Jumping exercises for horses are an essential part of showjumping and eventing training, but can also be used to mix up training in other disciplines.
Jumping exercises help horses to develop better balance, sharpen their footwork and improve their jumping technique. They’re great for riders, too, as they help you to develop your balance, accuracy and forward thinking.
While many jumping exercises may only include one or two fences, gridwork exercises are made of a series of jumps usually in a straight line. Polework exercises are often used as a precursor to jumping for beginners, but then feature throughout training at all levels.
If you need some inspiration for jumping exercises to try at home, check out the examples from top riders and trainers below.
Stop your horse rushing with this simple one-fence jumping exercise as used by Scott Brash
Build three simple fences for multiple lines to hone your horse’s rhythm, canter quality and flying changes
Hone your eye for a stride with this jumping exercise on a related distance
Sharpen your horse’s straightness, engagement and balance with Joe Stockdale’s go-to jumping exercise
Try this five-fence exercise, which you can ride in 60 different ways, to practise landing on the correct lead
Joe Stockdale shares a simple exercise for training your horse to stay straight over a fence
Practise changing leads over poles or jumps with this figure-of-eight layout
Olympic rider shares favourite jumping exercise to develop horse’s technique and rider balance
How to stop the drift and correct a horse that swerves over a fence
How to improve a horse’s jumping technique and encourage tidy front legs, with tips from gold medallist Will Fletcher
No more poles down! Training exercises and tips to sharpen your horse’s reflexes and ace those important showjumping clear rounds
Improve your horse’s footwork while jumping and have fun with Gemma Stevens’ gridwork exercise
Does your horse rush when jumping? Tips from an expert to help solve this problem
Only have four pairs of wings, plus poles? 5 great jumping exercises you can try
Ros Canter’s useful jumping exercise to help improve performance
4 exercises to help you ride better lines when jumping
