Expert jumping tips: seeing a stride and building confidence
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Summary of the problem
“I’m having problems when jumping spread fences on my fairly green six year old. I’m fine jumping uprights and can see a good stride, but everything goes to pot when I put a back rail on the jump. Once I’ve ‘missed’ it upsets my horse and I lose my confidence. What can I do to improve this situation?”
Advice from H&H training academy expert, John Smith
“It looks like you are trying too hard and interfering with your horse’s stride. You started very well with the ground poles in front of the upright. You can use these to help develop your eye for a stride with spread fences as well.
“Start with four or five poles then when you are jumping well start taking away the poles nearest the fence. Continue to do this until you are left with just a marker pole four or five strides away. Keep the fences small until you are confident jumping with just a marker pole, then gradually increase the size.”
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