Online Lessons

I try to keep my jumping philosophy fairly simple – the rider is charged with getting the horse to the fence on a good line, with the correct balance and the right amount of energy to jump the fence in question.  Once at the fence the rider should allow the horse to jump.  If you are in a decent half seat and jumping relatively small fences, that doesn’t involve a great deal of folding at the hip – allow the movement of the horse to fold you.

Too many riders don’t have the horse in front of the leg – and then when they get to the fence they throw their upper body forward, just as the horse is trying to lift his forehand to jump. This puts the rider in a precarious position and increases the chances that the horse will refuse. 

In the short video with this update, Jen is jumping over a small fence.  Tanner’s conformation is somewhat downhill, so we worked on balancing him more on his quarters in the canter and keeping an even rhythm. In his enthusiasm to jump, Tanner can dive at the base of the jump – so it was important for Jen to make sure he stayed balanced on his hind legs in the last two or three strides coming into the fence – and that she didn’t get in front of the movement when it came to the jump.