend they are stags

One trick I've used to open them up a bit is to hire a gallops with fences to school over at speed - don't know if you'd be up for that or not though

I'm hoping it's an age/confidence thing, as I'd rather not accept he's just not great at jumping due to being a highland. He's not very highlandy though, in a lot of ways - he can work "lightly" to school and he does have scope jumping, he's not one of the really heavy, unsporty highlands you see (or am I just biased?)

I'm up for that! I think I'd need a lead though, or it wouldn't be done with that much speed That was partly my thinking by taking him xc last year - but again, I had nobody to give me a decent lead

Love the way he's standing up and reaching in the second pic! Very tucked in front legs - he doesn't want to touch that pole, does he?!

yea, he's super honest and he knows his job - get over it somehow. It's the somehow I'm hoping to improve

I don't know how experienced he is, but the short stride might be a confidence thing.

he's 5, rising 6. He's not done masses of jumping, and he was better at the end of last summer after a couple of months of grids etc, he's ony jumped a couple of times since then, so he's rather over practice. I'm hoping you're right and confidence is a factor, as that's something we can work on.

When my mare first learned to jump, she'd put in sudden, unexpected short strides before almost every fence... Then I got the mare and suddenly I had to be all grown up and serious and actually teach her what to do with jumps.

You could be talking about me That's exactly how things have been with F. I just point J at fences, he sorts the strides (not always well, but we get over!) and hold on...

I found that a lot of pole work and grid work helped, as did lengthening and shortening canter exercises. ... The other thing is of course I got better at actually riding every stride to the jump and being in control of every second...

OK, this is great - we can work on this. I know I'm not helping him at all at the moment

Single fence which you work on over a figure of eight ...

I shall try the figure of 8 - I can do that when I hire the indoor as they have enough poles for a jump or two (just not whole grids, hence they need to wait till I can jump in my field at home!). Any other exercises gratefully received!

 

[JFTDWS]

OK so, if anyone's feeling helpful, video footage. First clips are this time last year (approx), a couple from the end of summer last year, and the last few are Friday night. Watching them, I am aware my riding is horrific, so if we could side step as many of the mindless insults as possible and aim for constructivness I'd be grateful

[YOUTUBE]XiHtDJ2H-aQ&feature=g-upl&context=G2046fdeAUAAAAAAAAAA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[black_horse]

I love fergles so much!!! He's my fav HHO horse

 

[Polo*Pony]

Any other exercises gratefully received!

If I can work out how to upload pictures, you are in for a TREAT... couldn't find any diagrams online (did get a bit distracted, admittedly!) so have just made some diagrams on Paint for you. And they are AMAZING. [slight sarcasm warning]

 

[JFTDWS]

I love fergles so much!!! He's my fav HHO horse

He's not a horse

Really? Even though his owner constantly threatens to decapitate your beautiful mare?


Polo*pony, I think I love you! What's the problem with the photos - have you got them online somewhere? All you need is an IMG code or a direct link which you put

after

 

[Polo*Pony]

Hmm... Why can't I just upload photos from my own folder?!?!

Never mind. Imagine this in your head...

You need 4 jump wings and 3 poles (for straights). This exercise sounds like a faff to set up but it's no more so than a double and definitely less than a grid.

Put 3 jumps out around one single jump wing - picture a stick man with no arms and no head and you're pretty much there.

Exercises: whatever you can come up with. A couple I use - which will be HORRENDOUSLY poorly explained so you will need pen and paper/extremely good logical skills to work out what I'm trying to say without diagrams:

1. Jump one fence, turn away from fences and circle over next fence. Again, turn away from fences until you are facing third fence.
So imagine you start by going left to right over stick-man's body - then turn left in a big arc (or smaller if you want!) and come back down to jump his left leg. Again, circle left and up over his right leg; circle left and come back across his body the way you started. Obviously you can do it on both reins and it's an endless loop that you can keep up indefinitely!


2. Another (simpler to explain) exercise is to canter big circle around all the fences. Then small circle round over the jump and rejoin big circle. You can keep the big circle around them all and jump one jump at a time, or you can set up a huge loops where you circle back over every fence. Again, either rein will work.


Sorry for my dreadful explanations - easiest thing to do is just set up the jumps and make up your own exercises. Anything will work as long as you focus on rhythm and impulsion - jumping was explained to me as 'just a big canter stride' when I was first learning and that still sticks with me now even though I'm jumping higher - if the canter is right, the jump feels like so much less effort. Most important thing is quality of canter - have jumped 1.20m and it's felt like 'a big canter stride' but have also struggled to get over 80-90cm when I've let the canter die

 

[Polo*Pony]

Polo*pony, I think I love you!

Haha high praise indeed Normally when I post on threads they promptly die a death/get pulled so I was beginning to think I was cursed

What's the problem with the photos - have you got them online somewhere?

Nope... Once I'd "drawn" them I just saved them in a folder (which I've already forgotten the name of) on my laptop.

All you need is an IMG code or a direct link which you put

after

Que? Again, but slowwwerrr and LOUDER please...

 

[JFTDWS]

You mean like these? (Art is not my strong point )

Those make sense - and I can manage that with what I have when I hire the indoor May be helpful in many ways too - courses don't really happen for us, the canter dies half way round, he goes flat and blech (i.e. I lose the ability to ride) and crash through / scramble round (I have video evidence of that too )

Cheers