Having Problems Seeing Distances. Advice?

[snaffle635]

[QUOTE=Spud&Saf;6035570]
Try to think of it this way - there is no perfect distance to any fence.

There is a long distance, a short distance and a medium distance. Your pace, rythym and track will dictate which of these you get to. The secret to making it work is how you handle it - by supporting with leg, waiting with the shoulder, etc.

Most of us will never be good enough to hit the “perfect” meidan one every time. Learn to support for the long and short and make them look good. :D[/QUOTE]

^^^^This.

My trainer says: If it’s short, sit up and leg. If it’s long, sit up and leg. And if it’s right there, sit up and leg.

Obviously she doesn’t mean LEG hard, she means support with your leg.

Making sure you are straight helps a ton. And so does counting. I spent my entire horse show last week going ‘one, two, one, two, one two, one two’.

[bits619]

So many good ideas here already I find the more time I have (the longer the approach) the worse it will get if I just sit and wait. For me, taking a halfseat and (as the other poster said) focusing on pace and track (no drifting- NO. DRIFTING!) helps the most. I can personally adjust more easily from a half seat than sitting completely.
My trainer, I’ve noticed, will mix in roll backs and short approaches with a longer (boring) line. The roll backs turn out so much better (distance wise) because I have to stay active between jumps. No sitting and going ‘mute’ allowed.

I’m another person who counts 1, 2, 1, 2,… It establishes the rhythm for me. I could be three strides out and on ‘1…’ Or ‘2…’ That doesn’t matter so much as the fact that I don’t change from 1, 2, 1, 2, 1,… To 1, 2,1,2,1, 2…’ Evenness is essential!
A
And the establishment of a track to the center of the jump is really key… Drift left and my distance is off, my eye gets all messed up, we get a chip, we’re both annoyed and re-collecting ourselves for a few strides, we get to the next one and the horse is already thinking I want him backed off… So he chips again. Bad bad bad.

Also. I think a big spot has to feel better than a chip in. It can’t be comfortable to chip into those tiny spots all the time, versus opening up the angles, jumping big but freely. My trainer first described it like that, but it so makes sense to me. Also, she really doesn’t want her horse to get hesitant and baulky towards a fence so that helps ME to make a positive move/decision.

[Hunter_Mom]

I am grateful to have a horse who finds his own distances well, and will jump from any distance and make it work. He’s awesome. However, there are days when I just cannot see the spot no matter what. Today was one. I kept my leg on, my eyes up and let him do his job. If I focus on the pace, and I do count out loud a lot - 1-2-1-2 - to keep myself from picking at him.

Just curious - do you wear glasses? I used to and the really messed with my depth perception. I quit wearing them and have had far less problem.

[EqTrainer]

[QUOTE=Lucassb;6034868]
One thing to remember is that horses can make a good jump from a pretty big range of take off spots. Trying to look for “the perfect spot” is kind of pointless, and usually - as you have noticed - is pretty ineffective. All you really have to do is get the horse within a few FEET of the “right” spot and you will be fine, assuming you have a decent canter to work from.[/QUOTE]

:yes:

[Horses_and_High_Heel]

[QUOTE=Hunter Mom;6035901]

Just curious - do you wear glasses? I used to and the really messed with my depth perception. I quit wearing them and have had far less problem.[/QUOTE]

Nope, I have perfect 20/20 vision, but horrible depth perception. I run into things all the time…even in my own house:eek:

[Horses_and_High_Heel]

I’ve noticed that a lot of the responses I’m getting are really saying some of the same things my trainer has told me recently. I thought I understood them then, or I would have asked for a further explanation from my trainer. But now I see the light! Next step: putting it into practice:)

[DNB]

I am also someone that is lucky to already have a good eye, but I have my days when the distances just don’t come up “right”.

My trainer always says that jumping is just flatwork with speed bumps in the road. Establish a good, forward canter that is in front of your leg that you can easily adjust (shorten or lengthen) as you see fit. There really isn’t a perfect distance per say, just the best distance based off the canter you have established. I have to remind myself not to lean forward and drop my hands. When I am approaching a jump I think to myself sit back, hands up, leg on. Also remember not to lean forward, pull straight back, take your leg off, and plant your hands to collect the canter. Lift your hands, sit back, keep your leg on, and break it up (some would call it sea-saw) so your horse doesn’t lean on your hand and run past your leg and hand to that awkward chip. Same thing for when you want to move up to the more forward distance. Don’t lean forward, close your leg, and drop your hands. Sit back, lift your hands, and keep your leg on. It all comes from good, established flatwork really.

Hope this helps!

[huntereq1991]

[QUOTE=Horses and High Heels;6035943]
Nope, I have perfect 20/20 vision, but horrible depth perception. I run into things all the time…even in my own house:eek:[/QUOTE]

Another note about glasses-- I have perfect 20/20 vision, but I have an astigmatism in both eyes. For me, this causes some depth perception issues. Before I discovered the astigmatism, I also frequently ran into stuff in my own house, tripped over things, etc.

If this is not the case, just stick with maintaining your path and pace (like everyone else said)! This is definitely easier said than done!

[slainte]

Distances are like men. Once you commit to one, stop looking for a better option.

[EqTrainer]

Distances are like men. If you stop looking for one, the perfect one shows up.

Next?

[Tha_Ridge]

I love these threads. I generally have a good natural eye, but I still always learn a new tactic.

I can’t reiterate enough what others have said: pace is so crucial, and from your description, it sounds like you don’t know what a medium pace is so you’re arriving either with too much or too little pace and can’t make the appropriate adjustment.

When you’re warming up, canter a big circle at what you think is your medium pace. Then, canter another circle at a more forward pace and then a more collected pace. If your medium is, in fact, medium, this should be a relatively easy exercise. If your horse dies when you ask for collection, then you know your medium is too slow, etc., etc.

[Hunter_Mom]

[QUOTE=slainte!;6035971]
Distances are like men. Once you commit to one, stop looking for a better option.[/QUOTE]

Brilliant!:yes:

[EllenAspen]

Keep you eyes up and past the jump…the jump is not your destination…over the jump and straight away is your destination…

[rodawn]

Those are all great while you’re riding, but there are things you can do off your horse that will help your depth perception and distance judgment.

First, use a tape measure and measure out 5 feet and put a cone there. Then stand there and memorize what distance looks like. Then measure out 10 feet, and do the same thing. 15 feet, 20 feet, etc. Once you have those basic units down, then do the same thing according to the footage for the stride of your horse. An average horse might have a 12 foot stride, so measure out what 12 feet looks like and put the cone there, then 24, then 36, then 48. Once you get the gist of it, you can also practice your distances while driving your car and learn how to memorize car lengths. Then apply it to horse lengths. I learned horse lengths by watching horse racing. It’s true. From there, I applied it to other aspects of life. The point is, these things teach you distance perception from a variety of spaces and widths and the more you practice it, the better and more accurate you get.

For you, it will have to be sheer memorization and step by step training of your eyes and brain. The eyes are seeing the distance, but it is your brain that must compute a meaning behind what it’s seeing. That can only come from step by step training and sheer practice.

Then, you can repeat the same thing while riding, and have a friend to measure off and place the cones and practice the striding using the cones and memorizing the distances at walk, trot, and canter. Then add small jumps, and then later start having your friend arrange a jump at awkward lengths and keep the jumps low so that until you learn how to adjust your horse’s length of stride you won’t risk a major crash.

Once you get it down pat with one horse, you will find it easier switching to other horses with different stride lengths. You can’t adjust a horse’s length of stride while heading for an object until you have well-learned basics first. It’s like trying to do calculus before you know how to do basic algebra, which would end up being a session of frustrating futility.

[Lord_Helpus]

My current trainer uses the expression “a quality canter”.

This is a state of being in which the horse is straight, coming through from behind and is soft to my hands. Pace is the variable here. But if you have a quality canter, you can lengthen or shorten easily.

By getting used to the elements which comprise “a quality canter” and learning what one feels like, I no longer have to go through my checklist after I land over each jump. The steps are: jump, land, balance, establish a quality canter, stay out through the turn and maintain your canter to the next jump.

As others have said – it is the canter that is the key. Is more than just pace. It is impulsion and balance and straightness. If you head to the jump with this canter, distances will show up.

I find when I am having trouble seeing spots that, inevitably, my horse is not straight/ is bulging/ or is drifting off to one side. If you are trying to see a spot that is in a straight line between your eyes and the jump, while your horse is on a lateral path to the jump, then you are looking at one distance while your actual path is another.

A good way to double check this is to lay rails about every 20’, about 4’ apart in a straight line to the jump, starting about 4 strides back.

Once you enter this “landing strip” your horse should easily canter down its center without any correction from you. – But I bet you will have to correct him because I bet he isn’t straight.

After several times over this jump, land and canter on to another one. You should be able to feel the bulge/drift/lean now because you have just had to correct it. As you do courses, keep the one “landing strip” jump as part of the course. It will be your “check up” jump to see if your horse is cantering straight on his own.

[lintesia]

There’s so much great advice packed into this thread!

Something that helped me tremendously was a lesson I had, just over poles, where my trainer had me ride three types of canter: a 10-foot stride, a 12-foot stride, and a 14-foot stride. Something about the responsibility of establishing and maintaining the prescribed stride really clarified for me what each of those canters felt like. In later lessons, I was able to feel how my adjustments to impulsion and/or track resulted in negatively affecting the stride… not good! But I then learned how to make those adjustments without losing the stride – what a breakthrough!

[Angry_Bird]

[QUOTE=lintesia;6037504]
There’s so much great advice packed into this thread!

Something that helped me tremendously was a lesson I had, just over poles, where my trainer had me ride three types of canter: a 10-foot stride, a 12-foot stride, and a 14-foot stride. Something about the responsibility of establishing and maintaining the prescribed stride really clarified for me what each of those canters felt like. In later lessons, I was able to feel how my adjustments to impulsion and/or track resulted in negatively affecting the stride… not good! But I then learned how to make those adjustments without losing the stride – what a breakthrough![/QUOTE]

I agree, poles, poles and more poles.

[nightsong]

Threads like this make me long for the old days, when the HORSE figured it out and the rider waited for the horse to throw him up, instead of “jumping” the fence themselves. Then, “ring” hunters also went out fox hunting, so they HAD to jump by themselves, and the rider ride whatever happened under him.

[ACMEeventing]

[QUOTE=EqTrainer;6035981]
Distances are like men. If you stop looking for one, the perfect one shows up.

Next?[/QUOTE]

Distances are like men. The more you pick at them the worse they get.

[achcosuva]

[QUOTE=ACMEeventing;6039475]
Distances are like men. The more you pick at them the worse they get.[/QUOTE]
Distances are like men. Approach with confidence but not arrogance and you’ll get a good one!