Skinny/corner/combinations XC... HELP??

[Girlracer]

Afternoon!

I am wondering if the geniuses of H&H might be able to help me with some ideas of exercises that I could try at home to help us with our skinny/corner jumping.

I am feeling like a few 90s at the end of the season could be in reach, if I can just overcome our issues over combinations which include skinny fences.

Horse is a work in progress, and I am not always the bravest or most disciplined but we are getting there and I really want to work on this so that I feel confident tackling these sorts of questions XC. At the moment we are very prone to a run out or stop at the second part of a combination if it is a skinny fence.

Furthermore, corners... I find them so difficult to ride to... like I'm not really sure where I should be riding to, which of course contributes to the reason we normally wonder out of the side door. If they're 80cm and not too narrow then I am not too worried, however the extra 10cm and complexity of them as a rule being narrower make them look impossible to me. The fact that my horse isn't the most balanced and sometimes a little frantic (this is improving all the time) just means we tend to get one another in a flap about it when faced with such a challenge!

So I wanted some exercises that I could regularly try at home, to improve both of our confidence, straightness and trust in one another when there is a slightly tricky question. I feel like this is all that is holding us back from stepping up now, and really want to crack it!

Photo of my beautiful boy XC schooling on Saturday to brighten an otherwise dull post!

 

[Orangehorse]

This is all down to schooling at home. I can't give you any particular tips as the courses are far more technical than when I was eventing years ago. But unless you are getting it right at home and in practice you are wasting your entry fee money..

There are loads of books out there with schooling exercises, and instruction courses to go on and even the horse magazines have training articles that can help. When jump practicing is it always good practice to have someone on the ground with you, even if all they are doing is putting the poles up, but if you could have a few training sessions with an instructor to work on these (very common) problems, then that is what I would suggest.

Always start low so the height is easy for both of you, and before you enter a competition be practicing at home at fences larger than the ones you are going to meet, so they look small!

 

[monte1]

Not sure I am the best person to give advice and am sure more experienced eventers will come along with other tips, but the way I was taught to jump corners and skinnies was when walking the course, or going XC schooling, focus on center of jump and find a non moving point in the distance in line with it ( a tree, fence post , whatever) and when approaching the jump, line up and look at this point and ride towards it - hope I am making sense, but it has always worked wonders for us as it makes you ride the correct line more positively

 

[Girlracer]

This is all down to schooling at home. I can't give you any particular tips as the courses are far more technical than when I was eventing years ago. But unless you are getting it right at home and in practice you are wasting your entry fee money..

There are loads of books out there with schooling exercises, and instruction courses to go on and even the horse magazines have training articles that can help. When jump practicing is it always good practice to have someone on the ground with you, even if all they are doing is putting the poles up, but if you could have a few training sessions with an instructor to work on these (very common) problems, then that is what I would suggest.

Always start low so the height is easy for both of you, and before you enter a competition be practicing at home at fences larger than the ones you are going to meet, so they look small!

Thank you for your comments.

Just to clarify we are competing currently happily and confidently at 80, this is a case of fine tuning so that we are fully prepared to make the step up to 90

I was hoping that a few experienced eventers that we have here with us on this forum would be able to give some personal tips from their wealth of experience.

Not sure I am the best person to give advice and am sure more experienced eventers will come along with other tips, but the way I was taught to jump corners and skinnies was when walking the course, or going XC schooling, focus on center of jump and find a non moving point in the distance in line with it ( a tree, fence post , whatever) and when approaching the jump, line up and look at this point and ride towards it - hope I am making sense, but it has always worked wonders for us as it makes you ride the correct line more positively

Thank you, that is a really good tip... I will definitely try that

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Ah here's something I might be able to help with, having had a horse who hated skinny fences and me who hates corners! And yes, we did end up being able to jump them with 0 problems! The key is to channel them into them so they don't really have the option to run out. Have your hands wide and low on the way in, it often helps to approach in trot if you can (you'd be surprised how big they can jump from a trot!) or if your horse doesn't like to jump from trot, trot in and then canter the last 2/3 strides. Make sure you keep your leg on evenly so they can't go anywhere! Before practicing them as part of a combination, practice them alone and practice getting your horse to really lock onto the fence. The key with corners is to ride the middle, don't be tempted to ride the edge because it's not as wide! Keep your stick in the hand nearest the thin end, your horse will almost always run out that way if they're going to run out. Again, ride them like a skinny, channel with your hands and legs and keep the approach slower if you can. Remember that riding a flagged course is always easier, because you've got something to aim between. Try and go for the centre of the flags and you can't go far wrong!

Can you hire somewhere you can put poles up against the skinnies? Just one balanced on either side of the fence like a channel (if that makes sense) I know some places near me have some poles out on course sometimes. You can do the same with corners. You can also work on it in the school. If you've got some skinny poles that is ideal, especially if they've got stripes on! Set up some skinny jumps in the school, jump them from all angles, jump them in a grid... I know they'll probably have wings (unless you've got some small ones you can jump the top of) but flags XC act in almost the same way. Something I found helpful for straightness was to have a line of jumps 1/2/3 strides apart (or some combination of that) and to have the last one as a skinny, that way you have to make sure you're riding the line absolutely dead straight the entire way. Another thing I've done is to have an oxer, but have the front part as a skinny, as this kind of emulates a wider skinny XC (so the back bar is a normal pole and the front one is a skinny pole). You can also set up corners in the school by angling poles and wings away from each other, again, even better if you can do that with short poles! Another great thing to use at home is barrels. If you've got them as jump fillers, jump them on their own! Start with wings or poles either side, but eventually work to take them away so you're jumping a single barrel with no guides on the side. All of these things you can put into combinations, but work to get them perfect on their own first. The best way to avoid run outs at combinations is to get your horse really thinking and listening to you and to lock onto the next fence, for you, remember to keep your leg on after the first part! If you drop your horse after the first part, you're asking for a stop/run out at the next because he's not going to know what you want him to do. If you want trot into combinations at competitions to help you feel more controlled and confident, then do so! You might get some slightly odd looks, but if it helps you jump clear then it doesn't matter. I've trotted sections of XC many times at 90s, then just cantered 1/2 strides out from the fence. I think the key is to just try and jump as many wacky/wonderful skinny combinations when you're practicing, ideally without any flags/wings, then come the competition, suddenly there's flags and everything seems a thousand times easier! The more you and your horse jump them, the more confident you'll be and he'll know what you want him to do. Hands wide, legs on and just don't imagine there's any direction other than over!

I'm sure you'll get there! With mine, we went from being eliminated because she wouldn't jump a skinny fence, and having so many problems at home to being able to jump anything! A few memorable times she jumped so big into the first part that I ended up jumping the second part with washing line reins, and even if it was a skinny or a corner, I'd just point her at it, she'd lock on and then you knew you were going over! It wasn't always pretty though This was at 90/100 level, and we trained over a few novice combinations too, so not too shabby!

 

[ihatework]

Schooling, schooling and schooling!
The horse has to stay forwards, straight and channelled between hand and leg.
Plenty you can do with poly blocks and short poles.
Even just jumping regular fences on angles.

I will see if I can dig out a video of us playing with a young horse

 

[Girlracer]

Ah here's something I might be able to help with, having had a horse who hated skinny fences and me who hates corners! And yes, we did end up being able to jump them with 0 problems! The key is to channel them into them so they don't really have the option to run out. Have your hands wide and low on the way in, it often helps to approach in trot if you can (you'd be surprised how big they can jump from a trot!) or if your horse doesn't like to jump from trot, trot in and then canter the last 2/3 strides. Make sure you keep your leg on evenly so they can't go anywhere! Before practicing them as part of a combination, practice them alone and practice getting your horse to really lock onto the fence. The key with corners is to ride the middle, don't be tempted to ride the edge because it's not as wide! Keep your stick in the hand nearest the thin end, your horse will almost always run out that way if they're going to run out. Again, ride them like a skinny, channel with your hands and legs and keep the approach slower if you can. Remember that riding a flagged course is always easier, because you've got something to aim between. Try and go for the centre of the flags and you can't go far wrong!

Can you hire somewhere you can put poles up against the skinnies? Just one balanced on either side of the fence like a channel (if that makes sense) I know some places near me have some poles out on course sometimes. You can do the same with corners. You can also work on it in the school. If you've got some skinny poles that is ideal, especially if they've got stripes on! Set up some skinny jumps in the school, jump them from all angles, jump them in a grid... I know they'll probably have wings (unless you've got some small ones you can jump the top of) but flags XC act in almost the same way. Something I found helpful for straightness was to have a line of jumps 1/2/3 strides apart (or some combination of that) and to have the last one as a skinny, that way you have to make sure you're riding the line absolutely dead straight the entire way. Another thing I've done is to have an oxer, but have the front part as a skinny, as this kind of emulates a wider skinny XC (so the back bar is a normal pole and the front one is a skinny pole). You can also set up corners in the school by angling poles and wings away from each other, again, even better if you can do that with short poles! Another great thing to use at home is barrels. If you've got them as jump fillers, jump them on their own! Start with wings or poles either side, but eventually work to take them away so you're jumping a single barrel with no guides on the side. All of these things you can put into combinations, but work to get them perfect on their own first. The best way to avoid run outs at combinations is to get your horse really thinking and listening to you and to lock onto the next fence, for you, remember to keep your leg on after the first part! If you drop your horse after the first part, you're asking for a stop/run out at the next because he's not going to know what you want him to do. If you want trot into combinations at competitions to help you feel more controlled and confident, then do so! You might get some slightly odd looks, but if it helps you jump clear then it doesn't matter. I've trotted sections of XC many times at 90s, then just cantered 1/2 strides out from the fence. I think the key is to just try and jump as many wacky/wonderful skinny combinations when you're practicing, ideally without any flags/wings, then come the competition, suddenly there's flags and everything seems a thousand times easier! The more you and your horse jump them, the more confident you'll be and he'll know what you want him to do. Hands wide, legs on and just don't imagine there's any direction other than over!

I'm sure you'll get there! With mine, we went from being eliminated because she wouldn't jump a skinny fence, and having so many problems at home to being able to jump anything! A few memorable times she jumped so big into the first part that I ended up jumping the second part with washing line reins, and even if it was a skinny or a corner, I'd just point her at it, she'd lock on and then you knew you were going over! It wasn't always pretty though This was at 90/100 level, and we trained over a few novice combinations too, so not too shabby!

Thank you SO much for taking the time to write this reply - this is so reassuring!

So many helpful tips, and we will attempt to put it into practice. Thank you

Schooling, schooling and schooling!
The horse has to stay forwards, straight and channelled between hand and leg.
Plenty you can do with poly blocks and short poles.
Even just jumping regular fences on angles.

I will see if I can dig out a video of us playing with a young horse

Thank you very much! We do have blocks and short poles I need to try and be a little bit more adventurous with the lines and fences that we jump at home

 

[smja]

For corners, do you know how to find your line when walking the course?

Go up to the corner. Draw a straight line (line A) from the point of the corner (middle of the narrow end) to the middle of the fat end. Now draw a straight line (line B), perpendicular to your line A, that's roughly in the middle of the flagged bit. Line B is the route you + horse should follow. So, look over the fence and see what fixed object lines up with line B.

When you're on course and approaching the corner, look over it for your fixed object. When that object appears in the middle of the flags, you are on the line and you should keep looking at, and riding towards, the object until you land on the other side

 

[Shazzababs]

Had a google for you.

These might help:

https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/eventing-news/training-tips/lucinda-green-eventing-exercises

http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/training/narrowsminded-training-16481

https://eventingconnect.today/2016/09/08/master-jumping-skinnies-and-angles-using-a-cross/

http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2012/10/clayton-fredericks-easy-exercises-for-excellent-eventers/

 

[FfionWinnie]

Schooling, schooling and schooling!
The horse has to stay forwards, straight and channelled between hand and leg.
Plenty you can do with poly blocks and short poles.
Even just jumping regular fences on angles.

I will see if I can dig out a video of us playing with a young horse

This girl seems to get up to all sorts with poly blocks and short poles!

https://www.facebook.com/VittoriaPanizzonEventing/

 

[Girlracer]

For corners, do you know how to find your line when walking the course?

Go up to the corner. Draw a straight line (line A) from the point of the corner (middle of the narrow end) to the middle of the fat end. Now draw a straight line (line B), perpendicular to your line A, that's roughly in the middle of the flagged bit. Line B is the route you + horse should follow. So, look over the fence and see what fixed object lines up with line B.

When you're on course and approaching the corner, look over it for your fixed object. When that object appears in the middle of the flags, you are on the line and you should keep looking at, and riding towards, the object until you land on the other side

That is a brilliant description - thank you! I will use that next weekend.

Had a google for you.

These might help:

https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/eventing-news/training-tips/lucinda-green-eventing-exercises

http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/training/narrowsminded-training-16481

https://eventingconnect.today/2016/09/08/master-jumping-skinnies-and-angles-using-a-cross/

http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2012/10/clayton-fredericks-easy-exercises-for-excellent-eventers/

Perfect, I will have a good read through these - a few ideas for this weekend

This girl seems to get up to all sorts with poly blocks and short poles!

https://www.facebook.com/VittoriaPanizzonEventing/

I used to train with Vittoria before she moved away, she is so brilliant. The lines and combinations she trains over at home... it's no wonder she is so successful!

 

[FfionWinnie]

My ultimate goal is to be able to jump a block like she does. One day!

 

[DabDab]

Lots of great advice already, only thing I would add is that when training at home try not to be too much of a perfectionist. I think it can be really easy to fall into setting stuff up at home that you can jump perfectly neatly, from a perfect rhythm and perfect stride, which means the trials and tribulations of a competition xc course can cause all the hard work and preparation to become rather unstiched. Try to channel your inner teenager on a zippy pony, jumping all manner of things from wacky angles with the main goal to just keep moving forward (at any pace). Teach the horse to sort itself out and think on his feet - some horses do it far more naturally than others, but it can be trained.
Look forward to your reports later in the year!

 

[FfionWinnie]

. Try to channel your inner teenager on a zippy pony, jumping all manner of things from wacky angles with the main goal to just keep moving forward

Funny you say that because I realised the other day while watching my 7yr old on what was a teenagers 14.1, that everyone needs a teenagers horse. She was jumping a skinny log down a bank from an angle and is tiny on him but he (who is 18 and taken a good few teens round big meaty xc courses) did it no problem and she had no concept that there could be a problem either. We all need to channel our inner teen!

 

[LeannePip]

This girl seems to get up to all sorts with poly blocks and short poles!

https://www.facebook.com/VittoriaPanizzonEventing/

I can only see the one video of her jumping an upright stand (!) can you link to any more?

 

[DabDab]

Funny you say that because I realised the other day while watching my 7yr old on what was a teenagers 14.1, that everyone needs a teenagers horse. She was jumping a skinny log down a bank from an angle and is tiny on him but he (who is 18 and taken a good few teens round big meaty xc courses) did it no problem and she had no concept that there could be a problem either. We all need to channel our inner teen!

Haha, yup, it's amazing how failure doesn't enter your head if there is no placeholder for it.
I read the updates on your daughter and it makes me want to be a kid again, she's super cool