How come small jumps look so big?

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NeilM

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I am trying to increase the height of jumps that I have the bal...erm nerve to attempt. My pony has no problem clearing 3 ft, but jumps that height just look HUGE from the saddle.

Yesterday we had a great session, I set up several jumps (with a tape measure) at between 2'3" and 2'7". From the ground they looked tiny and I was going to put them up some more, I also checked them a couple of times as they looked so small. So how come as I rode towards the 2'7" poles, I was under the impression I was about to attempt a 7 foot tall wall :eek:

As it was, we cleared the jumps with ease on several attempts, with my lad making it all look very easy.....I even kept my eyes open.
 
NeilM said:
I am trying to increase the height of jumps that I have the bal...erm nerve to attempt. My pony has no problem clearing 3 ft, but jumps that height just look HUGE from the saddle.

Yesterday we had a great session, I set up several jumps (with a tape measure) at between 2'3" and 2'7". From the ground they looked tiny and I was going to put them up some more, I also checked them a couple of times as they looked so small. So how come as I rode towards the 2'7" poles, I was under the impression I was about to attempt a 7 foot tall wall :eek:

As it was, we cleared the jumps with ease on several attempts, with my lad making it all look very easy.....I even kept my eyes open.
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I know exactly what you mean! It's always so disappointing when you see pictures, what seemed like an Olympic sized wall is actually a titchy crosspole:p
 
I find this as well i dont really know why either...you know they are no bigger than when you put them up but somehow they seem HUGE.

I put up a jump the other day looked small when i put it up (didnt measure it) once i got on it looked huge then i measured it and it was only 2'9" which is easy for my boy. Its just all in my head, need to calm down
 
Something quite small can seem quite big, if you are heading straight towards it!!! Must be a defense mechanism to stop us from banging into walls, etc. ;)

We'd need to conquer our inner fears, I guess...
 
Spudlet said:
I know exactly what you mean! It's always so disappointing when you see pictures, what seemed like an Olympic sized wall is actually a titchy crosspole:p
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Ha ha ha , oh that made me laugh. We did a fun ride last weekend and went over a HUGE log where the photographer was. I go the photo yesterday and it looks like H is tripping over a twig.

I am glad it's not just me, and I know exactly where the problem is (in my head), it is just so weird to set up tiny jumps that then look so big :confused:

One of ridings many conundrums I guess.
 
The trick is to keep all the jumps up really high all the time :eek:.

This has two benefits:
(a) it impresses the neighbours :cool:
(b) when you put the ones you want to jump down to a normal height, all of a sudden they look really jumpable, small even:)

*disclaimer - if you have a horse that locks on to fences you may find yourself jumping the bigger ones after all :D*
 
RebelRebel said:
The trick is to keep all the jumps up really high all the time :eek:.

This has two benefits:
(a) it impresses the neighbours :cool:
(b) when you put the ones you want to jump down to a normal height, all of a sudden they look really jumpable, small even:)

*disclaimer - if you have a horse that locks on to fences you may find yourself jumping the bigger ones after all :D*
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He he what a cool trick! We currently have a few up in the field which are really high, although this is because they havn't been put away since they were repainted (and it is a lot easier to paint poles when they are high off the ground... didn't realise I was probably impressing the neighbours at the same time!

My pony would only run under them I think... some are higher than her withers ;)
 
NeilM said:
We did a fun ride last weekend and went over a HUGE log where the photographer was. I go the photo yesterday and it looks like H is tripping over a twig.
Click to expand...

LOL.. very funny.

I know exactly what you mean though, I am not at all into jumping, yet a while ago I jumped my friends sec d, which must of been about 2ft (if that) and it felt like we were flying over a huge upright. I genuinely felt like we were in the air for ages.

I don't know how people jump 1.60m and such like!

xx
 
I have just been having a chat with my friend about how 2ft6 at home always looks smaller then 2ft6, when you are at a show too!

But yeah totally agree, jumps do grow! :s
 
I find the opposite...what should be a big jump, then looks so small :/ Me and my lad have been doing 1'20's and took some photos of it, and they've come out looking about 2ft6!! :(
 
Binky01 said:
I find the opposite...what should be a big jump, then looks so small :/ Me and my lad have been doing 1'20's and took some photos of it, and they've come out looking about 2ft6!! :(
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I'll have a pint of whatever you're drinking :D

I know the way to jump bigger is the practice bigger and I also know that H will clear 2' 7" with ease, it was just the impression of size that took me by surprise.

1.2m....mmmmmm, I wish.
 
Oooo trust me, I'm really not a confident jumperanymore!! I try to fake the nervousness, plus Bustie just takes good care of me and I know him inside out :) .....plus...I get put off more jumping the diddly fences on him than I do the big ones, how backwards is that?!?!? Lmao.

I just don't look at the fence...I'd not jumped since I took a rather lovely tumble a few weeks back, so we were only doing 2ft-ers and just having a play around...then before I knew it, I'd popped over the wall....then asked to put a back rail on it for a spread, and then it looked odd with just the one back rail so it then needed a rail on top of the wall too.....and then I got possessed and just kept firing over it and then everytime asking for it to go up one and coming straight round again! Never looked at the fence once and only did properly when I got off and went to see what height we'd actually got up to.

So maybe ignorance and a bit of OCD mixed in is the way forwards? LOL.
 
The strange thing is, I am not worried about the going up, it's the coming down again, that is why I want to practice, it is entirely for my benefit.

When I first started jumping last year, I took a few hits up the backside from the saddle and have been a little wary of being 'ejected' over H's head ever since. I have just bought a GP / jumping saddle, so yesterday was a good chance to really try it out.

H likes to jump the biggest things he can see and as he's only 14.2hh I worry on his behalf, but as we had no issues yesterday, I really just need to trust him and let him get on with it.

That said he did dump me on the floor yesterday just to amuse himself. I didn't know he could stop dead while landing a double....I do now, little git :D
 
My boy jumps huge i feel confident on him but i didnt expect what i got when i first jumped him lol. Heres a pic of him. Sorry if its huge
25128_382892755673_635045673_385422.jpg
 
true i have a nice picture of me jumping my mare over 1m60 off rough ground in a grass paddock...now i canter up to 1m10 thinking this is rather large and scary!!
 
NeilM said:
I am trying to increase the height of jumps that I have the bal...erm nerve to attempt. My pony has no problem clearing 3 ft, but jumps that height just look HUGE from the saddle.

Yesterday we had a great session, I set up several jumps (with a tape measure) at between 2'3" and 2'7". From the ground they looked tiny and I was going to put them up some more, I also checked them a couple of times as they looked so small. So how come as I rode towards the 2'7" poles, I was under the impression I was about to attempt a 7 foot tall wall :eek:

As it was, we cleared the jumps with ease on several attempts, with my lad making it all look very easy.....I even kept my eyes open.
Click to expand...

Is very annoying isn't it, I jumped 3ft 7 with my pony today, it looked MAHOOSIVE when I was going up to it, but I had the camera on the top of a jump wing, and the jump looks tiny! :(
 
The biggest I've jumped is about 3ft...and that was quite quite big enough thank you!!
It must have felt about 6ft....luckily my boyfriend at the time was a photographer, so he made the picture look like it was a big jump :p its always good for a confidence boost!!

But yes, I know my pony has happily cleared 4ft free schooling..but we're quite happy popping over a little course now....until I'm feeling braver! :o
 
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