Video: Constructive criticism please

silvershadow81

silvershadow81

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 February 2008
Messages
1,785
Location
Derbyshire
Visit site
Would love to get some cc please! (tips on what to work/ focus on, things i am doing wrong)

As background:
I started riding her a month ago, she hadn't done anything for 2 years after being told to have her shot for being awkward, luckily her lovely owners ignored that!

Prone to kicking others and VERY hot and stressy, yet highly intelligent and loves to work. (she is always far more settled after work)

I've taken things steady, try to ride as quietly as I can, she is clearly VERY able, but i want to keep everything moving slowly and steadily as is the kind who would take another year to get over stress should anything happen! She has a tendancy to lerch forwards, run backwards (at speed) so as long as we are generally heading forwards Im happy!

She is only in a simple snaffle, but sometimes snatches the bit and other times backs off it, although this is improving weekly.

This video is from her first show, 1 month in to me starting with her. She has never seen a jump arena, tannoy, skinny, wall, fillers.... so it is a little snake like.

I have her next little outing this weekend, so would love to hear your feedback on what I could try to do differently.

Here goes: http://youtu.be/op5vYwdfR0A

Thanks in advance! xx
 
I have a horrible feeling everyone is a bit reluctant to comment after the "What Do You Hate..." thread :D so I'll get the ball rolling :)

The pair of you do very well for the first time with so many new things :) My main advice would be to try and establish a more forward rhythm, you are holding her back too much, then firing her the last stride before the fences. When she is so slow, if she does back off at all (as she did when she spooked a couple of times) you have nothing left ;)

I would consider doing a lot of the round in trot at this stage - that way you should be able to ride her more forward while retaining the control. If she lands in canter, keep the canter in a nice forward rhythm for a bit, then gently bring her back to trot on the next corner. In both trot and canter, concentrate on keeping the arms soft so she gets a nice feeling down the rein and doesn't feel restricted.

You are very sensible to keep the jumps very small at this stage, that way if anything goes wrong she won't frighten herself. Best of luck :)
 
She seems a bit tentative and lacking in confidence. She is not really going forwards at all.
However as you said it was only your first show together and I think you were maybe riding over cautiously too.
The main thing you need to do is relax yourself and try your best to keep her relaxed too and get her into a forward rythm and keep it the whole way round, whether thats in trot or canter is really up to you.
Its all a bit stop and go at the moment but to be honest for your first show together you really good!
Plenty to work on but you did very well too :)
 
I would work at home is rising canter. This is basically you rising to the canter on every other stride. This will really help you to keep a rhythm and I think it will help you with your upper body/tightness issues. This can be taken into the warm up and ring once you have really mastered it. The other joy is it helps keep them softer over the back if tense.
I would be really concentrating on straightness at home with tramlines before and after the fence. These often help a rushing horse as they have to concentrate on take off and landing to stay straight so tend to use their backs better and be a bit more relaxed.
Pole one stride to fence will really help you with that last stride in keeping a rhythm.
 
I agree she needs more freedom to actually find a proper canter in between fences and you need to give more with your hands in the air as here she is jumping against the hand as it is restrictive
 
well done on your 1st outing. My only advice is to get a constant rhythm by thinking in your head the sound of a ticking grandfather clock. ie tick tock. I was told this by a very knowledgable retired showjumper many years ago and it works at all paces and all disiplines
 
TableDancer said:
I have a horrible feeling everyone is a bit reluctant to comment after the "What Do You Hate..." thread :D so I'll get the ball rolling :)
Thanks v much TD! after i posted i saw that and thought no one would bother, but left it there as its at a competition and i need training advice... so hoped it was ok to belong there!!

I do need to get a forward pace. I think this has come from my older horse getting old and years of holding her together, fear of stumbling.... I know that is a trait i need to shake off. I guess when i canter Sky it feels like i am going so fast! I have been practicing letting her run forwards down the long side in canter to get used to a longer stride.

Her natural stride is very elastic, but the moment she has someone on board it shorterns- even if i trot around on the buckle. I guess she needs to build up more muscles and feel more confident going forwards?

I will try a round in trot as home. It isnt really her 'working' pace, as she tends to have her nose in the air looking about, shooting forwards in trot, there is a little more concentration in canter, probably why ive stuck to that!

She is SO quick to learn though, so i need as much advice as possible to stay that one step ahead!

Thanks TD for the comments :-) xxx
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Snooples! Yes confidence is a HUGE issue with her. She wants to please, but can get worried if she sees anything different. Great attitude though as she will usually go forwards and not nap.

LEC- rising canter- now thats something ive not done in a while!! I can try that!! :-) Like the idea of tramline poles and a placing pole beforehand, would ensure we meet fence right.

I should add that this was the first course she had ever done as i only have 5 poles at home to use for jumps (just bought a few more!!) so a massive learning curve!

TheMule- Thanks for the hands advice. I do try and keep my hands very soft, i think on this occasion as she was snaking into fences i was trying to keep her on track with slightly shorter reins! Thanks for pointing out though as i do not want her to learn jumping stag style!

ID Lover (I love ID too!!) it was Hallamshire- ive just moved to the area so discovering what is about!!

Thanks everyone for comments so far, i feel all enthused for training tomorrow. I want to do my best for her as know she is v talented, cant afford lessons so this is VERY helpful!! xxxx
 
i think you're doing a nice job, it's difficult to ride accurately and truly forward when they're really spooky and stop/start because they can easily spook right past something (all been there). Lots of good advice already, I'd say work on rhythm rhythm rhythm (be it in trot, canter or rising canter!) and you can work on that over poles on the floor at home, then just let the fences get in the way at competitions. Good Luck!
 
Todmiester said:
well done on your 1st outing. My only advice is to get a constant rhythm by thinking in your head the sound of a ticking grandfather clock. ie tick tock. I was told this by a very knowledgable retired showjumper many years ago and it works at all paces and all disiplines
Click to expand...

Thankyou :-)

A ticking clock would be nice and rythmical. I am concluding that we need to work on rhythm!

xx
 
kerilli said:
i think you're doing a nice job, it's difficult to ride accurately and truly forward when they're really spooky and stop/start because they can easily spook right past something (all been there). Lots of good advice already, I'd say work on rhythm rhythm rhythm (be it in trot, canter or rising canter!) and you can work on that over poles on the floor at home, then just let the fences get in the way at competitions. Good Luck!
Click to expand...

thanks Kerilli!! :-D I dont want her to stop, duck out so was just glad she went round and forwards.

When i go on at the show she ran backwards, froze then ran backwards again.. it was a while before we got to walk forwards! Think the whole thing was an eye opener for her. Maybe ill get some filming of her working at home?

I think hacking would benefit going forwards and getting into a rhythm... if i can get a lift to somewhere i can train (other than an arena) i think this would also help xx
 
There is a lot to like about her and you rode quietly and the fact that you got her to go over on a couple of the jumps (like the wall) with a minimal fuss as you did is testament to her character and your riding.

However (sorry :o)

I think you need to go back to basics and literally start at the trot poles and work up. Really work on the flat work so that she is still balanced and being easily and softly held between leg and hand - even while gawping at new things. It is far easier to contain a horse that is in a 'frame' than one that already is attempting a giraffe pose :D

She should easily be able to complete a round 10/20cm higher than that from a trot all the way round, but it will take time and might even take a break from jumping for her to think about things, grow up and relax with you etc.
 
Hello, i know im new, but wanted to post.

Your fairly similar to me and my boy (altho we both lacked confidence!) and my IR got us doing loads and loads and loads of grids. Every jump lesson was a grid for months and it worked. We now have a nice rythem, he's less spooky, doesnt 'snake' and his confidence has made me more confident in him. We still arent perfect (he hates fillers) but 100 times better.
 
The 2nd vid is almost better as there is more of a rhythm, but the ring is small and she hasn't quite worked out where to take off for herself.

Have you considered a drop noseband. I personally would take off the martingale as if she is that soft/sensitive in the mouth, each time she pulls up it comes into play and will exert excess pressure in the mouth that isn't needed.
 
I agree that the rhythm looks more forward and consistent in the 2nd video & as Nugget said go back to pole work to just get rhythm established & used to her pace so the striding will come more naturally.

Maybe use the poles you have to lay a course on the ground so you don't have to worry about her jumping but you can both establish your canter between fences & then gradually raise them off the floor & you won't even notice.

She looks a nice horse so hopefully we'll see lots more reports!
 
I agree with the advice above; however as a disclaimer I've not competed in affiliated anything so feel free to ignore me!

What I would say is if she genuinely has had 24mths turned away doing nothing then 4 weeks is a very short amount of time to have brought her back into work and be at the cantering/jumping/competing stage. But that's just my opinion.

Personally I'd have embarked on a fittening plan and therefore had weeks to work on the absolute basics of establishing the paces, rhythm and contact etc.

I know it's the HHO mantra to almost everything but "back, tack & teeth' because if she has gone from nothing into work then her shape will change and possibly quite rapidly.

Of course all of this is null and void if she has been kept ticking over and/or its been longer than 4wks of work.

She's a nice looking mare and as someone else said there is a lot to like about her.

Slow and steady wins the race but then I barely move due to paralysis by over analysis ;)
 
Me again with an update from the weekend!

Thank you all for the comments so far! Really helpful!

This weekend was her second outing, at a larger show, with so much going on. The jump ring was surrounded on each side by trade stands, dog shows, generators, kids, prams... everything, so lots to take in.

She had got very wound up on the lorry, so I gave her a quiet lunge in the corner of the field to just take out some tension before getting on.

She then worked in well, although even though I pop a huge red ribbon in her tail, people still seem to think it is there to look pretty and come so close! Other horses stress her out, but luckily it was just ears, tension and shooting forwards.

I gave her an hour to take everything in, warming up in a quieter area then heading over to ringside to see what was going on. We were more or less at the ready when they announced a 40 min lunch break (wasn't in the schedule!) and a parade of hounds......

so decided to walk back to the wagon and let her have a chill and some grass.

Got back on and headed back to jumping ring. Had a few pops in warm up (there was a wall in arena which had been moved near to warm up which she wanted to keep clear of!)

Once in ring I gave her a trot around the entire ring, once at the far side, she spotted a white gate in the grass (for another class), st Johns tent and froze (there is literally nothing you can do but let her watch everything!) She is not what I would consider nappy, or nasty, she is generally just wanting to watch anything new and make sure she will be safe. Hoping as we do more we can build up some trust, I think hacking would help with this, but we are limited where we live by two fast roads.

The video starts with us watching the greyhound show (which was against the jump ring!) You can see me trying to get her to go forwards (flapping!!) but she will only do these things in her own time!

I am so pleased though, as once she is focussed on her fences there is no more issues with concentration. The jumps are the brightest we have done, and the most fillers she has ever seen, so was SO pleased with her for going round.

I know I am probably still holding her a little bit, but she is so sharp and able to twist quickly in another direction. We did take it down to trot though and it felt more relaxed.

So.... here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y8i854P8ag&feature=youtu.be

Any CC welcomed again!! :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top