jumping advice

[MillbrookSong]

I havnt replyed before but i would say it need to be a touch more forward - it looks lovely and bouncy but a bit too up and down if that make sence.

Looks a lovely horse that has a nice jump by that vid and your pics

 

[diggerbez]

oooh nice horsie!

i think its in the canter...she looks nice in the vid (powerful) but i think could be covering more ground- she's actually not covering much ground with each stride- its possible that when you go to a show you maybe forget to ride properly at smaller fences but then maybe fear/nerves /adrenalin makes you kick on a bit more to bigger fences which is more what your horse prefers and hence she jumps well. its good that you have slowed her down from when you first had her but maybe now its too slow and its just a case of revving back up a bit

 

[Kelpie]

you are indeed getting quite a bit of conflicting advice there then, aren't you?

....... do you think your horse still has problems being on the forehand? Maybe with the prior owner, if he was ridden in a very strong contact, your horse keeps still expecting to find this, which won't help, and if that's the case then just personally I'd be looking to find a trainer that will help you help the horse get off his forehand.

As said above, I'd also try to find another trainer - even if just for a second opinion, rather than a total switch.

I went through a similar thing to you in terms of getting confused between want I want to achieve for dressage and what I want to achieve for SJ/ XC. Personally, I found it really helped to get a trainer that events, so actually understand the different disciplines, rather than coming at each one from potentially a more narrow perspective.

 

[Peanot]

Here is a video of a discovery class at Solihull about a year ago after we`d done a bit of work with her but with another trainer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-0BLaQZGPI

 

[KatB]

Ok, having watched the 2 videos, the style has changed quite a lot! I can see what your current trainer is trying to do, BUT you need to be going forward more, as she is getting to a deeper spot which is good, but needs more power off the floor, and at the moment there isn't enough power from the canter. How adustable is she? I would personally want her really strongly anchored between hand and leg, so you can stay waiting for the fence, but with a slightly bigger canter contained.

She is a lovely mare though. Do you do lots of grids/pole work?

 

[Peanot]

Thanks Kat, we do a bit of polework, poss about 1-2 a week, we do different exercises. Dont do a lot of gridwork really. I must say tho after watching the Solihull video, she looks confident. She doesnt look like that in the ring now tho.

 

[KatB]

I would go back to having a bigger canter for a bit, and see if that helps. It sounds like she is just getting to a fence and feels she cant make it!!

 

[Peanot]

Yes I`m definately gonna try that.
Thanks to everyone for your input.

x

 

[millitiger]

i think in the first video you have what my trainer would call a 'dressage canter.'

its pretty but you haven't got much oomph or bounce to it.

she looks much, much better in the Solihull video- is there a reason you stopped using that trainer?

i agree she looks like she needs to be a bit more adjustable, but what i really like in the Solihull video is that you keep your leg on and keep coming around the corner.

 

[Peanot]

Thanks Millitiger for posting again.
I agree with you about the nicey nicey canter. And that she looked loads better at Solihull, she felt better.
The trainer I was using then, started off brilliant, she is an eventer at a high standard, but my horse started to stop as the trainer would do too much. She would give us flatwork, then build up to jumping a course, which is good but then we would jump parts of the course then a full course a few times. And there would be 1m20 jumps in there too. It did wonders for my confidence, at first, but I think that she pushed my honest little mare too much. One lesson she had us keep going and going over a pole, turn to a jump, RD to a jump, then turn to a pole in a rectangle shape but my little horse was knackered and I felt her tiring and felt awful for pushing her so when I told trainer that I thought we`d worked hard enough, she told me to shut up and carry on. She was very strict which was good for my discipline, but just did too much.
We had 45 min lessons, about 10 altogether, but she didnt let us rest and it was just continuous.
If she wasnt like that but was more fair, I would still be having lessons with her now as her training was very good.