Tips on getting a good stride ...help please!

[MS123]

I can't seem to ever see my stride to a fence, which then results in either taking off too early, or going too deep. I'm lucky in that my saint of a mare always sorts it out for me, but I get frustrated at myself for not being able to get the right stride at the right time. So I wondered if anyone had any hints/tips that could possibly help?

Thank you

 

[MandyMoo]

Well, firstly I wouldn't worry tooooooo much about seeing perfect striding..grid work can help to some extent though if you want some jumping exercises to do..you can try having canter poles up to and away from a fence as well and start removing poles and see if you can keep the same rhythm without them etc? Good confidence building exercise. However I would advise you work more on your canter power and rhythm. If the canter is right, the fence will come to you, maybe practise putting out poles around your arena either on a circle or as a course of jumps (but only poles) ad practise keeping a good rhythm throughout, and a good quality canter. Once you get into a rhythm you'll realise you barely notice the poles. It sounds weird at first, as I never used to believe it when people told me to not bother worrying about strides, just focus on the canter - but once I started doing it, my showjumping courses started running much more smoothly, and 9 times out of 10 now I hit the fence in a correct spot. I simply focus on getting the canter fowards, but not long, engaged, balanced and maintain the rhythm

Cantering over poles is easy, everyone can do that - and it is the same with jumping; a jump is just a slightly exaggerated canter stride, and any adjustments (if your canter is right) should be small anyway and done as easily as you stepping up onto a curb without thinking - unless something means you really c**k it up, but in general; "canter, rhythm, line, gets it right every time" in the words of Tim Stockdale!

 

[Amanda K-Page]

Excellent advice by MandyMoo! Another thing you may find helpful is to make sure you are able to adjust your canter stride easily and effortlessly. So start with a nice working canter, working on a large circle, ask for a a slightly more collected, uphill canter but keep moving the energy forward. Then ask for a working canter. Repeat many times until your horse adjusts to the collected canter easily and quickly perhaps just by you slightly bringing your shoulders back. Then you can do the same with working canter/medium canter. Ask for a bigger, uphill canter (not faster or flatter) and after say 6-9 strides, come back to a medium canter. Play around with this on both reins. You are looking to be able to adjust the stride easily, effortlessly and fairly quickly. When you come into fences, (slightly depending on what type of fence of course), you want a forward working canter.

Don't try and see a stride too early or you may end up 'fiddling' too much and destroying the forward rhythm. Wait until about 3 strides out, if all is good, carry on, if you need to adjust, make a small adjustment by bringing you shoulders back to collect or asking for a slightly bigger stride so that the last stride is what you want. But I do echo Mandy in that its not vital for you to see the stride every time. In fact, by just getting her into a good rhythm and jumping around a course without worrying about the stride, you are allowing her to continue to learn to see it herself and adjust, so when you do get it wrong, (everyone does), she will be confident enough to get you out of trouble. (This of course depends on the size of the jumps)

Hope this helps Amanda

 

[ruth83]

Somebody once said to me that seeing the perfect stride is as much of a God given talent as perfect pitch. Certain elements of it can be taught and improved but not to the same extent.

The best thing is (In my experience) to STOP LOOKING for one! As has been said above, ride the rhythm of the canter. Also, ride beyond the fence, not just to it. When I have clients who are bogged down in searching for a stride I try to find a tree for them to look at as they approach the fence. They have to pick a leaf and tell me all about the leaf as they ride over the jump and 9 times out of 10 the stride is dead on.

 

[Patterdale]

Below about 3'6 you don't need to.
Your job as a rider is to give the horse everything he needs to jump. Get him to the fence at the correct speed, in a rhythm, at a good angle, to a suitable fence, and make sure that you as a rider are in balance.
If you can do all that, then seeing the stride and taking off in the right place is the horses job.

Don't get too hung up on it as this will make it worse. If you want to do anything more, then you can count to yourself 'one, two, one, two,' to keep your rhythm.

 

[MS123]

Fantastic advice!! Thanks so much everyone ..really appreciate it!

 

[becca1305]

Agree with all the advice above. Another tip is to count out loud (whispered if you'd rather!) 3..2..1..jump on the last strides to a fence. I find this a useful exercise all the time as it helps keeps the canter rhythm, but particularly helps commitment to a stride if you haven't got the perfect one to stop you from just dithering about which stride to take - I am a class A ditherer when I don't see a stride I like and am prone to just sit there like a nelly! Play around with different things and see what works for you . I agree that starting with canter poles, and then raising to a small kind of grid is a good exercise for practicing balance and rhythm.

 

[LEC]

I do have issues about not looking for a stride/don't worry under 3'6 advice because actually you do need to look for a stride and the horses who lose most confidence are those mainly under 3'6 whose riders are wildly unpredictable in their approach to a fence.

I prefer to think of it all being about the canter. The right canter and rhythm will get you spot on to every fence. Without seeing your canter it's hard to give advice as each rider is very different with their issues. The sj canter is very different to a dressage canter and there are lots of exercises you can do to improve it.

Basically without a decent canter you are never going to see a stride.

 

[siennamum]

I think a good trainer can really help. Polework is great, you need to work on establishing a good powerful canter over poles, around corners and especially on related distances. Exercises like the one where you take poles away are great as sometimes it is counter intuitive to ride strongly when you can't see the stride, but if a pole 4 out has you in the right place, it does help you get into good habits.

 

[ruth83]

I do have issues about not looking for a stride/don't worry under 3'6 advice because actually you do need to look for a stride and the horses who lose most confidence are those mainly under 3'6 whose riders are wildly unpredictable in their approach to a fence.

Whilst I agree with part about horses losing confidence, in my experience more of those are caused by riders who THINK they can see a stride and wildly kick on when they think they are 3 strides out (and yes, I have been guilty of this in the past!) and end up with a horse who needs to chip in but the rider has already taken off or taking a long one where the rider sees one more and ends up re-arranging the horses teeth. I find that taking that sight away from the rider helps them to ride the canter better and prevents them pushing their ideas about take off onto the horse.

 

[LittleTero]

I'm awful when it comes to strides. I think I'd be better off not knowing anything as I always fiddle when I need to leave well alone! I had a jumping lesson once where the instructor would let me look at the jump. Even had to close my eyes three strides out and amazingly I could suddenly jump smoothly with no problem at all. Now I try to look at anything else. I also do lots of exercises where I have to think about everything except the fence then magically I can jump! It's when I have one fence on its own that I stuggle. I recently have been helping a friend with chronic jumping nerves who had spent years focussing on jumping one solitary jump in the school. The minute she had a course or a combination or something where she had to think past the jump she was fine. I think that's almost half the problem when we try to do these things on our own we make them too simple. Great advice on this post as I am looking for some tips myself as since I have got an office job and am a bit out of practise I'm loosing my eye! And it took long enough to get in the first place!

 

[madmav]

I had it drilled into me in my long distant youth to look for the stride count down, 3, 2, 1. Years later, instructor deconstructed everything about my riding I'd ever been taught. And one was not to look for stride. Get the canter uphill, line the horse up correctly at the fence and then feel for the take-off. But admittedly I wasn't doing massive courses.

 

[JFTDWS]

The only thing I know about distances:

 

[georgiegirl]

You'll find the more jumping you do that the more your eye 'clicks' in. Obviously its not possible to jump and jump the same horse all the time so even cantering over poles on the floor can help. Single poles as well as poles set with a few canter strides inbetween. Im usually guilty of going to the long one if I see it but slowly starting to retrain myself into waiting and sitting quiet - its amazing how difficult it really is to sit there and 'do nothing' so to speak.

 

[Kat]

Two small fences one at B and one at E so that you can jump them on a 20m circle and keep coming in a regular canter rhythm is a great exercise and demonstrates that if you get a good canter and an appropriate line the striding will work itself out. It also stops you focusing on the fence as you HAVE to start looking for the line to the next one!

 

[soft touch]

Its all about the canter rhythm. Work on establishing a good balanced forward rhythm. Count the strides to maintain the beat...1,2,3,4. And keep that beat to the fence without worrying about the stride. Straightness and rhythm and let the horse do the rest. Sounds simples I know!

 

[Supanova]

Totally agree with everyone who has said don't focus too much on seeing a stride and that it is all about the canter rhythm, straightness, suppleness etc...............however just one useful tip to add - look at the top front pole of the fence all the way in. There are a lot of people that say not to actually look at the fence but to look over it but they have done studies of where top riders look when they are riding to the fence and they look at the top front pole all the way until take off. I have tried looking in different places and this definitely helps and it also seems to stop that moment of panic when you think "oh god i can't see a stride"!! However, also make sure you don't look down into the base of the fence!

 

[Jango]

Well, firstly I wouldn't worry tooooooo much about seeing perfect striding..grid work can help to some extent though if you want some jumping exercises to do..you can try having canter poles up to and away from a fence as well and start removing poles and see if you can keep the same rhythm without them etc? Good confidence building exercise. However I would advise you work more on your canter power and rhythm. If the canter is right, the fence will come to you, maybe practise putting out poles around your arena either on a circle or as a course of jumps (but only poles) ad practise keeping a good rhythm throughout, and a good quality canter. Once you get into a rhythm you'll realise you barely notice the poles. It sounds weird at first, as I never used to believe it when people told me to not bother worrying about strides, just focus on the canter - but once I started doing it, my showjumping courses started running much more smoothly, and 9 times out of 10 now I hit the fence in a correct spot. I simply focus on getting the canter fowards, but not long, engaged, balanced and maintain the rhythm

Cantering over poles is easy, everyone can do that - and it is the same with jumping; a jump is just a slightly exaggerated canter stride, and any adjustments (if your canter is right) should be small anyway and done as easily as you stepping up onto a curb without thinking - unless something means you really c**k it up, but in general; "canter, rhythm, line, gets it right every time" in the words of Tim Stockdale!

This is fantastic advice I've recently had a lightbulb moment with my lad and now I can get 'the' canter for jumping my horse most of the time rather than it happen sometimes by accident and it's a made jumping fun again

 

[Lanky Loll]

Rhythm rhythm rhythm.
Practice - my old trainer used to make his daughter jump 100 fences a day (on a variety of horses) to get her eye in, that's a tricky one to do for most people. but the wider the variety of horses you ride and fences you jump the better you will be able to judge.
Canter pole exercises. This week I have set up in the field:
Row of 4 alternate end raised poles on a 3 yard distance - trot poles with a stride between / canter bounce.
2 raised poles (all of 4 inches high) on a 5 canter stride distance - work down it in 4/5/6 strides.
3 random poles that I can turn to on a canter from different directions on either side and rein.
I've been working between the different elements, working on keeping a consistent rhythm and judging the "takeoff". As the rhythm improves so does the distance and as you go on you can make different elements into proper fences.

 

[sportsmansB]

My trainer always maintains that if you ride a nice forward canter in a decent line to a fence in balance and don't fuss your horse, it will all come right.
Even if you are close to it, your horse can see this too and adjust themselves, if you haven't already confused them by trying to adjust them as that is when you have diffs. If you are in balance with your horse then even if they take a big one rather than chipping in you can still go with them- and its unlikely to ruin their confidence as nothing 'bad' is happening...

 

[HeresHoping]

My trainer is very hot on the rhythmic canters. Very hot indeed.

But until that becomes second nature, here's a trick:

Don't look beyond your fence. No, really, don't. Pick a spot bang in the middle of the fence on the top of the top rail (the front rail if it's a spread or you won't make it). Ride towards it and keep looking at it through your horse's ears. The split second it disappears from view, that's your take off point. And the minute you take off, you need to be looking for your next fence or you will not be balanced for a turn on the correct leg.

 

[old hand]

Make sure you have impulsion, little talked about nowadays. rythmn is fine but if there is no power in it the horse will fiddle about even if you don't. I have always taught short horse going forward which delivers the horse to the fence with its hocks under it, you then have some leeway in your take off point anyway. the more you are consistent the better the horse will become. Don't fret about it just jump small fences until you can jump them without breaking your rythmn. Watch some videos of top riders round the same course , it is interesting they do not all talke off in the same spot but do have massive impulsion and forward movement and never a flat stride.

 

[vam]

My trainer is very hot on the rhythmic canters. Very hot indeed.

But until that becomes second nature, here's a trick:

Don't look beyond your fence. No, really, don't. Pick a spot bang in the middle of the fence on the top of the top rail (the front rail if it's a spread or you won't make it). Ride towards it and keep looking at it through your horse's ears. The split second it disappears from view, that's your take off point. And the minute you take off, you need to be looking for your next fence or you will not be balanced for a turn on the correct leg.

I have to dissagree to a point, yes this may work for some but for others it wont. It certainly didnt for mine, i ended up with a very looky horse but as soon as i corrected and looked past the fence the problem dissappered. I could tell as soon as i dropped my eye to the fence on the approch as the rhythm would alter, not massively but enough that it would lead to a dodgy stride, if i kept my eye on the fence all the way in, he would either stop, look and leap or launch himself over. Looking past the fence once i was on the right line solved this and is didnt matter the size or type of fence he wouldnt look at it. Also remember that you could tip forward looking at a fence, with the best will in the world looking down at a fence could make you upper body follow if you're not careful (guilty)

While most pros look at the fence you have to remember they are pros, its their job to know what they are doing and how to do it. Plus top riders are normally jumping fences that are bigger and as such have a high eyeline so are often not looking down at the fence. For us mear motals i think that fixing on a fence can lead to problems as you feel like you need to 'get there' and start hooking or chacing.

As i said it will work for some but you have to take into consideration the horse and rider, a good instructor will help find the right way for you to ride your horse to a fence. Rhythm and implusion are the main factors, it doesnt matter where you look, at the fence or otherwise, if you dont have them to start with.

 

[monte1]

very interesting thread , i plan to go set up and try some of these exercises myself, as I can suffer from both nerves and not seeing a stride quite often. I do find that jumping more frequently even over small jumps really does help to keep your eye in though. I am another who cannot use the "focus on the fence technique" at all, it just doesnt work for me with SJ and even more so when riding XC. I have to see the fence set up my line as planned on course walk and just look up and over at a distant point as we approach, it seems to work perfectly and my horse just gets on with the job. if i have a nervous moment and start to focus to much on the fence my nerves get the better of me and we end up with either a stop right at the base of the fence or a messy jump and my confidence takes a nosedive :-( it is very odd but perhaps it is just me and my horse as we know each other very well??

 

[claracanter]

I agree with monte1. This is a really interesting thread and I will be trying some of these exercises out next week.

 

[Firewell]

I have been working tons on this and as everyone says it is in the canter!
I visualise having my horse two thirds in front of me and I visualise him cantering up through the pommel of the saddle. When I get this canter and it is sustained when I take me leg off by my horse alone do I know he's properly in front of my leg.
Then the trick is to keep soft shoulders/arms into the fence and the stride just comes.
I do poles or jump at least twice a week. Even if it's a course of poles or lines of 5/6 strides with just poles as it helps me practice this canter as much as possible.
I also find practicing jump off turns really helps me if we are getting sticky again as it gets me motoring my horse on in front of my leg again, it gets me riding the turns and the turns help engage my horse.
Once that rhythm comes it makes it all so easy.
I'm based at a pro showjumping yard and apart from the moto 'get the canter and just jump the bloody fence'. I have also been told that if for some reason the canter is a little off and you have to make adjustments last minute into a fence that you have to be very firm and clear to the horse. If you ask him to wait to fit a short stride in or if you decide to kick on to make up a distance be 100% committed to the decision and ride to that stride.

 

[cobwithattitude]

very interesting thread , i plan to go set up and try some of these exercises myself, as I can suffer from both nerves and not seeing a stride quite often. I do find that jumping more frequently even over small jumps really does help to keep your eye in though. I am another who cannot use the "focus on the fence technique" at all, it just doesnt work for me with SJ and even more so when riding XC. I have to see the fence set up my line as planned on course walk and just look up and over at a distant point as we approach, it seems to work perfectly and my horse just gets on with the job. if i have a nervous moment and start to focus to much on the fence my nerves get the better of me and we end up with either a stop right at the base of the fence or a messy jump and my confidence takes a nosedive :-( it is very odd but perhaps it is just me and my horse as we know each other very well??

Agree totally. I and my horse know each other well, but like you, my nerves will go if I look at the fence too much...nosedive confidence and crap jump for poor horse. Happening less and less though; practise, practise. And agree improving canter with poles on ground and. Counting strides has helped, in between poles and playing around with number between each pole is a great flatworm exercise too.