moley087
Active Member
Hi all, wrote this piece awhile back for a non - horsey audience, thought may interest some of you... Feel free to comment on anything!
Awhile back I was talking to some of my friends about show jumping. I was naturally singing its praises whilst claiming it is both a physically and mentally demanding sport. Eventually I managed to persuade them about the fitness side of things by reminding them I am still incapable of pulling on a pair of skinny jeans! However they could not get their heads around how it was mentally demanding, after all the horse will simply jump what it is pointed at surely?
So I decided to write down my thought process around a normal foxhunter track. A first round foxhunter track has fences up to 1.20m (about 3ft 10) with spreads (also known as oxers/parallels) pulled out to a similar distance. The important thing to note is that these fences are of a decent size, if you approach the fence wrong or on a bad stride it is likely, unless you are on a very good horse, you will knock the fence down. A round will last for about a minute and thirty seconds.
Show jumping can be compared to hurdles in that if you are on a bad stride then you will struggle to jump the fence. However unlike the athletics event you are not the sole decision maker as the horse may decide to take off early or put an extra stride in.
Whilst keeping the horse calm you also need to build a powerful stride underneath you so as to propel 700 pounds worth of horse off the ground and into the air. Imagine a spring; when it is long and flat there is no power but when it is compressed it can explode upwards. If a horse is going too fast or too slow then it is like a long and flat spring. The art is getting the horse to the optimum amount of compression for a full round of jumps. That is were the mental side of things comes in, making split second decisions whether to kick or to hold, to discipline or not and whether to allow the horse to decide when to jump or to try and influence their decision.
Note: I ride a very big jumping strong willed horse so some of my decision will seem strange to other riders reading this.
I enter the ring with a positive mental attitude quickly running through the ten fence course in my head whilst trying to settle my excitable horse. The judge naturally decides to ring the starting bell whilst Im at the wrong end of the arena so I pick up a forward canter and get to the start. I approach the first fence on a good stride and pop over easily. We branch slightly left and line up towards a hefty oxer. Five strides away I see two possible take off points (either a long or short way from the fence). If I take the long stride then she is more likely to flatten and hit a pole. Whereas the short stride will put her closer to the fence and more likely to rub the front pole off on the way up. I make the snap decision to push for the long stride as I know she has enough natural talent to jump the fence at pace. Also you need some speed to clear the back pole to ensure we make the spread. I breathe a sigh of relief as she picks up nicely and clears it.
I swing right handed around to the first related distance. I remember that it will be four or five strides in between the fences. This is dependent on how my big-striding girl is going and how we jump the first upright. She is pulling a bit having been pushed forward to meet the second fence so I use the corner of the arena to bring her back under control a bit more. I turn into the upright giving us three strides to see the fence however she slips on the corner and we lose all momentum. I have no choice but to give her a boot and we scramble over the brightly decorated upright. I quickly decide to hold her together and go for a short five strides into the following oxer as the poor jump had made this a better option in terms of striding. She disagrees and wants to take the four strides however I brace myself against her and sit quietly holding into the oxer. She reluctantly agrees but I am aware I will pay for this disagreement later in the course!
I quickly nip right handed inside another fence to save some time and push her on a forward stride into the pumpkin themed fence five. She decides to be scared by it a couple of strides away but I am ready for it and quick tap with a stick persuades her to jump. I then swing left handed towards the first double on the course.
A double is two fences only one stride apart. The difficulty with them is that you have to jump in on a good stride as there is no time to adjust once you have landed. If you jump in too big then the stride in the middle is too short and you often knock down the second part and vica versa. It is a fairly decent size parallel on the jump in so I keep a forward stride and take off powerfully. For once she behaves herself in the middle and does not rush the second fence and pops out nicely.
We take a breather as we sail around to the next fence. I take the chance to correct my position and give her a pat to tell her she is being good. Looking ahead I see another related distance which I flagged up as difficult when I walked the course earlier. As I expected she spooks at the plastic white chairs in the corner and we cut in close to fence seven. I see we are in very deep so I sit back and keep the leg on allowing her to get her shoulders up and clear the fence. However she is still annoyed about this disagreement earlier in the course so she takes the chance to try and run away on landing. I find myself approaching the next fence faster than I would like and have two choices; i) haul her in the mouth to slow her down risking a bad stride and a lack of impulsion plus annoying her even more or ii) let her carry on and trust her to find a good stride. I immediately take the second option and sit there quietly letting her take me into the black oxer, luckily we are on a good stride and we fly over.
Upon landing I get my shoulders back and quickly plan a solution to the situation that is developing. I know we have a tight treble (tight because it has a shorter distance than I would like in between the fences) coming up so I have to calm her down immediately. I loosen my grip on the reins in the hope that it will stop her pulling against me and start calmly and quietly swearing at her under my breath. She slows fractionally and I see her ears flick back to me as she stops fighting. Four strides from the treble I shorten the reins slightly and give her a slight squeeze with my legs aming to create power but not speed. Luckily this works and she jumps the first two elements nicely and I let her put in a big jump over the last element.
Just the last to go. We come towards it on a perfect stride and in mid air I begin to grin as I see the photographer pointing at me. However for no apparent reason she drops her leg and I hear a click as she taps the back pole. As I land I tense in anticipation of the dreaded thud as the heavy wooden pole hits the sandy floor. Needless to say I hear the thud and with it goes the chance to jump off for prize money. £18 entry fee down the drain, now, do i stay for the next class or not?
Awhile back I was talking to some of my friends about show jumping. I was naturally singing its praises whilst claiming it is both a physically and mentally demanding sport. Eventually I managed to persuade them about the fitness side of things by reminding them I am still incapable of pulling on a pair of skinny jeans! However they could not get their heads around how it was mentally demanding, after all the horse will simply jump what it is pointed at surely?
So I decided to write down my thought process around a normal foxhunter track. A first round foxhunter track has fences up to 1.20m (about 3ft 10) with spreads (also known as oxers/parallels) pulled out to a similar distance. The important thing to note is that these fences are of a decent size, if you approach the fence wrong or on a bad stride it is likely, unless you are on a very good horse, you will knock the fence down. A round will last for about a minute and thirty seconds.
Show jumping can be compared to hurdles in that if you are on a bad stride then you will struggle to jump the fence. However unlike the athletics event you are not the sole decision maker as the horse may decide to take off early or put an extra stride in.
Whilst keeping the horse calm you also need to build a powerful stride underneath you so as to propel 700 pounds worth of horse off the ground and into the air. Imagine a spring; when it is long and flat there is no power but when it is compressed it can explode upwards. If a horse is going too fast or too slow then it is like a long and flat spring. The art is getting the horse to the optimum amount of compression for a full round of jumps. That is were the mental side of things comes in, making split second decisions whether to kick or to hold, to discipline or not and whether to allow the horse to decide when to jump or to try and influence their decision.
Note: I ride a very big jumping strong willed horse so some of my decision will seem strange to other riders reading this.
I enter the ring with a positive mental attitude quickly running through the ten fence course in my head whilst trying to settle my excitable horse. The judge naturally decides to ring the starting bell whilst Im at the wrong end of the arena so I pick up a forward canter and get to the start. I approach the first fence on a good stride and pop over easily. We branch slightly left and line up towards a hefty oxer. Five strides away I see two possible take off points (either a long or short way from the fence). If I take the long stride then she is more likely to flatten and hit a pole. Whereas the short stride will put her closer to the fence and more likely to rub the front pole off on the way up. I make the snap decision to push for the long stride as I know she has enough natural talent to jump the fence at pace. Also you need some speed to clear the back pole to ensure we make the spread. I breathe a sigh of relief as she picks up nicely and clears it.
I swing right handed around to the first related distance. I remember that it will be four or five strides in between the fences. This is dependent on how my big-striding girl is going and how we jump the first upright. She is pulling a bit having been pushed forward to meet the second fence so I use the corner of the arena to bring her back under control a bit more. I turn into the upright giving us three strides to see the fence however she slips on the corner and we lose all momentum. I have no choice but to give her a boot and we scramble over the brightly decorated upright. I quickly decide to hold her together and go for a short five strides into the following oxer as the poor jump had made this a better option in terms of striding. She disagrees and wants to take the four strides however I brace myself against her and sit quietly holding into the oxer. She reluctantly agrees but I am aware I will pay for this disagreement later in the course!
I quickly nip right handed inside another fence to save some time and push her on a forward stride into the pumpkin themed fence five. She decides to be scared by it a couple of strides away but I am ready for it and quick tap with a stick persuades her to jump. I then swing left handed towards the first double on the course.
A double is two fences only one stride apart. The difficulty with them is that you have to jump in on a good stride as there is no time to adjust once you have landed. If you jump in too big then the stride in the middle is too short and you often knock down the second part and vica versa. It is a fairly decent size parallel on the jump in so I keep a forward stride and take off powerfully. For once she behaves herself in the middle and does not rush the second fence and pops out nicely.
We take a breather as we sail around to the next fence. I take the chance to correct my position and give her a pat to tell her she is being good. Looking ahead I see another related distance which I flagged up as difficult when I walked the course earlier. As I expected she spooks at the plastic white chairs in the corner and we cut in close to fence seven. I see we are in very deep so I sit back and keep the leg on allowing her to get her shoulders up and clear the fence. However she is still annoyed about this disagreement earlier in the course so she takes the chance to try and run away on landing. I find myself approaching the next fence faster than I would like and have two choices; i) haul her in the mouth to slow her down risking a bad stride and a lack of impulsion plus annoying her even more or ii) let her carry on and trust her to find a good stride. I immediately take the second option and sit there quietly letting her take me into the black oxer, luckily we are on a good stride and we fly over.
Upon landing I get my shoulders back and quickly plan a solution to the situation that is developing. I know we have a tight treble (tight because it has a shorter distance than I would like in between the fences) coming up so I have to calm her down immediately. I loosen my grip on the reins in the hope that it will stop her pulling against me and start calmly and quietly swearing at her under my breath. She slows fractionally and I see her ears flick back to me as she stops fighting. Four strides from the treble I shorten the reins slightly and give her a slight squeeze with my legs aming to create power but not speed. Luckily this works and she jumps the first two elements nicely and I let her put in a big jump over the last element.
Just the last to go. We come towards it on a perfect stride and in mid air I begin to grin as I see the photographer pointing at me. However for no apparent reason she drops her leg and I hear a click as she taps the back pole. As I land I tense in anticipation of the dreaded thud as the heavy wooden pole hits the sandy floor. Needless to say I hear the thud and with it goes the chance to jump off for prize money. £18 entry fee down the drain, now, do i stay for the next class or not?
I haven't jumped competitively for a couple of years due to injury and am only now starting to train my new horse ready to do so, he is going to be one where I really have to think a lot