Correct Fundamentals help you "do the right things right".



As a rider, you need to put the fundamentals in place so that the right things happen by habit. Good riders ride well, because their right habits are so ingrained into their philosophy and their thought processes that they do routine things without thinking.



Developing the correct habits is a bit like instilling good manners into children and teaching them to say "please" and "thank you". This can be quite…

Always have in your mind that horses are unpredictable animals, not machines. Our familiarity can lead to taking liberties and accidents occurring.



How many of these practices are on your own safety list?



1. Always wear clothes and boots that are designed for riding.



2. ALWAYS wear a riding helmet that fits you correctly and complies with current standards.



3. If you are young, your horse is misbehaving, you are out of practice…

Wherever I travel, I am asked questions about training the show jumper. It is very encouraging that so many riders are interested in furthering their education, and it is my hope that this series of training blogs will help everyone do just that.



Each week, I shall discuss a different aspect of training, referencing some of the most important points from my training books, but before I start specifically into training, let's talk about the welfare of your horse.



No…

Very often problems on approach are caused by rider involvement in the wrong areas and an incorrect focus. The rider’s focus should be on trying to keep a nice regular and balanced approach, while staying within a rhythm, not the take off distance from the fence.

Crooked approach

It is vitally important for the horse to…

Flying changes are important in show jumping because you have directional changes in courses.



The easiest way of teaching flying changes is by using a cavaletti or a raised pole. Position the cavaletti or raised pole on the diagonal. Canter over it making an 'S' shape with a slightly exaggerated curl to the line. As your horse goes with an elevated stride to jump, slightly change the bend and adjust your leg aid. With the jump and the slight change of direction, the horse…

When a horse rushes he is running and using the rider's hands as the fifth leg. In other words the rider is trying to support a horse that thinks that it is acceptable to lean on your hands, which it is not.



What the rider must do is to try and be soft in the contact. When the horse starts to go forward the rider needs to bring his body back slightly to let the horse know to readdress his balance, then take quite a strong half halt and soften as soon as the horse starts to…

If things are going wrong with your training, you should ask yourself what is happening, why is it happening and what is the solution? The art of seeing a problem is being able to interpret what is happening and to decide what the solution is.



Flatwork is all about good foundations, which I call 'fundamentals', and they are very simple and straightforward:



Straightness

Calmness

Balance

Rhythm

Responsiveness



If you have that…

Q: My horse seems to stop at a different type of fence everytime we go out. Just as I think we have mastered solid fillers then he starts spooking at flower arrangements. What should I do?



A: Make sure your horse is capable of going round the ring before you compete him. If that means you have to do more homework it is still more cost effective than wasting your entry fees. By hiring a school and practicing over a course you are doing a lot more good and putting a lot…

What I am looking for in a rider is balance and empathy with their horse as a living creature. Someone who has feel for the basic paces and hopefully able to tell the right and wrong lead and the right and wrong diagonal. They need to be able to maintain a contact without being stiff and heavy and to be concise in what they are asking. This is quite important; if you ask a horse to walk on, you tell it to walk on.



Temperament in the rider

Any rider that is so…

To understand and work with your horse’s stride length, keep in mind that whilst you are riding, the horse’s legs are your legs, and your brain needs to react to what they are doing.



Try this exercise:



Build two fences five canter strides apart. Warm up your horse, thinking about the canter rhythm.



As a very simple way of understanding your horse’s stride length, call out the strides as you ride the fences. This will help your brain tune in to what your horse…

Related distances seem to cause a lot of problems but for no real reason.



Once you understand what they mean, if you concentrate on your horse’s rhythm and stride regularity you’ll have no problems.



Course builders build jumps that are related to each other in some way — this means that there is a set number of strides between the fences, usually between three and seven. At more advanced levels, the course builder uses half distances, so instead of say five nice…

My Ultimate Grid



This is an exercise that I do with all my horses and riders to help them improve their techniques and most importantly the way they work together.



I call it the ultimate grid because the first part of it is designed to help the horse develop a good basic shape and technique over a fence and to use the shoulders, whereas the second part of it is about getting the horse to come back onto his hocks and go up. It’s simple but tests the horse in all…

Jumping a Single Fence



How many times have you seen a rider approach a single fence in canter, hold the horse back and then suddenly release it and send it forward when they think they see a stride? And what happens? The horse accelerates at the last moment over the jump, lands on his forehand, runs on from the jump and has to be pulled back! Worse still they learn to rush their fences, standing off a long way and jumping flat.



Up to intermediate level,…

Following up from last week, once the horse is giving you a nice rounded stride over the second plank of our simple combination, by adding a second jump you will start to train your horse to make the link from trot to canter.



Placing the second jump is quite important — the length of one canter stride for the average horse is 12 feet or 3.6 metres. But, I want it to be a little closer on take-off to the second part.



Remember the aim is to turn a galloping machine into a…

Let's spend some time developing the correct technique and right jumping habits from the very beginning...



When you are ready to start jumping your horse, the first thing you must do is work out a way of getting the him to the fence so that he can jump it correctly.



Presenting your horse appropriately is the only way to help the horse improve his jump.



I surprise you, having said in earlier posts that canter should be a horse’s preferred pace, but I aIways…

In Part 3 of Flatwork for Jumping, we take a look at flying changes.



Before any of my young horses go to a show, I teach them how to do a flying change. In training sessions I teach them that when they change the rein in canter they automatically change the canter lead.



It is important that the horse learns to change the sequence of legs and keep himself balanced. You’ve probably all read the books on the aids to use, but my horses can’t read so I like to use a simple…

Correct Fundamentals help you "do the right things right".



As a rider, you need to put the fundamentals in place so that the right things happen by habit. Good riders ride well, because their right habits are so ingrained into their philosophy and their thought processes that they do routine things without thinking.



Developing the correct habits…

Always have in your mind that horses are unpredictable animals, not machines. Our familiarity can lead to taking liberties and accidents occurring.



How many of these practices are on your own safety list?



1. Always wear clothes and boots that are designed for riding.



2. ALWAYS wear a riding helmet that fits you correctly and complies with current standards.



3. If you are young, your horse is misbehaving, you are out of practice or you…