Show jumping- who should be in control?

[misshorsey]

I know this sounds like a really stupid question but I have found more and more lately that I am trying to control my horse too much approaching fences and during courses.
How much should the horse be able to do by himself and when should I step in to intervene? I've watched clips of show jumping trainers saying that if you just get your horse in a nice rhythm it will work out the jump itself. That's all well and good if you're jumping a 90cm course as the horse (well mine anyway) is able to get you out of trouble fairly easily, but I can't see it being so easy when your facing up to a 1.20/1.30 jump on the wrong stride because you thought the horse would work it out!
Maybe I'm over-thinking this but I'd just like to know how much you take control during a course and if anyone's got advice for this amateur show jumper

 

[Squiggles on Paper]

To me, its our job to set them up, but its their job to do the jumping. I feel like I should take charge in the steering (i.e. the turns) but once you have gotten on to the line, the horse has to know the jump is coming. This doesn't mean you can just sit there and expect the horse to take care of you, you have to ride every last stride! Once you have turned into your line, you have to sit still and not fuss around with his mouth and keep your leg on and look up and ahead towards the next fence.

If you feel like your on a wrong stride, you should push on, sit deep (but not too heavy) and the horse should be smart enough to fix himself

 

[misshorsey]

Thanks! I do tend to pull back to make up for a bad stride and I think this is what lands us in trouble most of the time.
Also, I forgot to ask in my first post, does anyone know of a good way to help a horse be a bit quicker with his front end? Mine is a gangly tb and although his back end is very neat, he'll have pole after pole down with his front end just because he doesn't snap them up fast enough. Is there something I should be doing in my riding or is there an exercise I could be doing to help this?

 

[merlinsquest]

If your canter is good & you can shorten & lengthen easily, then if you get to the fence & you are slightly too deep or a bit off, you should be able to adjust the canter so that the stride becomes more normal. So pretty much ride off the turn & pick up the stride as you go.

 

[muckypony]

I think it depends on this horse. After gaining a fantastic bond with my old pony, within reason, she would do it herself, I just had to turn and keep leg on. She always sorted herslef out and if I interfered it tended to make things worse!

But then I get on some horses and you literally have to do everything for them except pick their legs up! I think thats the difference between horses and ponies though!