In this exclusive article for H&H subscribers, top British showjumper Joe Stockdale demonstrates a simple exercise with poles that he uses to teach his horses the leg aid can mean stay straight, not just go faster
Does your horse have a tendency to drift right or left over a fence? It’s a common problem, particularly with inexperienced horses that are still working out how best to use their body.
Joe Stockdale is riding Millfield Counterfeit (Cooper) for this jumping exercise. Cooper is a 12-year-old by Cooper VD Heffinck who is competing up to 1.50m classes. While Joe is demonstrating this exercise on a relatively experienced horse, he describes it as especially useful for young horses in teaching them what the leg aids mean in terms of keeping straight.
The setup consists of three canter poles 3.2m apart to an upright. On the take-off and landing side of the fence are “tramline” poles, creating a channel through which the horse must travel. He starts with the tramlines set at about two human strides apart, making it a narrower channel depending on the rideability of the horse.
Joe uses lightweight square poles for the tramlines: “If he did happen to jump left or right and step on a pole, they stay flat, it stops them rolling, so it’s a lot safer than using a round pole, particularly on the landing side, where there’s a chance they might step on it.”
Showjumping training for straightness with Joe Stockdale
“This is a simple exercise, especially for a young horse, to teach them the aids to keep them straight,” says Joe. “They must take off and land without jumping to either side. Most horses tend to jump a little to one side, which doesn’t matter at this height, but once the jumps get big or wide it can be problematic.”
Joe starts with the planks at about 90cm high, popping through a few times so that the horse understands the exercise, before increasing the height. While Cooper stays straight through the set-up, he initially cuts the corner afterwards, so next time Joe asks for a couple of extra strides in a straight line before turning.
Both the canter poles and the tramlines serve a purpose in this exercise that encourages the horse to stay straight without rushing.
The role of the canter poles
“The canter poles are to help the rhythm, because I want to use the leg for support to keep the horse in the middle of the jump,” says Joe. “The poles prevent them from thinking that the leg only means go faster.
Joe approaches the fence in a good rhythm over the canter poles.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
“The poles stop them opening the stride, so they learn I’m supporting them to keep straight – not asking them to open up.”
Joe adds: “The line of poles makes it hard to fail. If it was an isolated fence, with the tramlines, when I put my leg on to support his straightness, the temptation for the horse would be just to go faster. The canter poles contain them.”
The role of the tramlines
“First I jump it with the tramlines nice and wide, making sure he’s confident, then slowly bring in the channel so he has to be really disciplined to stay straight,” Joe says.
At the start of the exercise, the tramlines are set wide on the landing side, but can gradually be brought closer together.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“Even though I have the tramlines to keep the horse straight visually, I’m giving instructions with my legs to back it up. The young horse will then learn what the aids mean. The answer’s there, I’m just showing him how to get there.”
Joe explains how his own position is paramount.
“I need to focus on my position, staying centred, tall and light. For straightness, the first thing that will make him go to one side is if I’m unbalanced, so my priority on the approach is to keep my body and head in the middle of the horse.”
The beauty of this exercise is in the mix of the two arrangements of poles.
“If I was to take this all away and put a load of right leg on to keep him from jumping right, that’s when he’d get quicker,” Joe explains. “But because we’ve got the canter poles and the tramlines, he’s naturally going to stay straight because he has to. On the approach to the tramline channel I’m going to give him the leg aid at the same time so he starts to associate my right leg with not jumping to the right, but staying straight instead.
“So it’s like I’m giving him the answer to the problem, and then showing the aid that I want to use.”
Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
