best bit for me is the three second rule: Praise or scold within this timeframe when needed, after this the horses has no idea what it is being praised or scolded for.
sorry-not a competitor but the best advice I've read was 'set yourself up to succeed'. Perfectly obvious to most of you but invaluable for my first youngster-preparation is key and its really stuck with me.
Sit like a sack of spuds on a young horse in a tense situation.. (Jennie Loriston Clarke.)
Don't make a big thing out of introducing a young horse to poles, told by Harvey Smith as he rode round a demo smoking a fag at the same time talking to the audience, walking over random poles at the time.
What a great post! I do hope we gets lots of little gems. OK, what can I come up with?...
how about - 'your job is to set the horse up, the horse's job is to maintain it'. By that, it basically means 'stop flipping fiddling!!!'. The horse should be schooled to maintain whatever you've asked of him - you shouldn't have to keep 'sponging' the rein or squeezing with you leg or rocking with your seat. Ask - get a response - if you don't get a response, do something differently. If he doesn't respond the 2nd time, he ain't gonna respond the 10th time!
If in doubt, kick on (not that I'm going anywhere xc -fied anytime soon)
Oh and for hunter trials - if it says open the gate, open the gate - not jump, fall off after and then get stuck getting back on due to spur catching in jod zip
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Oh and for hunter trials - if it says open the gate, open the gate - not jump, fall off after and then get stuck getting back on due to spur catching in jod zip
- that was from Harvey Smith LOL! But the saying has stayed with me and means ie give your horse some quick sharp reassurance if it starts dithering - whether that is a kick, smack or growl
Ride every horse as tho you are riding up a hill
A jump is but a canter stride
Then the "sack of potatoes" and the "ask another way" as have been mentioned
I know but it helps with the confidence thing - hope u and hos are up and running again soon
He also said if you 'Miss' coming to a fence then make sure that you ride a different line into it nxt time - useful for practice fence or if u r doing more than 1 class. (Stephen Hadley)
Forget about keeping the horse between hand and leg, just concentrate on keeping it between you and the ground. Or my fave "leg either side, ears in front".
99% of the time it is the rider who is in the wrong, not the horse, so don't blame him.
Lucinda Green's "tube of toothpaste" which I have yet to try out - think of your horse as a tube of toothpase and squeeze it out between your legs. Learnt this on a clinic day while watching my friend ride some skinnies very nicely after being told this.
I used to try and sit like a sack of potatoes on my nervous pony, I got this from my RI but I suspect she got it from Jennie L-C!
And from one of Carl Hester's books, ride down the long side of the school in canter like you have a 4' fence to jump at the end - it really gets me using my leg and making the horse power up from behind.
I like this thread too!
Ride to a jump as if you were a monkey in a rucksack
Mark Phillips - basically saying that if you were running & you had a monkey on your back, you would want it to stay perfectly still so you can do the best you can
The best bit of advice that I have received is to smile and enjoy every moment of riding! No matter what level you are at, and whether you do it for a living or a hobbey, I think this is so important!
The other good bit of advice I have received is to stay as calm as possible. Even when your awkward IDxTB is behaving VERY badly, you have to sit there and keep relaxed. Otherwise it just turns into a battle of strength and the horse will always win!
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Ride to a jump as if you were a monkey in a rucksack
Mark Phillips - basically saying that if you were running & you had a monkey on your back, you would want it to stay perfectly still so you can do the best you can
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Lol never heard him say that one before but he does come out with some crackers!!
Yogi said something so amazing. I've currently forgotten what it is
but it was along the lines of 'controlled agression'
When used in a xc context, it just seemed to make me really focus and positively channel the horse- we were jumping a step up with a bounce over some rails and needed all the impulsion and power but with a controlled, springy canter and this phrase just summed it up.
Been inspired by many other people with ways of explaining things rather than catchphrases as such. I like the idea of having a medium canter when you're sjing as from a medium canter you can instantly collect or extend. If you ride in a collected canter you can only push, not shorten and vice versa.
Mark Phillips always says that jumping is the art of doing nothing- you set the horse up with the correct balance of power, straightness and rythm then change nothing- your postion remains the same and the horse can freely bascule underneath you.