Jumping in a 20x40 manege...

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jumpthemoon

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Is it possible to school over fences sufficiently to compete at BSJA in a 20x40? Does anyone do this? I can go for lessons on a weekly/fortnightly basis where there is a 60x30, but at home the manege is 20x40.

How difficult is it going to be for me - I've not jumped in it before as the surface is rubbish, but it's being resurfaced in a few weeks, so I'll be able to do some practise.
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My school is 20 x 40, in an ideal world id love a bigger one, but i manage in mine.

I tend to put jumps down the long side and in the midle have a cluster of 2/ 3 so theres space round the edge.

Ive had a course of 8 in mine with a double, anyway if you can master jmping in a smaller arena it should be easy in a bigger one!!
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Used to livery at a riding school with a 22 x 39 - schooled horse regularly over 2 doubles, treble and spreads - competing up to Fox B&C at the time - plenty of room when you get out and really gets the horse thinking
 
Yep we only have a 20x40 and it's suprising what you can do. My YO competed up to advanced eventing and managed it. Can do a 3 stride and 4 strides on a dog leg, gets the horses thinking and when you go out the areans seem huge!!!
 
You can easily get a 6 strides related distance in if you use the diagonal

I have currently got 9 jumps in mine, a triple, two doubles and a few single jumps. Horses find it dead easy competing now, as its no where near as hard as training at home!!!
 
I've got a 20x40 & it's not even fenced. I did a jumping lesson in there on Tues & it was fine - we were doing grids & got 3 canter bounces down the long side wth no probs. We compete bsja. As others have said, it forces you to refine your controls, which can't be a bad thing.

I've got 6 pairs of wings & 12 poles.
 
Worth adding I chopped all my 12ft poles down to 3metres (just under 10ft) and have 6ft stile poles in one jump.

All the plastic jumps I own were 3m so made sense to have everything the same size so I could mix my plastic poles, planks and fillers with my wooden poles. I also have a nice stash of firewood now!!!

I went to train at Angie Thompsons and she had a course of 14 jumps in a 20 x 40m, which was amazing, and I need to go back to copy her designs! I do have slightly less jumps so that I can do 20 m circles (you couldn't in Angies!)
 
Before YO built the outdoor school I only had access to a 15x30m indoor. Now remember I was on a 17h2 lanky warmblood lol. Well I could get three fences across the centre of the school, 2 straight and one on an angle or I could put a one strided double or two bounces up! I think it amazed some of the liveries when they saw me jumping 1m10+ fences in there with him set up like it was! Worked though and we were competing sucessfully fox/1m25s on a regular basis. You do get used to it and it did help our turning and jump offs indoors and he became surprisingly nippy in an indoor jump off!!
 
I compete up to intermediate/1m30 BSJA on a 16.2 tb out of a 20x40 with a really crappy surface!

I can get a parallel-upright-parallel one stride treble in there, i can get a decent grid (4 fences) but thats tight and i can get a small course... it actually helps as you appreciate the size of the ring at a competition!!
 
Our yard has a 20x40 and there is the room for the fences but what our yard does lack are wings and fences, however someone has since made a load of fences which are now in a field.

But with a 20x40 you learn to be creative with fences and put them at various angles scattered around the place. It does make you really ride.
 
my former trainer produced a horse to 4* level with only a 20x40 manege. grids across the diagonal is one solution, but you need 2 people to make sure it lines up, really! v thin wings that hang off the p&r fence (if you have one) means you can build right to the edge, too, to build a course.
 
You are wonderfully lucky to have an arena at home. I compete at Intermediate B.E/1m20 & dont have an arena at all. Have to box up to go & use other peoples......

I did have an arena set out in a field between cuts of silage but now all the fields are full of naughty bovines!!!
 
It's a pain in the a*se because you can't do any grids, even more annoying when you have a 60x20 school that you're not allowed to jump in
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And don't see how you could get a 3 stride double up the long side, can only just fit a 2 stride double for my 14hh pony!

Try doing the zig zag thing:
/
\
/
\

Whre you go over a jump, circle to the next on the line and keep going. 'tis very fun in a thin school, especially on a sharp little pony
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You can also do dog legs and doubles at angles:
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.-
 
I managed it happily for year, and my horse was about as flexible as a sideboard!!!!

As others have said, once you go out in to a comp arena its a peice of cake because you have so much space!
 
the key to getting more jumps in to a small area, is to "see" more than just the 2 long sides and the 2 long diagonals as your options.

I saw a demo on course-building at the British Equine Event (now your horse live??) a long time ago...

See short diagonals... eg K-B etc, and other angled lines which are not necessarily marker to marker.

Use shorter poles - even down to 9ft, and narrow jump stands, or stands that can be used to support poles both sides, eg barrels and some of the blok/polyjumps.

Set your jumps inside the track, so that you can go around a jump at say K, and make the line to B rideable.

Also build uprights and oxers that can be jumped both ways, as well as ascending spreads that are single direction only.

Have fun !!
 
oooohhhh cotswold SJ, ive been going to Angie for lessons too- Its amazing how she fits that course in and also how much you gain from having to jump a course accurately because it is tight. I went on Tuesday and she had a grid down the long side with a double, a bounce and an upright. So much fun and I have been learning loads- do you still go there?
 
jumping in a 20x40 is fine - anyone with their own school is pretty lucky any rate!

I have no problem fitting in a 4-part grid down the long side, or 5 part down the diagonal. You can do all sorts using the centre line, short diagonals and building fences right up to the edge of the arena.

Jump 4 joy stands which can have poles coming off at different angles are useful, because you can have one upright that is being a stand for 3 different jumps at once.Having 10ft poles rather than 12ft ones definitely makes a difference too.

Rockhampton EC in south glos is a BSJA centre, and I swear is only about 25x50, and they fit full courses in there...
 
I jump BSJA too and practice in a 20x40 most of the time. I can fit a 1 stride triple no problem down the long side and have had a full course in there. We also have a 40x40m at the yard but believe it or not its actually easier to set out a course in the 20x40 than in the square arena where turns onto the diagonal become very acute.
 
A well known and respected Show jumper in my area who produces young show jumpers and occasionally eventers, has little more than a 20 x 30 school and produces horses from british novice to 1.30m opens and beyond. So its very possible to do it in a small school
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And to test your control - you can have a fence on the centre line and then one or more on both 3/4 lines. Did this as an exercise a couple of weeks ago and it really gets you thinking. Or you can just circle behind them to get a better approach.
 
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