Puissance - showing the horse the fence first? is it allowed?

kerilli

kerilli

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Watching last night, quite a few of the riders (especially in the early round) very blatantly showed the horse the big wall, in one case cantering towards it, then pulling up and turning away. (i think this may have been the same horse which jinked 2 strides before - in confusion, i reckon - and then had it down)
i always thought it was against the rules to show a horse a fence, in any class. has this rule been changed now? just wondered really, never likely to have a horse good enough to jump a puissance wall, myself!
very very pleased that William won, btw... i was rooting for him, what a lovely quiet and effective rider.
 
Yeh I wondered that - maybe its different in the puissance? The rider who cantered up to the fence first definately did himself no favours - horse thought he was meant to canter past it two strides out!
 
You can show horses the fence here in Argentina although when I was a teenager it definitely wasn't allowed (I got told off at a show once for 'showing' my horse a fence after he refused at a wall)
I don't know if it's the same in the UK though.
 
Rule against showing a horse a fence was dropped (by BSJA) sveral years ago. You can now show horse any fence, practice approach to it etc at any level. Only condition is the 45 second count down starts when the bell is rung and time for the round will start when it reaches zero if you have not already crossed the start line
 
Showing a horse a fence is near accepted practise here in France!! We often remark on it. Dont know if it does any good though!
 
Do they allow people to show their horses the fence in PAVO classes?
You see quite a few people doing that in those classes - I wasn't sure if that was ok or not?
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Over here (and down South) it is quite usual to "walk" the course on your horse - some people canter up to each and every fence and then screech to a halt. Doesn't suit me, as I like to walk my distances and my horses haven't quite figured that out
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Surely it's better to just walk past rather than canter up to the fence(s) and stop dead or ride round - that sounds like a stupid thing to do - but I'm only an observer not a doer
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Over here (and down South) it is quite usual to "walk" the course on your horse

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That's done here as well in novice classes and up to 80cms. We are NOT allowed to canter at all though.
When I was allowed to walk the course with PF, my instructor walked the distances for me and told me what they were!
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I get a much better feel when I do it myself though as PF, being quite little, has quite a short stride.
 
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Surely it's better to just walk past rather than canter up to the fence(s) and stop dead or ride round - that sounds like a stupid thing to do - but I'm only an observer not a doer
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Definitely. We're allowed to 'ride' the course up to 80cms, but never, ever trot or canter.
 
We were there, and in about the second round Shane Breen cantered very strongly down towards it in order to give the horse a look. The horse appeared to lock onto it, and he had to use all his strength to pull the horse off his line. Surely that isn't a very good message to give the horse?!

As the OP says, William was very impressive, but what struck me was the luck there element. Having just watched it back on T.V, it doesn't show how much the wall wobbled when he jumped it, whereas Robert [who didn't ride nearly as well in my opinion,] bearly even brushed it and it fell
 
[ QUOTE ]
We were there, and in about the second round Shane Breen cantered very strongly down towards it in order to give the horse a look. The horse appeared to lock onto it, and he had to use all his strength to pull the horse off his line. Surely that isn't a very good message to give the horse?!


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Wouldn't that have counted as a refusal?
My instructor has told me to canter circles in front of a fence with a very keen horse, but it has to be done in a controlled, calm manner and a fair distance away so you don't have to 'pull' the horse out, or off the line.
I think there's quite a strong 'luck' element in all SJing; someone will clout a pole and it'll stay up, someone else will brush it and it'll topple off...
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