Having another crisis - Do you actually enjoy jumping bigger than 1.10?

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flyingfeet

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Having another wobble about world, life and the universe

So background - me 31 accountant, nothing bad ever happened riding as only have accidents with inanimate objects. Horse 10 year old homebred very compliant and happy to please, but not what I'd call enthusiastic

So recently my instructors have been whacking jumps up to 1.20m which does make me squeal, especially on grass. The aim is to getting me used to jumping bigger wider jumps so I can move up to Newcomers.

However although getting the full benefit of an adrenaline buzz, nothing going wrong and apparently we look fine; I am not really sure I'm enjoying this! I feel a huge sense of relief at the end of the lessons, and whilst jumping I have to resist my lethal urge to take massive half halts right in front of the jump (I'm still thinking backwards) :(

So now wondering whether some people are just not cut out for this, and I could swap back to doing something fun and social like polocrosse. Although I have made some good friends our BSJA'ing there isn't much comradery and its basically you versus the rest of the world

Thoughts please?
 
I'm going to take a slightly different angle on this to you! Basically if your thinking about the height of the jump it's too big! I will happily jump my mare at home round 1.20 (a year or so ago I looked at 90 cms and thought it was massive as had had a nasty stopper) but if your jumping this big reg. then slowly it becomes the norm. I would get confident at 1.10 at home, jump some 1.05 opens (shouldn't be any bigger than 1.15 in jump off) and go from there.
 
I often wonder what actually drives us to keep pushing out of our comfort zones. If I do a class that's well within our (me and my horse) comfort zone then I get very little satisfaction out of it. For some reason I've got to keep pushing and stepping things up.

The big question is do you "need" to move up to Newcomers or would you be happy to continue at Discovery?

I've been pondering similar recently, why am I not happy with the thought of staying at BE Intro? Doesn't make sense really, but I want to move up the levels, yet it's my hobby there's noone pushing me saying you should be doing more yet I keep wanting more!
 
I jumped 1.35m on my horse last night in a lesson, and i wanted to do it again and again! The only thing that enters my head when jumping fences of that size is not to muck it up and put him in a spot he can't actual jump it with ease, whereas with smaller fences you can get away with it.

But ultimately it makes me more accurate because i have to be, and that will help both of us.

I do see it time and time again people pushing themselves so far out of their comfort zone that it makes them sick with nerves....i just don't understand why anyone would push themselves like that.
 
It sounds like your instructor is confident in your ability & so is preparing you for the next level. Are you comfortable enough with them to be completely honest & discuss your worries in a calm way? If they are a BSJA accredited coach then their approach should be like an all round sort of approach, goal setting etc etc. I can relate exactly to how you are feeling, & I am nowhere near jumping 1.20m, I have a new mare far more straightforward than the last one who I loved dearly, but was sharp, spooky & generally unhelpful some of the time. Now I find myself holding poor Fleur for grim death & not giving her enough room to canter & stretch over the fence, currently having an issue with related distances, if I miss a bit at the first one, I take my leg off & pull, yesterday managed to pull her out to the left several times & quite rightly got well told off. Its completely a confidence issue, trusting her & trusting myself, but I so want to do it I just put myself under loads of pressure. If you are feeling relieved its over, maybe its just that you are being pushed out of your comfort zone, I tried sports psychology with my old mare & it worked very well. Have to say I always read your posts & think you sound really good, so any tips on my current mental block with combinations greatfully received.
 
I wonder if it's all in our heads, I only compete at BN height at present for a whole load of reasons that won't go into but at home we practise bit higher... now few weeks ago I had a combination set up of crosspole to upright and ended up with the upright at what I thought was about 1.05m so looking at discovery height, jumped it fine then measured it only to realise it was 1.15m eek I had no idea and if I had know it was that big would never have been as confident jumping it, and she was giving it plenty of space so god only knows how high up in the air we were!

Personally I never put jumps to a size where I don't feel totally confident going over them, as I just don't find it enjoyable... yes it will take longer to move up levels but will hopefully have a great time doing it and will never have our confidence rocked.
 
Natalia - I think that is my anal nature; I know how big the jumps are and pretty much how long the distances are in metres when I walk. Its a numbers thing, plus I am sure I am just *thinking* far too much, rather than just getting on with it!

Megabeast - I'm not sure what the drive is but I only have £10 left in Discovery, so won't have a choice for much longer. Plus yes it does irritate me that I think discovery is easy, but newcomers is some insurmountable challenge

Saratoga - I'm not exactly sick with nerves, but just not very happy. What you said sounds logical, I ought to be getting a massive buzz and feel elated, not relieved!

kizzywiz - Flattered by your comments, I feel like a bumbling idiot most of the time when competing :D I think my main mental block is that my horse is doing this because I am asking, not because he is enjoying himself. Although I guess if he wasn't enjoying it he wouldn't do it??
 
You will get used to it honestly, when i was starting to step up to Fox in the ring my trainer was making me jump 1.30+ at home so that a fox and it's jumpoff would always look smaller and that I would be confident. I was soooo scared at first and would always want to pull and hook into it.

It is much better to jump slightly bigger at home so then even if a course is built on the large siz you will not be put off. Also seen as you are considering moving upto Newcomers your horse is obviously capable of it and so are you as you are jumping 1.20 at home just take it slowly and move up when you feel ready.
 
I don't think I can comment yet on whether I enjoy jumping over 1.10. We have started jumping bigger in lessons, i.e. 1.15 - 1.20 and yes, the fences do seem huge and it does seem like a real challenge. But I know that a year ago 1.10 would have seemed massive and now Newcomers is beginning to look quite doable - unless of course we have a mishap - see my post about the Area 48 show!

Do you have any shows near you that have 1.05 classes regularly? I know the Hand do a Discovery then a 1.05/1.10 handicap, then a Newcomers at a lot of their shows, which I find really useful because if I'm feeling a wuss I can do the Disco and 1.05 but if I'm feeling brave I can do the 1.05 and Newcomers.

I think it's all a case of practice and getting used to jumping bigger fences. If you are not riding all day every day, expect it to take a while to get to those heights.
 
I have only done 1 newcomers, and I have to say that when I finished, despite having a stop and a pole that were my fault I was so happy that I had completed the course. I think a feeling of relief came in somewhere (had butterflies beforehand!) but I was thinking more, 'ooh, when shall I do that again?'

I think a bit more prep for me, and maybe another lesson or two, and I'll be doing another one after doing a Disc at one of my next shows. My friend put a fence in at 1.20 in a grid last week, and suprisingly, that wasn't scary, although I know thats totally different to doing a 1.20m course :)
 
oofadoofa said:
I think it's all a case of practice and getting used to jumping bigger fences. If you are not riding all day every day, expect it to take a while to get to those heights.
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I think thats key tbh, if I have a while off, 90cm starts to looks scary again :eek:
 
Ha ha, don't think you should feel like a bumbling idiot, you are obviously capable, so just move up when you feel ready. Could you do some open 1.05m or something as a stepping stone. Anyway, how much of a bumbling idiot did I feel yesterday when I was incapable of riding a straight line between 2 fences of about 80cm, sitting up keeping leg on & getting 3 strides, got there in the end after lots of shouting, but why oh why is it SO HARD!!! lol
 
I think its quite healthy to have a little bit of nerves before competitive jumping at least. If you are doing everything within your comfort zone then you get much less of the adrenalin rush. However, not everyone likes that feeling so dont feel that you 'ought' to be doing things to frighten you:D I sometimes look around my work collegues & wonder where they get their 'kicks' from. I love that adrenalin rush feeling but only retrospectively!!

If you kind of creep up the classes then hopefully as your experience of jumping bigger fences increases then so does your confidence. BUT it entirely depends what you are riding - anybody with any doubts really needs a horse which will 'take' them occasionally as unless you are a Whittaker its fairly inevitable that you will miss every now & again. I found that riding a good keen horse made my comfort zone rise fairly quickly; I leapt up from 1.05 to 1.10 to 1.20 in a short space of time. Sadly I havent progressed beyond that height & as a result get 'excited' above that level & do unnecessary kicking resulting in flying poles:o:eek:

Keep at it but always jump a few courses/shows within your zone - dont push yourself everytime:)
 
Stencilface said:
I think thats key tbh, if I have a while off, 90cm starts to looks scary again :eek:
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Absolutely!

Cotswold sj sorry to hijack your post but I was going through some old issues of Horse magazine last night, ripping out masterclasses that I thought were v useful and it looks like I ripped out you and your horse! lol sorry of that sounds weird :D
 
Joss said:
...& as a result get 'excited' above that level & do unnecessary kicking resulting in flying poles:o:eek:
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I think this is a valid point. As soon as we are out of our comfort zone it's so easy to start riding in a way that we wouldn't normally, usually by kicking/flapping a bit more which puts the horse off and makes it all go wrong! Then it's a circle, as we tell ourselves that we can't do it and start to get a height limit. As soon as we go over that height limit we revert back to the flapping and it starts again.

So pushing yourself is good, gradually, confidently, not quickly.
 
Well I'm not much help to you but I'm trying to move up to 1.10.........I jumped a course in a hired arena last night 105 - 110 and the 105's didn't bother me at all but approaching the 110 my tummy was churning and I now realise that jumping bigger fences is teaching me to sit push and stop fiddling with my mares mouth, when we do this everything is fine and she was easily jumping a foot bigger than she needed to last night but my fiddling usually ends up in her being wrong and it being a panic jump. But when I just sit and push she always hits it right!! So I'm learning fast!! but I want to push my boundries, my mare is capable of much more and I want to be able to go further with her.
 
JVB - I think another problem is I am usually by myself and would have to get off to put them up at home and know how high they are. I think having a someone sneaky on the ground is very helpful!

jess_asterix - definitely in that scared phase, every fibre of my body wants to pull and hook and I have to fight it!

oofadoofa - Well at least yours locks on and cannot be stopped!! :D
Yes we do have 1.05m locally, I have been avoiding as he tends to jump clear which I found very expensive in terms of adding notional. However next week is Hickstead and I have a 1.05m from Wednesday to Sunday with one day off!

Stencilface - I just wish I felt that I wanted to do it again rather than "thank heavens that's over!". Also totally agree even a week off jumping means they start to look bigger!

Joss - yes is do wonder where the normal person gets their kicks from. However I do think if my horse was a bit keener, it would make life easier. If I take my legs off with fright, we slow down!!

jenbleep - now that is a bit weird! Still if nothing else he is very pretty! :D

Saratoga - well I've been jumping discos for 2 years so probably about time someone gave me a push!

Chermar - I do exactly the same thing, seem to think a bigger jump needs more riding and the urge to fiddle is so strong. Just feels wrong to sit and do nothing else !
 
I know the feeling my instructor makes me jump huge at home so the courses out competing look tiny but I do get terified. i still look at 2 phase discos and want to cry but Ive managed to jump a 95 open 2 phase no problem and the disco is barely bigger.

when I did my first few BE's I chased my mare round at lightening speed as I was so scared luckly she loves jumping from speed.

We are having a yr off jumping through injury im going to be pathetic when we start again.
 
I agree with everyone who says that the more you do it the easier it gets! I remember being absolutely terrified at my first Newcomers with my first horse, then doing it all over again with my next one - think it's a bit of a mental block with the step up! You can make all sorts of mistakes in Discovery and get away with it, once it gets that little bit bigger (and more importantly more technical) you have to be that bit more accurate. It sounds like you're properly doing your homework and you'd probably get to the show and think that the course doesn't even look that big! But I know all about nerves etc - my baby's going to his first Intro show tonight, we'll prob just jump the 70cm or 80cm open for the sake of ringcraft and I'm already having a minor wobble even though we were jumping 1.05m at home at the weekend - two months away from shows and I've turned into a wreck...
 
I am the same as you, I think far too much and once I know it's big I stop riding to the fences and ride backwards. I have a fantastic TB now who is not the easiest but will pop 1m 20 - 30 even with me on him but I've got him up for sale as I just don't enjoy jumping those heights. I just have absolutely no need to jump bigger and nor do I want to. I am perfectly happy doing BE100s on my pony and am dreading the idea of going to jump some big classes on the TB as unfortunately he's not selling.

I think the end question is whether you want to go further and do Newcomers personally I don't want to move up but if you want to then it sounds like you are going the right way about it. The other thing I would do is hire a full course to jump round as if it were a competition and also maybe some unaffiliated 1m 05 - 10s to ease you in a bit more :).
 
In a straight answer to your original question, In my case no.

I have jumped 1.25m regulary in training on my pony (bearing in mind he is 14.1hh, and I would be classed as 'aged'). He's more than capable and has done PN's with no problems. However, I don't enjoy jumping that big, and last winter, after a hiccup at a 1.05m Championship, I wouldn't even jump 80cm.

Its taken me all the start of this year to be happy going round 1m classes again, and now I have decided, I don't like jumping big. Life is too short, this is my hobby and its meant to be fun. My pony really doesn't care what height he jumps as long as mum on top isn't going to interfere and screw up too much.

Just my view on it ;)
 
There is a very simple solution to this - having a humongous horse! Maggie is 17.2hh and doesn't even begin jumping until it is 1.15-1.20.

I keep asking my sister on the ground to put the fences up, and despite being quite good at judging fence height from the ground, from Maggie 1.40m honestly looks like 1.10m. Another rider was on her a few months ago and the same thing happened to him.

Obviously the problem is at shows when my 5'3 self has to walk the course and stand next to the jumps which makes me appreciate the actual height (not that we even compete big classes).
 
If you aren't enjoying it, do something different. Then if you always thinking 'wish I could go jumping' you will know what you want to do.

Me personally - I love it! Although I agree it helps if someone is sneaking the fences up - I know I have jumped 1.20/1.25m at home, as Dad has been sneaking the jumps up. I tell you what though - that looks ENORMOUS from a 13.1h pony (135cm to the wither!)
 
little_flea - having a Humungous Horse didn't help me much when it came to jumping big tracks. :( ;)

I know that the size of fences doesn't worry me particularly, assuming I'm on the right horse in the right class :D, but making a hash of it does. So yes, I enjoy jumping bigger than 1.10m but only if I'm ready and think I can do it well. Anyone can jump one big fence, but it's when you try and do a course of that height that the wheels fall off.:eek:

CotswoldSJ - do you actually enjoy the competing and is it just the lessons that you feel relieved after? Do you enjoy it enough, or does the work, stress, going out of your comfort zone etc not justify the reward? If not then maybe you'd be better finding something more fun that suits you better, although it could be that you're just a bit jaded with it at the moment - god knows we all feel like that sometimes.:rolleyes:
 
OMG, great thread!

Ditto Megabeast...I don't enjoy competing well within my limits, but then if I push myself, I'm a *lot* happier once it's safely over & done with.

As others have said, the ruler in your head does adjust if you stick at it. When I was competing the late Catembi, disco looked unjumpably huge after BN, & my first disco was shut eyes & kick, & nearly sick with relief when we finished. But just before he started getting ill, we were jumping 1 m 25 tracks in lessons, I'd competed up to 1 m 15 & he was making NC feel like a RC clear round. I am really quite wet, but I was getting impatient with the smaller jumps.

Now I'm starting again with Trev, BN is looking big...

To answer the q, no I don't enjoy jumping over 1 m 10...except for the 5 seconds after I've safely done it, when I love it. And no, I don't really understand why I do it. Cos it's there? Cos life loses a bit of its colour if I plod along safely? Who knows?
 
Ha, if the course looks big, I['m quite happy sometimes if I miss the course walk! I'm quite happy just to watch people jump to see hows its riding - oxers terrify me! :eek:
 
It really depends on the horse. On my old mare i'd come down to a big fence and think 'really?!' but after a while even at 1.20m didnt seem that big (on a 14.3 cob :o) . I was only really out doing 1 - 1.10 and after a while they never looked that big.
My new one i cant wait to start over the bigger fences as he will really start jumping then but i will terrifed when i do. Not because of the height but because i think i will mess it up, ruin him and just be rubbish and never get it right. To me that is more of a handicap than the height. :confused:
I do agree that the more you do the better and easier it gets but the first few times are a killer for your confidence if your not careful.
I loved jumping my mare over 1m to 1.05m tracks as it was easy for her and fun for me, the higher class while still ok but made me abit self critical and very wary of making misstakes, it took some of the fun out of it.
Im hoping that i've defeated these deamons as i really want to move up the levels, for me that it part of it, to keep bettering myself and keep improving. :)
 
For me it comes down to what I am sat on. Last year I rode a incredible jumper he made it feel easy. I did not even get stressed coming into a 1.35 oxer. A couple of months ago I rode a horse who stressed me out jumping 95cm. It was so scopeless that I felt very worried about jumping. If I sat you on a horse that I told you had won 1.30m classes and then asked you to pop round a 1.10m course would you get worried about it (apart from the normal worry about cocking it up!) If not then to me that says you are fine and just need to keep going. If you would worry and it would really stress you out then maybe you just need to slow down and step more towards your comfort zone.
 
I totally see where you are coming from with this!!! I haven't done much for a while but did a few NC a couple of seasons ago. I suppose I did enjoy it when I actually got in the ring as it wasn't that bad and horse did it easy but I just got so nervous!! Now I'm thinking of registering again and I'm thinking I maybe stick to smaller classes.. but then i might change my mind once I get going! I think the thing is for me that unless something is a bit of a challenge then I don't get the sense of pride (of horse) and achievment as I do with more challenging things... which is annoying really!!

I think you should keep at it and hope that the bigger fences start to look less scary when you are more used to it.
 
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