Welcome to Trainer Tuesday! Each week we ask trainers a question and gather their answers for you. These trainers have a range of experience, backgrounds, and focus points of their programs, so the answers have as much variation as you would expect and also probably much more similarity.
This week’s question posed is: How do you help a rider better understand stride length, especially if they have difficulty measuring bending lines?
Here are their answers:
“I teach stride length as a feel first, not a number.
Especially in bending lines, counting strides only works if the rider understands why the stride changes. I start by having riders establish a consistent, quality canter—rhythm, balance, and impulsion matter far more than chasing a set distance. I emphasize riding the track and shape of the line, because bending lines aren’t measured the same way straight lines are. The horse’s path determines the distance. We work on adjusting stride length by using leg and body position before the hand—lengthening with more leg and allowing the canter to open, and shortening by sitting taller, engaging the core, and supporting with a soft, steady contact. I’ll often have riders practice this on the flat first so the adjustments feel natural before adding jumps.” –Christine Murphy
“I always say: ‘If you are cantering, you should be counting.’ Whether you count up or down, stride length is about fitting a set number of steps between two points. On course, that means approaching an individual jump or between two jumps in a line. We start on a straight line of 72′ using cavalettis or small verticals. Once the rider can easily adjust between a 5-stride and 6-stride on the straight, we move to a bending line. This adds the element of track, teaching the rider to stay out for more room or go directly.” -Dustin Cossaboom
“My riders feedback is often that adjusting the stride count in the bending lines while schooling allows the riders to compare the step and rhythm. Therefore, giving way to a better understanding of what stride length they need versus what stride length they are actually asking for.” –Missy Jo Hollingsworth
“I often use circle exercises over two or four jumps so riders can practice adjusting pace and track and feel how those choices change the number of strides and overall distance.” -Stacey Oppermann
“There are so many exercises you can do to improve your understanding of stride length. Practice, practice, practice and then practice some more is my biggest advice. Learn the mathematics of striding including take off and landing distances in relation to the height of the fence, as well as walking 12 foot strides. Practice your own stride to figure out how many steps you have to take to equal one stride of a horse. From there, spend lots of time walking courses. With a bending line, I like to walk the line as a straight one and then add another stride in which would create the bending line.
I also like the exercise of shortening and lengthening strides at the trot and canter between poles. With the canter you would count the number of strides needed to get from one pole to the next at a normal pace then have the rider add a stride in the line. Once proficient, they can go back to a regular stride and then lengthen the canter and leave a stride out, then go back to the regular canter. Be sure to do it both directions because your horse’s stride might be different depending on what lead you are on. You can do this same exercise with a bending line except, instead of shortening and lengthening, you would ride the bending line normally then add a stride by bowing out more between fences and then leave a stride out of the normal bending distance by riding a straight line between the two fences.” –Boo Major
“When teaching my students about stride length, I first make sure they understand it on foot. They must learn to walk with a consistent 3′ step. I have them walk next to 12′ poles to teach them their own stride so they can walk a course effectively. That also helps them visualize distance while mounted.
Next, as a mounted exercise I will set two ground poles five strides apart, and we practice getting 5, 6 then 7 strides and then go the other way and get 4 strides, adjusting the stride length to achieve this. As always, they are focusing on good balance and rhythm, as the quality of the canter is key to maintaining or adjusting the step.
After they can do that, we practice on a circle of four poles or cavaletti so they not only learn to stay on a certain step but also look further ahead and maintain a consistent track with bend, making sure they don’t lose the step around a turn.
Both exercises help shift the rider’s focus from obsessing over a takeoff distance, to learning how to maintain a consistent step in a proper rhythm so the good distance starts to show up for you, creating a smoother round.” –Amy Cobb
“I help riders understand stride length by focusing on the biomechanics of the canter stride itself. It starts from a lowering and sitting mechanism on the outside hind leg to landing on the inside front leg in a downward fashion. Understanding a canter stride as a natural challenge to the horse’s balance will help the rider focus on maintaining balance between the last step of the stride to the first step of the new stride. A gentle, rhythmical half halt on the outside rein when the horse’s mane lifts up off the neck helps the horse remain balanced at the start of each new stride, therefore creating uniformity in the strides which will assist with distances.” –Alison Ingellis
“I help riders focus less on “counting strides” and more on understanding path and pace. We talk through how a bending line is rarely the same distance as a straight one, and how even small changes in track—going inside or outside—change the distance and therefore the stride needed. I emphasize knowing where they should be by the halfway point of the line, using that moment to check pace, balance, and straightness. From there, riders practice adapting in real time—either opening or compressing the stride—based on how the path develops, rather than locking into a number too early.” –Andrea Bill
“I start by teaching riders to collect and lengthen on the flat at the working walk, trot, and canter. Once able to execute those changes, they have a better understanding and feel for stride length. Work over poles helps for jumping. Set a 5 stride line of poles at 72 feet. Start by adding the 6 strides, then move on to 5. Alternate the 5 and 6 and even 7 strides. Once they get the feel for those numbers, riders learn to adjust in the line for a quieter or longer distance to the first pole. In a bending line, the number of strides is dependent on the track you ride. Do the same exercise with poles or low jumps, riding the set number of strides with a moderate bend, then doing one less on a more direct track or adding with more bend to the line.” -Patricia Jellerson
“I find that a counting exercise over a bending line of poles helps develop a rider’s understanding of stride length and track, while minimizing strain on the horse. Giving the rider an opportunity to ride a variety of tracks between the two poles (a direct track, more of a wide bending line, and so on) while counting the strides out loud can help increase awareness. Additionally, encouraging riders to ride off the track in the warm-up starts to build more awareness of keeping the horse between the aids.” –Cory Kieschnick
