Making distances on short striding horse

5

[59668]

...
Joined
22 March 2009
Messages
0
Visit site
I have a short striding cob type, and I would like to gather thoughts about making distances.

My aim is to event her at 80 this year.

I am getting mixed opinions about the distances in doubles, and grids etc.

My thought is that I would rather let her find her own comfortable stride, and when we go out, she does seem to fit 2 strides in what is meant to be a one stride double. It's not always pretty but she figures it out.

Other people are saying I should try to lengthen her stride, so she meets the traditional 12ft canter stride, which seems like a real stretch to ask her! At the moment if I set up a 1 stride in a grid for her, it's on about 16/17ft (so that would mean she has an 8/9ft stride I think), and that is nice for her.

I don't want to damage her confidence by asking her to stretch for things that could potentially even be dangerous. And could make her flat.

What would you do?
 
Personally I would work on gradually increasing the adjustability of her canter stride as much as possible, but I wouldn't necessarily expect to be able to make her comfortable over a full sized horse stride. It depends on how good her canter is already, and how much scope she has - some might be able to meet it OK, others will be safer shortening and fitting two strides in. One of my ponies I always shorten because he's ridiculously up, and bouncy in his canter, and he finds it easier than stretching for a single stride.

I would be very careful, either way, not to set the horse up to fail over an XC fence though. I think with ponies who don't fit the spec so much, you have to be more prepared to call it off if there's a question you don't think they can tackle safely for any reason.
 
JFTD-WS said:
Personally I would work on gradually increasing the adjustability of her canter stride as much as possible, but I wouldn't necessarily expect to be able to make her comfortable over a full sized horse stride. It depends on how good her canter is already, and how much scope she has - some might be able to meet it OK, others will be safer shortening and fitting two strides in. One of my ponies I always shorten because he's ridiculously up, and bouncy in his canter, and he finds it easier than stretching for a single stride.

I would be very careful, either way, not to set the horse up to fail over an XC fence though. I think with ponies who don't fit the spec so much, you have to be more prepared to call it off if there's a question you don't think they can tackle safely for any reason.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your thoughts!

I totally agree re the xc. I think at 80, we are unlikely to meet any challenges like that though....most fences tend to be single efforts.
 
At BE, I don't think (though I'm no expert, I just look at a lot of course photos!) you'd meet a single stride double, no. Most of the ones I've seen are nice multiple stride combinations where you can fit as many in as you like.

Unaffiliated, however... You see all sorts :eek:
 
JFTD-WS said:
At BE, I don't think (though I'm no expert, I just look at a lot of course photos!) you'd meet a single stride double, no. Most of the ones I've seen are nice multiple stride combinations where you can fit as many in as you like.

Unaffiliated, however... You see all sorts :eek:
Click to expand...

This is so true!
 
I have trained a few shorter striding types and while working on the canter being adjustable is part of the training, as it is for any horse, the short striding ones are, in my opinion, best left to sort themselves out and pop in an extra stride rather than being pushed to go long, all too often if constantly pushed they will eventually say NO and lose confidence, they often learn to go longer when they know the job and have the confidence and experience to do so and usually find a one stride xc easier to take than sj because they are more open striding once they get bowling along.
I have seen a very genuine little horse destroyed by trying to change him, he simply could not get through a one stride combination sj and the trainer kept insisting he had to, he had been jumping 1m tracks comfortably until he lost his nerve and never really regained it dropping down a level because he had lost his trust so if in doubt he stopped where previously he would have chipped in and tried to go.
 
be positive said:
I have trained a few shorter striding types and while working on the canter being adjustable is part of the training, as it is for any horse, the short striding ones are, in my opinion, best left to sort themselves out and pop in an extra stride rather than being pushed to go long, all too often if constantly pushed they will eventually say NO and lose confidence, they often learn to go longer when they know the job and have the confidence and experience to do so and usually find a one stride xc easier to take than sj because they are more open striding once they get bowling along.
I have seen a very genuine little horse destroyed by trying to change him, he simply could not get through a one stride combination sj and the trainer kept insisting he had to, he had been jumping 1m tracks comfortably until he lost his nerve and never really regained it dropping down a level because he had lost his trust so if in doubt he stopped where previously he would have chipped in and tried to go.
Click to expand...

This is my worry. And shes such a little trier I would hate for her to lose that.
 
Depends on the pony I think. A friend competed a 13.3hh pony in the adult jumping and eventing and was always expected to make the distances. She did have to go very forward but the pony jumped better out of that rhythm anyway. If the distance walked or rode particularly long she'd squeeze in an extra stride but otherwise just had to land, go forward, and take the inside line on any curves or related distances.

I have the opposite problem with a massive striding 17.2hh - getting him not to drop strides has taken serious work on the flat to compress the canter and even now we still always drop one or two if you don't really sit up and bring him back straight away
 
[deleted user] said:
This is my worry. And shes such a little trier I would hate for her to lose that.
Click to expand...

Stick to what is working, it may not always look pretty but it is safe, her confidence will grow as will yours and if the aim is BE 80 you will not be the worst by any means, I believe in keeping them within their comfort zone as much as possible with steps in and out to build experience and confidence along the way, sometimes what works initially will not work later so the rider, and trainer, need to be flexible not rigid in their methods, although you do also need to be consistent, that doesn't quite make sense but I hope you know what I mean .
 
be positive said:
Stick to what is working, it may not always look pretty but it is safe, her confidence will grow as will yours and if the aim is BE 80 you will not be the worst by any means, I believe in keeping them within their comfort zone as much as possible with steps in and out to build experience and confidence along the way, sometimes what works initially will not work later so the rider, and trainer, need to be flexible not rigid in their methods, although you do also need to be consistent, that doesn't quite make sense but I hope you know what I mean .
Click to expand...

This makes total sense. My and her confidence are very much intertwined and if I don't feel happy making her try for longer distances I don't see why she should.
 
pretty much always left mine to it it would very much depend on what sort of stride we had in.

It was good to practice the adjustability and to know what I needed to do to get one in, or what sort of jump I would get from different sorts of canter but usually when it came to it on the day I left it up to him as he wasn't one that liked being told what to do too much with regards to striding. He didn't take poles so I was never worried about him not getting high enough either way.
 
I competed my 14.1hh cob mare in horse classes up to 1.05m. We worked on having an adjustable canter but in combinations I let her decide what to do. Usually it was a short two strides, especially if it was uphill or had fillers in that backed her off them. She'd also sometimes drift to one side to find more room.

I did have a disagreement with a new instructor when they said she *had* to legthen enough to make distances correctly. She was a short striding 14.1hh she was never physically going to be able to do that and I wasn't going to let her be crashed through combinations and her confidence ruined. I'm 5'4" and how ever hard I try I cannot do things that 6' people can.

We only ever had to fiddle with one stride combinations, two stride ones were fine we could fit three in easily. After a few years of jumping 1.05m courses with jump offs going up to 1.10-1.15 I actually dropped her down to 90cm, she had won or been placed in every class for four years (apart when I got lost!) She owed me nothing and I started to think that eventually at that height we would get in wrong into a second part of a double spread and she didn't deserve that.
 
I think if she is naturally quite short strided I would leave her to sorting herself out and chipping one in if need be.

I competed the 14.2hh in my pic in BS seniors and he had to learn to reach in the combinations to make the horse distances but he did naturally have a very adjustable canter and lots of scope so it wasn't too much of a problem for him as long as we got a good stride in.

I agree with the above there's no point trying to open up her stride only to knock confidence.
 
I've a 14hh pony i event and i really just train her to figure it out herself. Once they have the power to sit and push behind they can generaly figure it out. it's only the types that are weak behind or too heavy on the forehand, that can't react quick enough to adjust themselves
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top