Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on January 21, 2009 at 9:04am

Have you tried going back to basics? Like cavalletti work, low quick gymnastics--something that challenges direction and speed and obedience, not height...this will work the brain more than challenge the horse/rider physically, and still give the student the challenge of jumping, just not the big stuff.
Hope that helps.

Mary McGuire Smith
http://www.iride.at

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Pannell on January 21, 2009 at 9:52pm

Thanks Mary but I have and it still doesn't work . The horse is a very experienced jumper but the rider just doesn't get it . Like all of us, she makes small errors of judgment, but cannot see the error. So she will make the same mistake again and fall off , no matter what I tell her or get her to do . We just had a school , 3 days, did a lot of pole work, the type of exersises working on straightness, balance, rhythm and impulson with just poles on the ground. Everybody else got the purpose of these ,except this person! All she wanted to do was jump! If the horse gets in a bit close he pops up and jumps her off . All over small fences too , I didn't let her jump more than 60 cm . I have managed to improve her seat a little , but I CANNOT KEEP HER ONBOARD. She fell of twice on the weekend , just luck she didn't hurt herself . I just don't want to she her get hurt, she has last year broken some ribs and a collar bone, and I know worse is to come.

Permalink Reply by Dorothy McDonall on January 21, 2009 at 10:09pm

Sounds to me like more flat work is in order to improve their basic foundation, i.e. maybe more two-point work without the complication of jumps or just stay away from jumping altogether for a while. It could be that they are just not listening to you and it may take a major fall for them to wake up, not that you'd want that to happen, of course. But some people just won't be told and will have to learn the hard way. It's a difficult thing to watch. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on January 21, 2009 at 10:28pm

Hi Geoffrey,

Perhaps you need to sit this person down away from the lesson environment and outline your concerns, as well as a plan to slowly re-group so she stops falling off., stops focusing on jumping for now, and still has hope and motivation for getting out there.
Find out what is going on in her head that she is so obsessed with jumping and doesn't seem to think it's out of the ordinary to keep falling off.

“It takes two to speak the truth--one to speak and the other to hear.” Henry David Thoreau

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Pannell on January 23, 2009 at 4:17pm

Hi Barbara, Thanks for your input, I will sit her down for a heart to heart. I think she knows in her heart that she has to stop jumpimg , at 67 she just cannot keep falling off without doing herself some major damage. I like that Thoreau quote. Thanks for everyone else's input, it has been most valuable. Cheers Geoffrey

Permalink Reply by Cindy Jeffery on January 21, 2009 at 11:20pm

How fit is this woman, maybe she needs to take time to get her core muscles and coordination improved. A jumper is an extreme athlete, the rider must be also. If her body was more tuned up she would be able to ride through the popping up more correctly and confidently. She just may have the wrong motivation for riding in jumping trying to prove something, as we get older we tend to get that way and not even realize it. Maybe she got this wonderful jumper thinking he will teach her something and make her a great jumper like him or maybe she is trying to show him off instead of listen to you. Bottom line if she isn't listening to you why is she there, you might need to cut her lose or at least let her know there is that option. I agree with Barbara previous, set her down somewhere off the horse and talk to her. If you're blunt maybe that's what she needs, make sure there is someone else there who is empathetic in case she crumbles. The riders need to know right from the start that in the arena your word is law for their own safety, if they can't abide that then they need to go somewhere else.