Help with Gridwork PLEASE???!!!

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BookWorm

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Hoping to do some gridwork with my boy to improve impulsion and for fitness :) .....and for fun of course :)


Can anyone PLEASE advise me how best to set it up? distances etc.....

He is 16.1hh
 
Try and get hold of Training the Young Show Jumper by Anthony Paalman it is a brillant read and has plenty of exercises in there - its not just for young SJers.
 
Another fab book is 101 jumping exercises for horse and rider :)

a basic grid is three of your strides between but i move it about to get horse to stretch and shorten etc so not as straight forward as saying do A B & C sorry!
 
if you are just using poles in a session put them at 12.00, 3.00, 6.00 and 9.00 o'clock. You can then lengthen or shorten the distance by going in a smaller or larger circle.

In 4 weeks time my horse's rehab program starts using poles - very exciting after a few weeks just in hand.
 
Okay. Just walk normally - no big hefty giant leapy strides please!! Not necessary! Just walk out normally. Place a pole on the floor and with heel touching the pole walk eight paces away from your pole. Place another pole down where your toe lands after the eight strides. That is a one 'non jumping stride' double. i.e the horse lands, does a stride and then takes off. That is your standard one non jump stride fence. If you want to create a bounce in the middle of that then walk four from the first pole and then place a pole down (that pole can just lie on the floor to create your bounce or you can put it up as an actual fence, it depends what you are trying to acheive. Just remember that you could really do with someone on the ground to help you with the poles the first few times you do these gridwork sessions to save you getting on and off. Normally with grid work you would start to do the grid with poles on the ground, then when that’s successful start with the first fence up to whatever height you want, then when that line has been jumped the second fence goes up, then the third and so on and so fourth.

I never have that luxury of help but my horse is very experienced with grids so I normally build a five or six fence grid with bounces in between and do the whole lot straight away as a grid, all with the fences up to whatever height I want without building the grid up bit by bit.

After you have set up your double, take another pole and walk twelve paces from where you place the second part of the double. That grid will then produce a one to a two non jumping stride grid. As your horse gets more experienced you can incorporate bounces using poles as I described above. Remember to always place bounces at the start of your grid and throughout your grid, but never at the end after jumping a longer distance as this can cause problems for an inexperienced horse.

I tend to do two bounces to a one non jump stride fence, to a two non jump stride fence and make that an oxer by having a back rail, but every one is different. Don’t forget to jump in both directions (obviously by using an oxer you need to change it around if jumping the other way).

I tend to make my distances shorter than the standard four, eight, twelve and so on, so I actually do seven of my strides, or eleven or 3.5 for a bounce, as it encourages Bailey to lift his shoulders and snap up his legs better. Trouble is I find it difficult at a sJ competition then to always make the double distances!
 
Escada2004 said:
Another fab book is 101 jumping exercises for horse and rider :)

a basic grid is three of your strides between but i move it about to get horse to stretch and shorten etc so not as straight forward as saying do A B & C sorry!
Click to expand...

This is incorrect Escada 2004. Three of your strides would make a very short bounce and is not correct for an inexperienced horse or even a very experienced one for that! Unless its a shetland or small pony nothing could be expected to jump three human strides (unless your strides are like giant strides that is!) A one non jumping stride double equates to 24ft 6".
 
5 bounces 3.3-3.5m apart 60/70cm high down the center line with a jump set up either side of it on the long sides of the school so you go down through bounces turn left and over an upright and back down through grid and then right and up over an oxer. Hope this helps:)
 
There are so so many different options available to you. Some good suggestions here already. Once you know how to build a bounce, one stride distance and two stride distance the combinations are practically endless.

The 101 exercises book has some good ideas in it with all of the distances you need. I love gridwork it's great fun. One tip is that I would always have the jumps in ascending height the further through the grid you go so fence one 80cm then middle fence 85, next 90 but never the other way around. You can also have them all at the same height too then you can jump both ways
 
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