trot and canter poles

[cobalobM]

what are the distances for trot and canter poles, its all v.confusing but I know it depends on your horse etc, so for a 15.2hh cob, say I wanted to do 3 canter poles then 2 strides of canter (without poles) to a cross pole, then 2 strides of canter (without poles) to an upright (2'6 ish), what should the distances be?

sorry if this is confusing, basically how many 'pigeon steps'/human steps inbetween trot poles, how many inbetween canter poles and how many for take off/landing (if any) for small jumps

 

[dianchi]

Why would you do poles to a fence but not all the way to a fence?

Double distances for horses as a basic rule are 4 human strides per horse stride, with two for take off and two for landing. ie 8 human strides for one stride double (7 if low fences) and 12 for a two stride double.

 

[AliceCrail]

Have you got an old copy of the pony club Manual of Horsemanship lying about? I keep mine in the car (along with a measuring tape) as it has all pole distances as well as gymnastic jumping distances with diagrams.