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 who struggles to make a decision at the jump?
Here are their answers:
“The first thing we try to do is take the focus away from the jump and the distance. If the rider can concentrate more on the rhythm and power of the canter and the proper track/straightness, the distance will manifest itself.
Too many people focus narrowly on the 6 feet in front of the jump, rather than the 1000+ feet around the ring.” – Taylor Kain
“Struggling to make a distance decision to a jump? Here are a few tips and an understanding to help you make good decisions.
Set the stage to meet the jump at a good distance. It all starts with a good, balanced canter and with your horse’s stride in middle gallop (not a collected gallop and not a long ‘at the end of your step’ gallop). Understand what kind of balance and take-off spot is required to answer the jumping question – are you riding to a single jump off a long approach? to a jump entering a steady strided line? to a jump entering a forward strided line? to a jump off a turn? The jumping question tells you what length stride and distance choice to make. For example, if you are jumping into a steady line, you should meet the entrance jump with a short stride and a relatively quiet distance. If you are jumping into a forward line, you should meet the entrance jump with a longer stride and a relatively forward distance. If you are jumping a single jump, you should keep a smooth stride and rhythm and allow the distance to present itself.
The underlying fact is that making a decision to a jump needs to be kept SIMPLE! Have a good straight balanced canter and use the simple method of riding ‘forward out of the turn’ and riding ‘up to and over the jump’. When answering jumping questions that require a specific take-off spot, we make simple variations to this approach. If entering a short strided line, you shorten your horse’s stride well before the first jump of the line and “pass up” the first distance you see – you stay patient with your ride and distance choice to enter this line. Conversely, when entering a forward line, you maintain a good length stride well before the first jump of the line and take the first distance you see. You apply your knowledge of what kind of ride and distance choice is best to answer the jumping question – you RIDE THE RIDE YOU “KNOW” IS RIGHT! Meeting the jump perfectly is not required for successfully jumping the jump and line – setting the stage as described above produces a successful jump and execution of the line.
A few mantras to remember when seeing your distance to a jump:
- Keep it simple.
- Ride up to and over the jump.
- Have a good, balanced canter.
- Ride your horse from back to front.
- Have a straight horse before, during, and after the jump.
- Keep your eye level up.
- It helps your horse understand where you are going.
- It helps your and your horse’s balance.
- Establish and keep a balanced rhythm (a metronome).
- Little jumps – little take-off spots.
- If you take off at the jump in balance, you land in balance.
Rider position, rider connection with the horse, and a clear presentation (approach to the jump) set the stage for you to make good, consistent decisions to meet the jumps and succeed. As with everything we do with horses, conservative practice and repetition will result in you and your horse creating a partnership that makes meeting jumps properly fun and easy.” – Peter Leone
“When I have a rider who is struggling to make a decision at the jump, I like to break the problem down and focus on the quality of the canter. I firmly believe that what happens at the jump is created long before the horse leaves the ground. As riders, we have control over where we place our horses at the fence, and confidence in our decisions comes from establishing a consistent, predictable canter. I like to go back to the basics with shortening and lengthening exercises to help riders develop a better feel for adjustability and pace. I encourage them to engage their outside aids through the turn, maintain balance and straightness, and commit to one rhythm. What you have coming out of the turn is the canter you ride to the fence, so if the canter is organized and quality, the decision at the jump becomes much clearer.” – Abby Strohmeyer
“To help a rider who struggles with making decisions at a jump, I first look at the canter rhythm. When a rider is constantly micromanaging the canter, the strides are often inconsistent, which can make distances difficult to see. A good exercise for this is counting out loud while cantering around the arena. I like repeating numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 1, 2) to help maintain a consistent rhythm.
Once the rhythm is established, I like to lunge riders without reins over a pole on the ground, gradually working our way up to a jump. Horses naturally choose where they want to take off without rider interference, much like we see in free jumping. This allows the rider to focus on maintaining the rhythm on the circle and trusting their partner to take care of them.” – Fleming Troup
“How you help this is by mastering the canter quality, meaning a fit twelve-foot stride, and proper use of corners. Presented with this struggle, I would go back to cantering a course of poles on the ground, restarting the basics until an “eye” is developed, which is the prediction of the takeoff spot. These skills develop over time; this is not a step that should be skipped before proceeding on to courses, giving the rider the confidence and predictability.” – Stacy Burt
“Helping riders realize where they are at the jumps consists of a few basic steps. Pace, balance, and track.
I often find people like to pull and slow down to see where they are at the jumps instead of trusting their pace and allowing the horse to go forward. Going forward always helps, especially when the jumps get bigger and wider.
Are you and your horse in the correct balance? Ask yourself if your position is helping the horse to achieve an uphill balance to the jumps. Some riders get too forward with their upper bodies, putting the balance too much on the front end, and you end up with your horse not using their hind end, causing distance issues.
If you lean back and sit too behind the motion of the horse, it ends up taking away from a nice pace, which can also affect what distance you see to a jump.
How is your track? Are you straight to the jump, over the jump, and after? The distance can change very quickly if you’re not focused on keeping a straight line and following a target track.
I love using ground poles to flat with. It should feel like a regular canter step going over them. Place some poles down in a line and practice doing 5,6,7 strides or whatever numbers you want. Counting strides makes it easier to understand your pace.
I use poles almost every day to keep my eye sharp and use them always with my riders to make sure they have those three basics. Pace, balance, and track.” – Becky Moyher
“The ‘decision at the jump’ should have been made in the corner. Let me elaborate. A distance is made from 1) pace and 2) track. As riders, it’s our job to develop a canter that is both the pace and track our horse needs to get to the distance appropriately. With a horse that’s balanced in the aids comes elasticity in the stride. A horse that is both balanced and hosts an elastic stride comes with adjustability.
A rider who struggles to find the distances needs to focus on their canter. That can be through pole work, a small grid, or back to basics on the flat.
I find that if a rider’s eye starts fading at a show, or maybe you have a green horse, it is always helpful to have a ground rail set 3 strides out from the take-off of the jump. These 3 strides give you 1 stride to make an adjustment if necessary and 2 strides to settle your eye. Gives the horse and rider a clean approach to the jumps with the pressure removed of actually finding a distance. Just count.
What it boils down to is that a distance is a product of your canter quality. Fixing your canter, the distance, the pace, and the track makes the decision simple. Being indecisive at the jump isn’t fair to your horse. Keep your leg on and do your homework on the flat.
We can’t jump the jumps for them, but it’s our job to set them up for success before and after the jumps.” – Liz Freeman
“Making a decision while riding is absolutely essential. In my opinion, 90% of the time, if a rider commits to their plan and approaches the jump with confidence, the horse will do everything it can to help them out—even if the distance isn’t perfect. On the other hand, when a rider hesitates or changes their mind at the last second, it creates confusion and uncertainty for the horse. Over time, that lack of commitment can cause a horse to lose confidence and become less willing to make an effort for its rider when it matters most.” – Matias Alvaro
“I encourage my riders to make their decision early and commit to it. Whether the answer is to move forward or wait, a confident choice is usually better than a last-second change.
I also focus on exercises that improve feel and adjustability, such as related distances and placing poles, so riders learn to recognize the stride earlier.” – Aida Sanchez
“When I’ve had clients struggle to be definite at the fences, it’s really important we get the confidence high, and trust gained within their partnership with the horse.
I always say no decision is necessarily a bad one; you just have to mean it, and if you and your horse trust each other, you can do it together. With the right canter and balance, the jumps will be much easier to find. If the distances are just not coming up right, we work on our track to the fences and back to basics for a little bit.
Poles on the ground are a great way to exercise your eye, and even if it’s a miss, tell your horse that is what you want and work it out. I find myself always repeating ‘don’t attack the jumps, let the jumps come to you and be patient’.” – Stella Stinnett
“For the last 40 years, I have told all of my riders there is no need to struggle in front of a fence. Jumps on course come up only three ways… too close, too far, or right on. The good news is, the ride to all three spots is exactly the same, which eliminates indecision at the jump entirely and helps even novice riders achieve consistent and confident rounds!
Seasoned riders know that meeting jumps “in stride” starts with an energetic canter that is rhythmical and balanced all the way to the jump and supported at the moment of take off.
If rhythm and balance are correct, the distance issues often take care of themselves, so we focus on building a rhythmical, energetic, balanced, and supported canter in lessons on the flat using poles on the ground to simulate jumps, so we can call on that when we school or show over actual fences.
Starting each jumping round, we strike off into the now familiar rhythm of an energetic, balanced, and supported canter and roll confidently on down to the first fence, expecting and pretty often finding a good spot coming right up for us. When we meet the fence with an energetic, rhythmical, and supported canter, the result is a nice, clean “out of stride” jump that leaves us balanced and lively on the landing and flowing on to the next fence. In the rare other 2 cases, where a rider finds themselves with either a tight final stride or a gappy one, if the rider holds their position and maintains the same energetic and supported canter, 99% of the time, not only will the horse jump right out of both spots, but will almost always jump clean as well.
Once a rider has mastered a balanced, energetic, rhythmical, and supported canter, they can depend on and see the spots coming right up for them on course, the indecision in front of jumps is replaced with a quiet confidence in the consistency of distance this new canter gives them…and becomes their new normal on course.”
– Anne Warner
“I like to teach my riders who have trouble making a decision at the jump to find a spot as opposed to looking for a distance. I have them practice coming out of the corner and looking at the ground in front of the jump, and decide where they would like to take off from. Then I have them say to themselves, “That is where I want my horse to take off from.” Then they look up at the jump, and I emphasize that they then need to “ride up” to that spot. We have a discussion beforehand regarding where an ideal distance would be, and I will draw an area in the sand that they can use as a visual to help them.” – Lizzie Fisch
“When a rider is struggling to make a decision at the jump, there are a couple of different approaches I like to take. First, I like to try to have a conversation to discern where the indecision is coming from. If it’s a fear-related hesitation, then we step back to focus on pace and rhythm with ground rails or cavalettis to create related distances to help the rider get back to a point where they feel confident with their decisions regarding distances. If the rider is simply changing their mind, I like to utilize a pole two strides out from the jump, which helps hold the rider accountable to the fact that two strides out, you’re too close to the fence to make changes and need to ride the pace, stride, and distance that you have.” – Hailey Lay-Hak
