Exercises to stay with horse on backside of the jump

[raisethebar]

What the title says…

My horse has a big slow jump - way different than my previous cat-like TB.

I am finding it hard to stay with him on the back side of the jumps as we are actually jumping some jumps of substance (5 turning 6 in May and brought along slowly).

My first thought was gymnastics to try to get my base stronger (everyone can use gymnastics). I am going with my horse, not jumping ahead… just keep getting thrown to the back of my saddle on the decline - I even have shorten my stirrups and it still happens (along with my ankles starting to hurt if I go any shorter).

Does anyone have any tips or ideas or especially a thought process that I could think of while jumping.

It isn’t noticeable and my trainer doesn’t even pick up on it because it doesn’t “look bad” in person. I pick up on it when I watch myself in lessons. I land in my heels, my leg doesn’t slide back but my but hits the saddle on our decline. I feel like I am constantly in the back seat of my saddle and I can’t get out of it/stay out of it?

As I am typing this, I do feel like a shorter stirrup would be better but I seriously already ride short. I would love something that I could work on at home outside of lesson (I jump him small jumps 1x per week out of lessons).

Thank you!

[MtnDrmz]

You have to strengthen your core! If you feel like you are getting sucked back a bit simply try to hold your core at the top, almost like a pause and hold with your tummy muscles, but keep your arms following. You arent stopping your follow, just trying to hold from going backwards. Leg strength is great (especially innner thigh), but I have always found that for the big jump, your core has to be up to speed just as much as your base. Pilates and the likes are great, sit ups, and actually lots of sitting trot where you are engaging your core (think a bit more similar to a dressage type of sitting trot) is super helpful

[raisethebar]

Thank you!!!

Super helpful. I already run a couple miles 4x a day and do arms and abs but I guess I need to get go super-hulk on the abs.

I also feel like I have been use to my older horse that my muscle memory needs to be retrained.

Engaged sitting trot - done!

Anything else?

[Equibrit]

Dressage lessons !

[PNWjumper]

Maybe try a different saddle? That’s the first thing to pops to mind for me if you feel something and your trainer doesn’t see it. I have a Stubben that makes me feel like I’m tipping forward and fighting my balance the whole time I ride in it. Doesn’t look like anything from the ground, but it feels terrible! I use it as a backup saddle for when I have people over riding and need more saddles than usual (I use the same saddle on most of my horses, which poses challenges when friends come over to ride!), and so I ride in it infrequently, but every time I do it makes me wonder how people manage in saddles that don’t fit the rider well but don’t have experience in enough saddles to realize it.

Along those lines, I have a hard time believing that you’re truly falling behind the motion as that’s something that’s readily visible and a decent trainer should be able to see it immediately.

Also, are you sure you’re not just picking yourself apart in vids/pics after the fact?

My big horse FLINGS me over the jumps sometimes, and I get a bit separated from him in the air. I was really hard on myself about it for a while until I started watching other horses who jumped like he does in big classes online. Turns out a lot of top, top riders do the same thing on the same types of horses. And the converse is true too - I don’t do it on my mare who jumps much more conventionally.

Doesn’t mean I don’t need to work on myself, but it’s allowed me to give myself a bit of a break.

[raisethebar]

Equibrit - YES! I just mentioned this to a friend. My horse and myself would certainly benefit from this greatly!

Thank you PNWjumper - you always offer a lot of great insight!!

I AM picking apart myself. :lol: I have a wonderful trainer who teaches her weekly lesson students to girls all the way up to the Maclays (and successful too).

This is something that FEELS worse than it looks and something I would love to improve on.

(I am almost certain my saddle is not helping, see my other threads on that. I am struggling with trying to wait out until my horse stops growing and getting something that fits both of us now).

[Risuena]

I think this may be half suggestion and half question…

I have a similar problem (though probably less subtle than you), and my trainer recently suggested landing more “into my thigh.” I’m not sure I really understand precisely what that means, or how it feels, but I also feel like there’s something important there that I need to figure out.

So, OP, maybe think about landing more into your thigh?

And, everyone else, does anyone care to comment or expound on that?

[MtnDrmz]

A lot of it is in the timing of the hold and core engagement over the top! Play around with it, and even just being aware that you have to hold those core muscles will start to make a difference!

[veritas]

Are you bracing your feet forward to land? I have a long torso and short legs, so it’s my tendency to push my hips farther back, open up my hip angle, and push my feet forward to brace for landing because my center of balance is somewhat high. This is especially noticeable if the horse has a slow jump.

I have to tell myself to “follow the horse to the ground”. I use the core, keep the hip more closed, and use my whole leg instead of pinching in the knee. One of my trainers tells me to keep my knees bent so the goal is to keep your seat in middle of your saddle throughout the horse’s jumping effort instead of pushing back.

About the “landing in the thigh,” I YouTube videos of Hunter Holloway-- her balance is always going forward with the horse.

Good luck!

[raisethebar]

Veritas - I honestly feel like that could be it!!! I feel like I am always worried about keeping my heels down that I could definitely be bracing back for landing.

Another thing I am going to try - grabbing mane just to make sure I am not lifting my hands up. In my videos, my hands are down and on his neck but my butt is just connecting back with my saddle before I feel like it should.

I am going to watch some of Hunter Holloway’s videos, I do feel like I understand the “land in your thigh” comment - ahead of the motion to stay out of the horse’s way.

Also, I had someone look at my saddle last night and mentioned how big the seat is on it, it is a 17.5 and I normally ride in a 17 but this flap length fit me better… I definitely think the saddle could be too big, but I am only faulting myself of not staying with my horses’ jump and learning how to accommodate and strengthen first.

Thank you everyone

[Spud_amp_Saf]

Maybe just try going up another hole in your stirrup to see if it helps. Some saddles, specifically Stubbens (I have owned 3 of them), require a different style ride with a shorter stirrup and a more closed hip angle. In all 3 of those saddles, I had to ride a hole shorter than felt comfortable at first when jumping or I had the same issue.

Also, is the saddle deep seated? This is precisely why I prefer a flatter saddle.

[ParadoxFarm]

And remember…your core includes your back! I started using the weight machines at the gym that focus on my back muscles. It made an incredible difference. You need your back to pull you back into place if you do get discombobulated up there!

[raisethebar]

This one is a deep seat saddle - my old was a CWD SE01 and I didn’t feel like I had that problem and I felt more secure. I am actually going to be riding and lessoning in a friends saddle to see how I feel and see if I have a similar type problem.

Thank you - I am going to the gym over my lunch break today & putting in some back exercises into my workout

[hunterrider33]

I do this, and it drives me crazy! Especially when I find a cool landing picture of my jumper and I have ruined the picture!
I try to think of pushing my knuckles into the neck to stay with the motion on landing. It seems to help me a bit to think this way.

[raisethebar]

Thanks hunterrider33 - I think if I would stop focusing on getting to the jump correctly so much, I could actually focus on the back side of the jump… Maybe it would help me quit picking so darn much and just focus on rhythm and straightness on the way to and once I’m in the air, focus on staying with my horse over the jump :lol: