Fine tuning
We took George showjump training on what turned out to be a beautiful summer day. We had a very relaxed session which was really useful. I felt that George's new pelham was a little too sharp yesterday. The shanks are half an inch longer than on Jazz's one, and that makes the leverage much greater. I also felt last time we showjumped that he was a little too light in the hand even though he was jumping beautifully. So I took off the curb chain and put on a piece of stirrup leather instead. That gave me enough control, while George was happy to push forward onto the bit, a really nice compromise.
We took our time and just played around with things. I tried my stirrups two holes shorter and felt I would be even more secure up one more. I was right. Riding that short lets me push my heels down really hard, which secures my leg to the saddle and makes me more stable. With the bigger fences, it's actually easier to balance if you ride shorter. I also think he needs promoting to the jumping saddle with the flat seat, and I'll store the GP that I ride him in at the moment.
Having got the stirrups right, we tried to work out what goes on with my fear of showjumping and we made huge progress. I think we finally understand why I am happy to cross country but not showjump. What happens is that I have reached a stage where I know at least three strides away whether the horse is on a stride or not. On the cross country, if it's wrong, the answer is always the same when you are going that fast and that close to a fence - kick! But when you showjump, the answer depends on the horse that you are on at the time. For George, you lengthen, for Jazz, you hold. And I don't fix it firmly enough in my head what I am going to do if we come in wrong. Then I freeze and then the horse either stops or jumps awkwardly.
SH sent me off to practice getting in a mindset where I automatically push if I think George is wrong. That worked brilliantly. Until the double. So we talked about what went wrong and I realised that when I am scared of a fence before I even approach it, my "model" for what to do goes completely out of my head because I am thinking too much about the fence. I HAVE to stop that happening!
Lastly, we realised when talking it over in MacDonalds (where else?) that when I push for a long stride I only have it in my head to arrive at the take-off point, so very often the actually jump still isn't that comfortable, or the next one goes wrong. The answer of course is that my strategy must be to reach the FAR SIDE of the fence, not the take off point. Hopefully next time I can test that and see what difference it makes.
So I made huge progress as a rider today. And George jumped brilliantly, as usual. We all had a lot of fun in the sun :-)
C
posted by cptrayes @ 7:27 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Oh, you too fall victim to the problem I used to have. The only blessing was that I had trained Russell so well it didn't matter if we came "wrong" to the fence because he'd jump it brilliantly anyhow and set himself up to what was coming next.
But, that is with a horse super trained to the show jumping fences. Now, if I do jump, the old "am I coming right?" anxiety. My big fault was to hold the horse into the short stride instead of letting him go a bit longer to the fence. Trouble was/is, when I see the right distance and adjust the stride to meet it, the jump feels so perfect I keep thinking it has to be perfect every time.
Part of it comes from riding the hunter classes here in the US so much where meeting and jumping each fence perfectly made all the difference in the ribbons. (Like riding an equitation round but the horse, rather than the rider is scored for jumping style.)
For you, it's now mind over matter. You really need to keep your brain and body focused on the "go, George" when you need to and not choke up. Been there, done that, never quite managed to cure it 100% myself. I'm betting you will!! *G*
i don't jump so i can't comment. but interesting that you're OK on the cross country but not the show jumping, most people would expect it to be the other way round...
///I keep thinking it has to be perfect every time.
Me too, it's a big problem isn't it?
Claire I'm far from alone - there are plenty of us at every event who love xc and hate sj!
C
Love that pic of George how can you say that horse is 'ordinary'?!
So pleased the penny has eventually dropped he's a huge find.
Cant comment very much on the jumping as ive not done a great deal but the little ive done I felt more comfortable over xc jumps.
He doesn't look like that in the stable Nicola - just like an ordinary old Irish halfbred. He lights up under saddle, and he's stellar over a jump :-)
He's certainly a huge find, you're right there.
C
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