Jumping difficulty - advice appreciated

[parsley]

Bear in mind that I am only just emerging from being terrified of jumping and I feel very proud to have jumped 1 ft 9 tonight and my horse is an ex-hunter rather than a showjumper.......

How do I make sure we take off in the right place?

At the moment he goes up to the jump with me hopefully flapping my legs, just before the jump I fold at the hips and grab hold of the breastplate ready for takeoff. Sometimes he jumps smoothly but quite often he struggles a bit to fit in the takeoff stride and once we just crashed through the jump

I will have some more lessons but really I need to work on my confidence at the moment, and this would give me a bit more to work on and stop the poor old chap having to struggle

 

[Starbucks]

I'd say if you have an ex-hunter that would be the best kind to sort himself out!! If you're only jumping small don't worry too much about your stride for now, concentrate on getting a nice balanced rhythm into your fences and enjoying yourself!!

I find that when I'm confident I'll meet every fence perfect, but if I'm a bit nervous I'll make a cock of every one!

Well done BTW!

 

[LauraBR]

When I was starting out my instructor had me cantering round in a forward canter position- so I was sat as I would be going over a jump all the time. So, when the jump 'arrived' I didn't need to move an inch, just kept the contact nice and elastic.

Breezed over every 2ft jump like that without a problem. Really helped me get a feel for a stride too and before long I was sitting up more into the jumps and folding without realising I was doing it.

 

[parsley]

I did wonder if me getting ready for takeoff was prompting him to do it - my instructor has told me not to go into a forward position as such - she says to pretend I am trying to stick my big toe up my nose and fold from the hips. I am aiming to go hunting and to be able to hop over a little fence while I am out hacking rather than show jumping though

 

[Twilight]

Look at your fence. Don't take your eyes off the fence until your horse is actually in the air. Start looking frm well round the corner and the fence will start to come to you. If you can manage not to look away at any point this really works. If you want to understand why jump the fence on foot (ie no pony) if you look up and away as you are approaching jump you don't know where to take off and are likely to make a mess of it. If you look at the fence the whole way you will find it much easier.

John Thelwell taught me this and it really works, what ever people say about looking up and over.

Also don't try too hard. Let the fence come to you and the horse do the majority of the work. You provide guidance and impulsion, he jumps. Good luck

 

[OrangeEmpire]

I've had terrible nerves doing jumping, and my instructor has made the point that you really don't need to get into a proper jumping position until you are jumping much bigger. Leaning forwards too soon puts you and the horse out of balance and onto the forehand meaning they can't clear the jump. Try sitting up and letting your horse get on with the job - if he's a hunter he must know how to clear things.

I've always believed it is the riders job to get to the jump, the horse's job to get you over it. consentrate on keeping a balanced approach and he'll do his bit to get you over it.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll get over your nerves soon!