Why is 90cm so much bigger than 85cm??

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lyndagriffiths

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I know its only 2". I know that, I really do. So why the bloomin heck, when I course walk sj with my daughter, does it look so big???? anyone in worcestershire, particularly dy13 area, doing show jumping lessons because I think it may be a mummy thing and I seriously need someone to build some bigger courses for her cos I am just whimping out!!
 
lyndagriffiths said:
I know its only 2". I know that, I really do. So why the bloomin heck, when I course walk sj with my daughter, does it look so big???? anyone in worcestershire, particularly dy13 area, doing show jumping lessons because I think it may be a mummy thing and I seriously need someone to build some bigger courses for her cos I am just whimping out!!
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Its psychological, dont look at the height at all, look at the lines and distances :D
 
Tell yourself its only as high as the 85cm jump off!!

I once told my daughter a 1.10m class was 1m so she would have a go!! It worked & she was well chuffed when she came out if the ring & I fessed up :D I don't walk courses with her anymore though cos the heights scare me to death!!!
 
Theres a perfectly good reason to learn the course by watching others and not walking it :D. It always looks smaller when your riding towards it than when your stood next to it :o. Its totally psychological I have exactly the same thing walk it going :eek: this is big, ride towards it and feel the pony fly and then it seems tiny. Its probably not the most profesional approach to learning the course though :o.
 
Tinap555 said:
Tell yourself its only as high as the 85cm jump off!!

I once told my daughter a 1.10m class was 1m so she would have a go!! It worked & she was well chuffed when she came out if the ring & I fessed up :D I don't walk courses with her anymore though cos the heights scare me to death!!!
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We did the opposite with my mum. It was when the metric/ imperial conversions were just coming in and Al wanted to do the 1.10m class. Mum was all "What's that in real money?" and so I told her 3'3... This deception worked well until Al was just over the first and some PC mummy went to mum "Is this Al's first time round 3'9 then?". Thought mum was going to keel over!

I have no idea why it's so much bigger- my old horse would not jump 90cm J. He'd do 85cm j/o, but not a 90cm course. It wasn't just with me he stopped, although most could get him further round!
 
I only ever walked the class before so I never actually saw the height from the ground. Now I think 90cm is small.

But, I have this 95cm thing going on now. Think its all in the riders head. I keep telling myself 'its only a rider frightener'.

Good luck. xx
 
There are lots of reasons why it may appear significantly bigger.
1) Its often a step up and therefore moving out of the nice safe comfort zone.
2) The spreads will be wider which makes the jumps look bigger (not higher)
3) It's much easier to incorporate solid looking fillers in to a 90cm class (they fit under the top pole) which makes the jumps look a lot more substantial. Any filled in fence will look bigger.
To prove this to yourself put up a single 90cm upright with just a single diagonal pole to fill it in. Looks tiny doesn't it.
Now take out the diagonal pole out and fill in with as many poles as you can fit or a good solid filler and look again. Looks huge now.
This is one of the reasons fences of the same height often look bigger at comps compared to the home areana. Most of us just dont have all the fillers to stick in.
 
I have a mental block between 90cm and 1m! To the point where we go clear around the first round of BN and then mess up the JO - because it's 1m. I am taking a break from competing til I can sort my head out over it. I know it's only 10cm, but seems to cause me to completely go blank and fall apart :(
 
I never walk the course with my daughter now because they all look huge to me. It's all relative though. A couple of years ago the 1'6" looked enormous in my eyes.
 
PaddyMonty said:
3) It's much easier to incorporate solid looking fillers in to a 90cm class (they fit under the top pole) which makes the jumps look a lot more substantial. Any filled in fence will look bigger.
To prove this to yourself put up a single 90cm upright with just a single diagonal pole to fill it in. Looks tiny doesn't it.
Now take out the diagonal pole out and fill in with as many poles as you can fit or a good solid filler and look again. Looks huge now.
This is one of the reasons fences of the same height often look bigger at comps compared to the home areana. Most of us just dont have all the fillers to stick in.
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I must be a bit weird then, as I'm much happier jumping bigger if the jump looks filled in! Hate jumping 'empty' things as it terrifies me :o Have always been happier jumping bigger XC too... presumably for that reason! :o :p
 
Dunno, but I've never been able to work out why 1.20 is miles bigger than 2x60cm :confused:. I mean, surely two 60cm fences on top of each other would still be diddly?
 
Gamebird said:
Dunno, but I've never been able to work out why 1.20 is miles bigger than 2x60cm :confused:. I mean, surely two 60cm fences on top of each other would still be diddly?
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When i first read this I thought you must be joking or being sarcastic :eek:...then I thought of a 60cm fence, and then thought about that doubled and it does still look small, but 1.20 doesn't look small. Maybe you weren't joking :p

Bizarre!

Funnily enough I'm happiest with mid-sized jumps XC jumps. Too small and I think we're going to trip over them, too big and I think we'll never make it to the other side.

SJ I think things don't start to look big until they go past the metre mark. 95cm to me looks fine but 105cm looks hoooooooge.
 
Sol said:
I must be a bit weird then, as I'm much happier jumping bigger if the jump looks filled in! Hate jumping 'empty' things as it terrifies me :o Have always been happier jumping bigger XC too... presumably for that reason! :o :p
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I agree with prefering to jump bigger fences that are filled in but thats for me because the horse will generally clear them better. Far more chance of horse taking poles out of airy fences but thats a fear related to getting faults, not to actual size of fence. Big open xc fences I dont like one little bit, far too may places for horse to get legs caught up in. :eek:
 
I can get wimpy about walking around courses, but do now find anything under about 1.15m looks acheivable... though jumping at home scares me!!

However, I have Tim Stockdales voice ringing in my ears from a demo I went to, where he said there were two woman stressing because they had missed the 1.05m and didn't want to jump the 1.10m. He told them that horses don't have rulers, and really won't notice one hole higher, and any problems would be purely down to riders mental block causing them to ride differently... it stuck with me, and now I am slighty less wimpy about the "next" class up!
 
ecrozier said:
I have a mental block between 90cm and 1m! To the point where we go clear around the first round of BN and then mess up the JO - because it's 1m. I am taking a break from competing til I can sort my head out over it. I know it's only 10cm, but seems to cause me to completely go blank and fall apart :(
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same here but between 1.10 and 1.20 :rolleyes:
 
BeckyD said:
When i first read this I thought you must be joking or being sarcastic :eek:...then I thought of a 60cm fence, and then thought about that doubled and it does still look small, but 1.20 doesn't look small. Maybe you weren't joking :p
.
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Neither joking nor being sarcastic. For once! :p
 
PaddyMonty said:
There are lots of reasons why it may appear significantly bigger.
1) Its often a step up and therefore moving out of the nice safe comfort zone.
2) The spreads will be wider which makes the jumps look bigger (not higher)
3) It's much easier to incorporate solid looking fillers in to a 90cm class (they fit under the top pole) which makes the jumps look a lot more substantial. Any filled in fence will look bigger.
To prove this to yourself put up a single 90cm upright with just a single diagonal pole to fill it in. Looks tiny doesn't it.
Now take out the diagonal pole out and fill in with as many poles as you can fit or a good solid filler and look again. Looks huge now.
This is one of the reasons fences of the same height often look bigger at comps compared to the home areana. Most of us just dont have all the fillers to stick in.
Click to expand...

This is such a sensible reply (not that the others arent - you are all so helpful) will build the jump from hell at 85 cm and a plain pole plus diagonal at 90/95 cm then take in the ruler. it is eye perspective. Thank you so very much everyone
 
PaddyMonty said:
I agree with prefering to jump bigger fences that are filled in but thats for me because the horse will generally clear them better. Far more chance of horse taking poles out of airy fences but thats a fear related to getting faults, not to actual size of fence. Big open xc fences I dont like one little bit, far too may places for horse to get legs caught up in. :eek:
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Makes sense! I do have a bigger issue with faults than actually clearing the jumps too (part of why I decided I didn't like SJing!!)
 
KatB said:
I can get wimpy about walking around courses, but do now find anything under about 1.15m looks acheivable... though jumping at home scares me!!

However, I have Tim Stockdales voice ringing in my ears from a demo I went to, where he said there were two woman stressing because they had missed the 1.05m and didn't want to jump the 1.10m. He told them that horses don't have rulers, and really won't notice one hole higher, and any problems would be purely down to riders mental block causing them to ride differently... it stuck with me, and now I am slighty less wimpy about the "next" class up!
Click to expand...

Going to print your reply off and stick it in the tackroom. THANK YOU X
 
I just don't walk anything above 90cm at the moment as I get the heebies jeebies. So I jump 95cm and 1.0m just by watching others go. It seems unfair on a very capable horse for my ridiculous mental block to get in the way. If I just ride up to them they look little!
 
I used to have this step up really bad with 1m05 to 1m10... its only 5cm.. but wow does it seem a big step!

Now i am jumping nowhere near those heights.. to me it is a huge step from 85cm to 90cm - so i feel your nerves!!! i suppose you just have to think to yourself ''its all in my head'' and try and avoid thinking about the height and concentrate on distances/the course overall. and as others have said, it is easier for proper fillers to be used when fences are 90cm rather than 85cm.. so maybe that is a contributing factor??

and ftw - my mum isn't allowed to walk courses with me :p when i walk them, all she does is go ''so where's the next one? have you got it in your head?'' (when im trying to memorise) and ''oh. my. that ones not a nice one!'' ''you sure you want to do this course?'' ''oo looks scary!!! not sure how you do it!!!'' haha great. thanks mum. make me feel SOOOO much better :rolleyes: :p
 
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