'Seeing a stride'

[Ambers Echo]

I've never really understood what this means.

I have generally been advised in jumping lessons to forget about trying to place Amber and just let her sort her feet out. That has worked fine - I just look at the top pole and she figures out where to take off from. But she had a tendency to rush at fences and so I went through a phase with a previous instructor of constantly making her wait, holding her for an extra stride and jumping out of the bottom of the fences. Plus lots of grid work and canter poles. She is so much more controlled now but either she or I have now got into the habit of getting in too deep now and I am not sure how to correct it that. At our first 90/95cm class last week she caught poles when she got too close to the fence. I sent the video to my new instructor who said I need to work on 'seeing a stride' as she is getting too deep.

So does it really mean adjusting the canter to place her - I can already 'see' that she is getting deep! If so, was the earlier advice (don't try and place her) wrong or is it just another step on the learning curve? My kids jump the same sorts of height courses and never try and place their ponies - they just focus on getting a good line and leaving the rest up to the pony.

Obviously I will ask my own instructor but I only have lessons once a month or less so I thought I'd get some insights from you guys too and ideas on what to work on before my next lesson. TIA.x

 

[pixie27]

What I take it to mean is basically being able to see the exact point on the floor where you want your horse to take off, and getting the horse there. My SJ instructor can tell exactly where I'm going to take off from as soon as I'm straight to a fence (I can't!). The fundamentals are all in having a good canter that you can adjust - if you have a good canter, you should theoretically find the right spot. Afraid I can't be much help - this is very much a weak spot for me too! Mine tends to chip in/get deep and my instructor says he needs to be much more off my leg - e.g. I see a long one and kick for it, but the canter isn't forward or strong enough so he goes deep.

I went to a Chris Burton demo who used a good exercise to improve/adjust the canter - put two poles down about six canter strides apart and spend time getting six, then go for five, then seven and so on. He managed to get three and 20 in... we're a bit far off that ha.

Will be v interested to see other replies to this!

 

[be positive]

It may be that in trying to settle her you have forgotten to keep the canter strong enough so she is rather flat and needing to get in a bit deep to make the jump, if the canter is secure, regular and she is in front of the leg you should find the fence comes to you and there is no need to do anything about adjusting the stride, the danger with trying to see a stride is that you can end up killing the canter completely or going for ever increasing long ones that is worse than getting in a bit too deep at times.

Without seeing her it is only a guess but I would be inclined to just ask her to be a little stronger and more powerful in her canter generally so you can maintain it all the way to the fence and see if that helps.

 

[Ambers Echo]

I went to a Chris Burton demo who used a good exercise to improve/adjust the canter - put two poles down about six canter strides apart and spend time getting six, then go for five, then seven and so on. He managed to get three and 20 in... we're a bit far off that ha.

Wow!

 

[Ambers Echo]

Thanks BP - that makes sense. Perhaps I have worked so hard on containing her that I have gone too far the away way.

 

[Templebar]

Even now on a horse i dont see a stride, but i do count the rhythm to maintain it and i can now feel if we are going to take a long one. I usually try to push forward into a fence, making that commitment to jumping it.

 

[muddy_grey]

I agree with bp. It is very easy to forget to use enough leg on a horse that rushes or is sharp. My instructor always says more "up" in the canter rather than speed.
"Seeing a stride" really just means when you are approaching a fence you know where you are going to take off. In theory you can then make adjustments if you are too long or deep.
My mare is sharp and I used to repeat up, up, leg, leg round the corner to keep the canter.

 

[DabDab]

Seeing a stride is just what it says on the tin, so if you know you're going in deep and you do then go in deep then you are already seeing a stride You just now need to find a slightly different canter rhythm to jump from to get a better take off point.

Your instructor may be seeing you adjusting her before a fence? So thinking you are adjusting not meaning to put her in so deep as you're misjudging it? When actually you are (subconsciously) deliberately putting her there.

Alternatively could be just like bp says - you've got a consistently flat rhythm from doing so much work to dial her down, and going in deep is just a consequence of that. But even then, if you get used to seeing your take off point a little further out, you should instinctively start to ride the canter rhythm and lines that naturally put you both there. If that makes sense.

 

[Bernster]

I’ve been working a bit more on our sj lately. And it’s become clear that I can’t see a stride for toffee! So I leave that to the horse to sort out and I am working on getting us to the jump with the right canter and straight, and let him sort out his take off. We are both much happier with this arrangement ��

 

[Asha]

the girl who competes mine had a lesson from a local show jump instructor on one of mine( he competes up to 1.40m). It was fascinating to watch and listen too. its the first lesson ive watched that was technical, he really challenged her with lots of questions. He then had her counting strides in different types of canter, getting her to work out when she was going to take off. He then explained where you should be taking off, he drew a circle In the arena in front of the jump. It was about 1.5 metres in diameter. he said that anywhere within this circle was an acceptable place to jump off for any horse up to 1m. Once you started jumping higher the circle gets smaller. Maybe have a go at that ? hats off to all off you doing this, I will happily stick to my 60cm courses !!