Keeping the rhythm but can't see the stride...

Hoof_Prints

Hoof_Prints

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Just wondering what others do in this situation.. had a few lessons on my new youngster and focusing on keeping the rhythm in a good forward but controlled canter and letting him work out the fence . Problem is that I am one for seeing a stride, and I sometimes I come in to fences and panic when I realize there is no good stride ! Recently had a couple of very bad falls due to bad striding, horse could have taken a long but didn't so tripped, crashed and landed on me. Similar thing happened but horse didn't fall and I stayed on - so understandably I'm a bit nervous :o

Jumps are only 70/80cm at the minute, pony is only 5 and 14.2hh so not pushing him, he's got a good jump on him and XC you can leave him to sort himself out, generally takes longs and is super careful as the jumps are more to look at , but over SJ (it's probably me I know) he gets less coordinated and I can't trust him to sort himself out, resulting in me pulling him out due to last minute visions of crashing and hurting either me or the pony. I've been doing all the right exercises such as gridwork and poles, but none of it comes together on the course ! So what I am asking is, should I just leave him to come at the fences and if he takes poles out, let him learn to look after himself by bashing his legs? (instructors advice at the risk of killing us both :D ) or try to adjust him more, I don't like hauling them around and want to teach him to come in at a forward rhythm and think about the jump himself so want to avoid fiddling (I already have one horse that needs you to basically pick up each leg and place him over the jump as he can't think for himself, i don't want another!)

Thanks for reading
 
Keep the rythem, just look up & over the fence don't worry about your stride & use a neck strap :) that way if he does go on a bad 1 you will feel more secure & won't upset him.

You will soon find that strides start coming when you get a solid rythem & if he ends up on a bad 1 he will have better power to get out on long or short than if you had either 1) checked & killed your canter, leading to him scrambling the fence in some fashion or stopping or 2) racing him at it & flying or him not feeling confident as its too fast & him stopping & you flying :)
 
Thanks for the reply, used to be much braver before the multiple broken bones! he never stops so if he gets in very deep, I worry he can't pick up and will crash. I'll try putting them all down to 60 tomorrow and then at least he can trot over them if it all goes wrong, then work back up to 1m when he is stronger and I am braver. I need someone in my ear to tell me to just sit and stop worrying! I wonder if I can record that on loop and wear an earpiece :D
 
It sounds to me as if your forward canter is a bit flat and that you are seeing the long one that your pony is not ready to jump from, he then tries to pop in a short stride but by then you have already gone so are a bit in front of the ideal balanced position which has then caused him to tip up when he hits the top rail. I would be looking to very slightly shorten the stride, not so you are fiddling on the way in but getting him slightly shorter at all times so it becomes his stride pattern, that should help you stop going for the long ones and keep you waiting more for the fence to come to you, if you get left behind once in a while that is better than ending up on his shoulder as he is trying to get deep.
As he goes round a course being young and still learning he probably slightly gathers momentum, gets a bit on his forehand and the stride becomes longer and flatter, I would bring him back to trot on a corner just to set him back up if you cannot shorten and remain in canter, just a few strides are usually enough to get them back in focus and set up a better canter again.
Continue with gridwork, use a slightly shorter distance so you start to think deeper as well as him, he should learn to look after himself as long as you stay in the right place and let the distances dictate the stride pattern. Having two small fences set up 4 strides apart and playing with how many strides you put in is great for helping get your eye in and holding rather than firing, decide whether you ride for 4, 5 or 6 and change each time so you are thinking about the canter not the jump, make sure you get the right canter for the stride pattern all the way round not just between the fences.
 
Yes he is not very muscled up yet so he can't keep on his hocks for long, then starts pulling down and fighting as he gets tired. Thanks for the tips, instructor helps but I always find asking as much advice as possible and seeing what works is the way forward. He certainly does gather momentum and get's on the forehand, so starts to lose coordination of his legs. Moved the jumps out on to grass to give us more room as our school is quite small and the surface is deep, plus it was a shock to the system when I took him out to jump on grass ! Will have to print a list of advice to read and try to override my nerves.

Thanks again
 
May sound silly... But count your strides out loud, you will be amazed what difference it can make! Also try setting up a course of fences with just one or two striding poles in front of each fence to get a feel for the stride, and then take away and do again? ☺
 
I would go back to poles on the floor, in the jump wings. Counting backwards from 100 helps, your brain finds it hard to do two things that are opposite at once. Just canter round the course counting , you will find it very hard to interfere and your pony will start to realise quite quickly that he has to help too. Once he is careful over the poles and you are hitting your take off spot every time then start raising them slowly. Shouting the numbers out loud helps to start with 99,98, 97 etc. You will be surprised how quickly your nerves disappear , they only appear when you have time to think about them. Been there, done that after a rotational fall, I approached , went blank and then panicked. Quite a normal reaction considering what had happened, am even jumping the nit that forget to pick his undercarriage up. He soon realised when he had no help at the poles that he needed to do something, oh, and make sure you have impulsion without it it is very difficult to hit your spot and very easy for the horse's attention to wander. Good luck.
 
I tried it today, just sat and kept the rhythm and promised myself I would not circle out no matter how bad my stride looked. That is a fab tip old hand, I will try that tomorrow as I might be taking him out for a pop round a small course- or if not, training at home.

At first he came in on a bad stride and went through the heaviest poles we have got, I panicked as I saw another crunching fall but luckily we were fine , hes a sure-footed boy! so I think it clicked then that he wasn't going to rely on me, took him round again and just hummed the stride rhythm in my head and not only did he take out half a stride when he needed to, he really powered over and cleared them by miles- obviously because stupid inferring rider had stopped interfereing with his jump :D so I'm delighted, lots to work on still but a great result in just a short session. Jumps were not small either as my friend put them all up and I didn't fancy getting off to put them all down again, so I really had to trust him. I'm glad nerves disappear quickly, I just feel like a complete idiot when I could happily cruise around 1.10/1.20 and not care if the poles came down or horse took a bad stride.
 
try lunging the pony over fences to see how he thinks for himself and how he uses the space between jumps
 
Really glad it helped, I have spent the best part of five years trying to sort this out. Like you I used to jump big tracks 1.30+ so it was daft that I was pulling up at cross poles. This works because your brain can only take so much in at once, you are counting backwards, looking for you line and concentrating on keeping the impulsion so doesn't have any space left to start worrying and panicking. Keep it up and once you get going progress will be very fast , it is the first step that is the hardest.
 
I took him out to a show today, tried the counting over the warm up jumps and worked a treat, he really sorted himself out. Unfortunately in the ring I totally forgot and rode a bit rubbish, but luckily it had gone in to his brain so he dug me out of some bad strides and we went double clear to win in the 75 :) which was built up well for a 75. First round I held him back a bit but then in the jump off I kicked on a bit (keeping the rhythm and he took some good flyers.

I have free jumped him before and he likes to jump with a more open stride, hence why he is much better xc when following my fast horse- we are already going at some speed so he has the big stride to power off , it's just me riding a bit nervy and holding too much but I think that is improving. I'll keep it up and hopefully no more broken bones for a good while.
 
Its a simple fact that you can only ever be half a stride out,and at 70/80 cm ANY pony can accommodate that ,IF THE MOTOR IS RUNNING. Therefore if you are having problems ,its not with the stride,but with getting him to jump off his hocks .You are letting him nosedive. Horses are quite capable of sorting out their stride ,if they are messing it up ,its because you are messing them up. Sorry if thats not the answer you want. It is always best ,if you are unsure of the stride ,to come from a short stride and lengthen ,to shorten a long stride only throws you on the forehand ,for a knockdown or a refusal.
 
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