How many times have you fallen off?

[Bepau]

@supershorty628
I know they have, which is why I’m reading every reply, even yours, and considering it. Not everything applies to everyone and, though I can try to describe to the best of my abilities my situation, english is not my first language and sometimes situations can be more complicated than you’d think or than i can describe.

If I listened to what everyone said to me I would still be jumping .80 cm with a horse that was actually problematic, he actually broke my elbow and left me out of the saddle for half a year because I was convinced by people that he was the perfect ride for me. I’m trying to stop listening so much to others and only listening to my coach or to what I consider that applies to me, like certain comments that seem to be saying similar things that my coach has said or things that seem that would work, like the person who suggested trying small jumps and relaxin. It worked perfectly today!

I’m not trying to work my ways up on a green horse or even a difficult one, I sold my old horse because of that very reason, because he was way too much for me and actually hurt me, I know my limits and my trainer also does and he’d never allow me to ride one of his actual problematic horses. My current horse is amazing and just right for me, he isn’t too difficult for me but he isn’t too easy for me to feel like I do nothing, he challenges me just enough to get me thinking and actually riding.

I don’t know if its normal and I’ve gotten mixed results by a lot of people, people tell me its fine that everyone is different and sometimes some people are slower or like to challenge themselves and end up falling while others say that people who fall are idiots that can’t ride, so of course I wanted to know what was the popular vote and I still see mixed results. Most people that say that falling isn’t normal also say that i should sell my horse, which is ridiculous.

I don’t think having a bunch of blue ribbons means I know how to ride, it might show I’m effective in shows but that isn’t all, because I do know the difference between winning because of luck or winning because i know how to ride, and my trainer doesn’t let me get away with anything which is why I’ve progressed. If you had read from my past replies you would have seen that I spoke to my trainer and we went back to small jumps to make sure I was using my leg correctly and luckily we realized it was just because yesterday I was distracted by other factors and was focused enough, also it didn’t help that my horse slammed my leg into the fence and it got caught which made me lose balance

Theres no need to be rude just because I don’t think your advice applies to me, you don’t take advice from everyone do you? You being rude to me, even to the point of getting angry or bothered, just because I didn’t take your advice makes me even more relcutant to listen to you. I mean, do you think you’re so good that everyone has to listen to you or else they’ll get hurt or break their necks? Do you think you know EVERYTHING that if someone doesn’t listen to you it means their stupid? I know i don’t know everything which is why I ask around, which is why I have a trainer who corrects my every move, but I don’t go around shoving advice that clearly doesn’t apply to certain people or that they don’t want.

[Bepau]

@jonquil

I started riding when I was six,and I’m almost seventy now. My lifetime estimate is that I’ve come off around seventy times. I did hunting, jumping and lots of showing, tons of lessons and practice, and I just think falling off is part of the deal. In my senior riding(60 till now) I’ve only come off twice, but I’m doing much less really active riding and mostly mosey around on my careful little quarter horse. But falling off is part of riding and nothing to feel bad about. It means you’re riding!

Thats amazing! I can’t believe you’re still riding at your age, congratulations! Honestly, you’re goals XD I guess as I get older I won’t be able to challenge myself as much, but for now maybe challenging myself can help me also be more careful

[PNWjumper]

Well you lost me at “I rode a ‘made’ horse at 1.30 and it was too easy.”

…said no rider ever (who had actually done a 1.30m course on a horse…let alone one who wasn’t their own).

I have shown countless horses ranging from greenies their first time at “x” height to made horses their thousandth time over very large courses. NEVER have I said “well that was too easy” over a sizeable course. “Gee that was FUN!!” Sure said that an awful lot of times with a horse that went nicely. But “too easy?” that’s not actually a thing.

Based on that comment (along with a few other “odd” comments), I suspect that you are not doing anything close to the heights you’re posting here. And no, falling off often once you get to the 1.20m level is not normal. In the lower levels and as you’re learning, sure. But by the time you’re jumping 1.20m, you should be able to sit a stop on pretty much anything but the really dirty stopper. Everyone falls off at every level, not saying that in and of itself is odd. But if you’re falling off regularly or even having horses stop with you regularly…that is not a positive thing and will ultimately impact your confidence very seriously.

Guess you need to decide what you want to take away from this whole post and board. No one here is going to tell you, “oh gee you’re amazing and everything sounds perfect!!” based on what you’ve described. And coming up with excuses for why all the red flags you’ve described are “actually no big deal” isn’t helping. If you don’t want advice and help from experienced people then why post?

To the later posts where you’re describing self confidence issues. I have a lot of empathy for that. What you’re describing is a struggle that many (if not all) of us deal with.

But to turn around after saying that and attack supershorty (who is speaking from quite a depth of experience) is EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE COMPLAINING ABOUT PEOPLE DOING TO YOU.

[RAyers]

PNWjumper, speak for yourself about not falling off at 1.20. I can jump that and fall off in the turn. I’ve done that.

[PNWjumper]

@RAyers

PNWjumper, speak for yourself about not falling off at 1.20. I can jump that and fall off in the turn. I’ve done that.

Sigh. I didn’t say that you “never” fall off. I’ve certainly taken falls at every height out there (not to exclude turns). But if you’re falling off frequently enough to be asking on a horse board whether it’s “normal,” I think you have your answer. And I have a hard time picturing someone doing what she describes (coursing multiple horses over 1.20m - 1.30m full courses…not just single fences, always finding her distances and winning all the time) and yet having a regular issue with stopping/falling off on multiple horses. Or maybe my harder time is picturing multiple people with 1.20m - 1.40m horses that are letting her jump them and cause stops. Those are mighty generous horse owners! Typically by the time you are competent enough to win regularly and jump other peoples’ horses around those heights you can sit most (NOT ALL) stops.

I’d like to know, @RAyers, have you ever commented (after jumping a horse around a 1.30m course - yours or someone else’s) that it was “too easy and not fun to just sit there”?

I’ll bow out here.

OP - best of luck to you. No one here wishes you anything ill, and on the contrary I would say that the advice you’re feeling attacked by is coming from people legitimately trying to respond to the information you have provided in an attempt to help. If you don’t want to take it that way, that’s your prerogative. I genuinely hope that you are in a terrific program and continue to win while also improving your weaknesses. I think it’s fair to say that’s the same thing that all of us want!

[Jackie_Cochran]

Hi OP. For 6 years (grade school) I lived in Chile and Uruguay. My parents were only into trail riding, so I got no lessons down there, just riding on the in the foothills of the Andes and on the beaches. I am impressed with your English ability, especially writing, you do much better than I ever did with Spanish.

Part of the communication problem with this discussion is the differences in the cultures. Your riding teacher sounds wonderful. It seems to me that your riding teacher is, among other things, teaching you to be able to adapt to the horses you ride, and it seems that as long as you keep your attention on your riding you do fine. Sometimes it can be difficult to do both of those things at once. This is curable, through experience on many different horses. With a decent riding teacher it is mostly a matter of time. In the meantime falling off is normal, falling off can be a “wake up call” that we still need to work on position, timing, giving the horse effective aids and learning not to interfere with the horse.

You do NOT have to be a “pretty” rider to ride the jumping courses effectively. In the USA back in the early 70s Rodney Jenkins proved that. He ended up winning on willing horses who cooperated with him in spite of him breaking most the rules about “pretty” seats.

I think that when you learn exactly WHAT in your riding is interfering with your security in the saddle that your riding will get prettier without losing what is effective in your riding. Once you identify your problem then you have to keep part of your attention on that until the “prettier” position feels normal, then you go on practicing consciously until it becomes automatic. This takes time. Sometimes it takes riding “boring” horses, ones that you do not have to worry about fine control with while you concentrate on your riding. This does not mean that you are doomed to boring rides the whole time, as your position and riding improve you need to ride the more difficult horses for schooling your position to see how it can come all together so that you and the horse are in agreement.

I am crippled by MS. I have had to have months upon months over the past decade of boring rides to get my position better, mostly at the walk with some slow trots. BUT all these rides were NOT on boring horses because every horse I’ve ridden lately has come to me with problems. I have had boring position rides on horses who bolted with others, balkers, horses who had no idea about contact or leg aids, horses who feel through the cracks when they were trained and afterwards, horses who hated being ridden, and two horses who had decided that they were never going to cooperate with a rider again in their lives. My riding teacher patiently schools me on my position while I basically train/retrain these horses, I think she enjoys seeing me come up with solutions to the horse’s problems. Of course the only reason why she can put me up on the more challenging, definitely NOT beginner school-master horses, is that I’ve been riding seriously for almost 50 years. I will have to work on my position, “boring” rides and all until I die because of my Multiple sclerosis which has crippled my central nervous system (brain and spinal cord.) At least I have fun doing so.

I got over my problems with what other people thought about my riding by concentrating what the horse tells me. If my horse is striding forth freely, reaching for contact with impulse I just do not worry about other people’s comments. Right now the only creatures who I think are qualified to comment on my riding are my riding teacher and the horses I ride. I basically ignore everyone else, though I do keep my ears open in case they see something my teacher hasn’t which may explain why the horse is not obeying me cheerfully and promptly, but that is sort of rare since I have a very good riding teacher.

You can do this. You know something is wrong and you want to learn how to get better, which are two steps a lot of riders (not those here on the Forum) never consider. I see a promising future for you, you want to improve and you have a good riding teacher who puts you up on several different horses. Skills take TIME to develop, and practicing correctly. You are on your way to long term success, it just takes time and correct riding.

[staceymc]

@Bepau

I just have a very wicked horse that is mine mine, the other two my trainer lends them to me but he has like 6 hoses so I rotate. But anyways, my horse, even though we win a lot and we have really good rounds and he is amazing, he is such a hard ride at times. You have to add leg and get a perfect distance or else he will not care and not jump, but he fakes you out so it unseats you so easily and if you don’t come off when he fakes it he bolts to try to get you off. Usually, I can sit it but today he just caught me by surprise, and he also bumped me against the jump so by leg got hit and it unbalanced me, but its rare that he unseats me. I’ve owned him like, maybe 8 months? And he’s gotten me a total of 4 times.

So I’m confused. Is this horse Yuta, the horse you bought after selling Winchester? The one you didn’t like at first because “even though my trainer loved him and said he looked pretty good and honest I just didn’t feel a connection with him. I just feel like, even though he is lovely and has such a nice temperament, he simply just does everything for me and it frustrates me a bit that I just sit there and point him where to go at times (or at least today when I tried him). I want a partner and not someone to do everything for me but maybe I’m just being picky and whiny…”

No, you should not be falling off on the regular. Everyone falls off at times, especially as you move up and make mistakes. But if you’re falling off on a monthly basis something is definitely wrong. Wrong horse match. Being overfaced (horse or rider). Horse is hurting. Something.

[supershorty628]

I keep coming back to this because I think OP is pretty plucky (I mean this in a good way) and does actually want to improve their situation, despite some questionable statements upthread. So here’s a thought. OP, you said earlier that you have to get a perfect distance on your horse or he’ll stop, but this doesn’t really happen if you keep your leg on (if I’m paraphrasing correctly). I’m wondering if, in some ways, this idea of the “perfect” distance is actually contributing to the problem. The logic behind that:

A lot of people get so hung up on there being one perfect distance, and it causes a problem because they’re trying to aim for this one take-off spot at every fence. That puts a lot of pressure on you as the rider, and for some people, if they come off the turn and don’t see that one spot, they freeze, take their leg off, pull to try to make it happen, etc. Then if it doesn’t work out, there’s this negative feedback loop in your head of “oh, I didn’t get to the perfect distance, I’m not accurate, I’m not good enough,” and that can wreck your self-confidence. In actuality, there’s a range of distances that you can leave from, with the width of that range dependent on the horse’s scope. My trainer growing up had a great way of showing people this in lessons, but I can’t really do that here so please be patient with some poorly drawn stick art.

Let’s say the end of the ring is the bottom of the screen.

|===============| <- this is your jump
>>>>>>>x <-- hypothetical perfect distance (> just so your hypothetical distance is in the center)

So this is a lot of pressure on a rider to come off the turn and approach a fence aiming for this one little x. And what happens if you don’t get to that x? What if you’re a little long or a little deep? If you’re thinking about it as needing the perfect distance, that’s a lot riding on getting right to X marks the spot. But what it’s actually like is more like below:

===============

There’s really a range for your horse, and he can jump from anywhere within here and clear it.

---

So what’s really key to getting from one side to the other? It’s not the perfect distance, it’s getting to a place within the horse’s range with enough impulsion and enough balance that you can be a little long or a little deep and still be okay. Getting to within that range can be summed up in 4 steps:

1.) Establishing a canter that has enough impulsion that you have options at the jump. I’m not talking about going fast, but about having enough canter that if you’re a little long or a little deep, your horse can still get from one side to the other.

2.) Establishing a track to the fence. It’s important to be straight. It’s really tough to find a distance you trust when your horse’s front end and back end are on 2 different tracks.

3.) Maintaining your pace and track to the fence. Once you come off the turn, you shouldn’t need to make big adjustments in stride or straightness (which isn’t to say there’s no adjusting going on, but you shouldn’t feel like you need to gun for a big distance or choke the horse down to nothing if it’s going to be deep).

4.) Jumping the jump

I’d bet money that when you’re jumping around and it’s going well, you’re not getting to the same exact distance every single time, but you’re carrying enough impulsion and balance that you’re somewhere within this range and you’re confident that it’ll work. Your confidence gives the horse confidence. You know your horse best - maybe he really doesn’t like to get deep, so your range is a little smaller, or you need to support with your leg more at that spot, or maybe he’s weird and if you’re getting deep, you need to drop the contact - you and your trainer know his idiosyncrasies and your skill level.

I stand by everything I’ve said in this thread already, particularly regarding the importance of being physically strong and having a good foundation (and the benefit of reviewing videos of yourself), and I’m probably shouting into the wind with this post, but it was another thought. That could help. If you read it. And if my stick art actually posts looking the way it does in my preview box.

[Bepau]

@PNWjumper Never said I didn’t have fun, I felt pretty good and proud of myself (that was the time i first rode that height in a complete course), I accomplished a goal and it felt great, but I didn’t feel the same satisfaction as when I ride my own horse at 1.10, where I have to work hard and more focused to be able to pass correctly. I felt like, even though i did well, I was helped out a alot by the horse i had ridden and I wanted to feel more like i worked hard as well

I just started jumping 1.20 last month so I’m still getting used to the height, I think I’ve done around 4 1.20 courses with my horse and with some of the other horses maybe like 5 courses at that height? My more regular height is 1.10, that’s what I compete in. And my horse tends to bump me against the fences when he refuses and he throws me off balance, but I don’t fall off regularly, I have never said that. My last fall (not counting thursdays) was almost a year ago when I still had my ex horse and he was problematic and my current horse is not problematic he just needs to be ridden well.

I don’t want people telling me its perfect, if I wanted that I wouldn’t have posted since the beginning, I just honestly wanted to know what others experiences were, not receive 100 messages about how I need to sell my horse, change trainer, or that I’m a bad rider. i never said other horses stop, the only horse that is a stopper when I ride badly is my own horse, my trainer wouldn’t do that to me.

I have yet to attack supershorty, I just replied back in the same tone they used on me.

[Bepau]

@staceymc

Yeah, Yuta is the one. The first time I tried him he was so easy to ride, he did everything for me at 90 cm but once he was well fed (he came way too skinny) and we started to work him he showed off his personality and I honestly love it. At 90 cm he helped me with everything, everything wrong I did he just figured it out himself, and even at 1m he at times does it as well as long as I’m not flopping around, but at 1.10 he does need a good ride or he can refuse. I have ended up adoring this horse and everything he teaches me and how he helps me at times and gives his all when I ask him to. I just love him so much, i wouldn’t trade him for the world, we are planning to do our first eventing test in two months. Its super exciting.
As I said before, I don’t fall of every day, every month, my last fall before thursdays was a year ago when I still rode winchester and winchester was the one who dumped me. I just wanted to know if people also fell and how much they had fallen.

[Scribbler]

Here’s the mistake alot of juniors and adult beginners make. They think riding a difficult horse is somehow more of a proof of their ability than riding a well schooled one.

Both the horse I had as a kid and my current returning rider horse came to me green and gave me challenges. But after some years I had schooled them so they were very easy for me to ride, knew their jobs, and could take care of me.

Easy to ride is the goal. Knowing the job and doing some of the thinking for the rider is the goal. If you start out with a difficult horse you make him into an easy horse as fast as you can. That’s the mark of being a good rider.

Once the horse is easy to ride you can do so much more, make your aids more and more subtle, and feel really happy together. Because a difficult horse is an unhappy horse.

I am currently riding an older dressage horse that really knows her job. She is easy to ride for me. But it isn’t easy to get her going perfectly. You need to be precise and balanced and proactive. I did some tests on her last year and read the judges comments while watching the ride video and saw exactly where horse for instance fell on the forehand for one stride or was late with a transition. In other words there is still so much room for improvement even on a horse that feels like a really easy ride. An easy ride isn’t a perfect ride. It’s just the foundation for a better ride.

The other phenomenon I’ve seen is people going through multiple horses that seem like easy horses but become "difficult’ after a few months. I do think people’s horses all tend to become similar.

So if you bought a horse that was willing to the jumps and he is now refusing, you need to take a long hard look at what in your partnership is causing this.

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹

[Bepau]

@Scribbler
I 100%% get what you are saying and I agree, that’s why I love working so many horses and seeing how easy it gets to collect them, or how they become more willing to jump, and even better when others can ride them and they behave perfectly. The best thing I have ever felt was when a friend of mine was able to jump Yuta an entire 1m course with no problem, and she’s a beginner! It made me feel like my trainer and I have worked hard on him and he has responded really well enough that anyone can get on him and give him a low course no problem.

About the whole ‘difficult horse is an unhappy horse’ I have to disagree. Some horses no matter how much you train will always be difficult but that doesn’t mean they’re unhappy or that they are uncomfortable, its just their temperament.

About Yuta refusing… Honestly he used to refuse with his old rider all the time at 1.10 before I got him, he would rarely win and always had time faults and/or disobediences. Yuta is still a very consistent horse at 90 cm and 1m but when it gets to 1.10 he used to refuse to go further, now he jumps every 1.10 obstacle I put in front of him, which is why we started to go higher to 1.15-1.20 to continue his training, and I have no one to thank but my trainer who has shown me how to make horses become more in tune with your aids and how to make them fall in love with their job.

Winchester also came to me as a bit of a difficult horse, bit more willing but he refused as well. Luckily with the help of my trainer we made him state champion and he stoped refusing, even when the jumps got up to 1.40 (not me but his new owner when he tried him) he just kept going no matter how bad the distance was or how big the jumps got, and I was so proud of him even though I had been through a lot with him. I had to sell him because of other problems but in the end he never refused jumps for me, and Yuta never refuses anything lower than 1m, at 1.10 I have to ride but its rare for him to refuse (only if I suck), right now at the new height we’ll we’re working hard at it but it takes time.

Also, if he were becoming like Winchester he would bolt at every jump and never stop if I asked for more than a trot, which he luckily doesn’t do. I simply sit down, squeeze my leg and say ‘oh’ and he stops immediately so no, he isn’t becoming like Winchester Thank God.

[mmeqcenter]

@Bepau

@Denali6298 I’ve just heard that falling off makes you a bad rider and since my confidence has taken a hit I’ve been wondering if I suck at riding

I’ve literally never heard that falling off makes you a bad rider. We all learn, we all fall. Beezie Madden has fallen off, too. It’s just part of the sport. As a teen I always heard that you’re not a “real rider” until you’ve fallen off 100 times.

I couldn’t tell you how many total times I’ve fallen off in my life; when I was 16 I fell off like eight times in one lesson (green pony, bronc’d every time you asked for canter). I’ve fallen off once in the last six years since I’ve owned my mare.
It really isn’t a major deciding factor in your skill as an equestrian. Some people have sticky seats, but are lacking in other skills such as lateral work. Some people can’t stay on the smallest buck, but are excellent at teaching a horse confidence over fences. We’re all different, and have different learning curves.

[Scribbler]

@Bepau

@Scribbler
I 100%% get what you are saying and I agree, that’s why I love working so many horses and seeing how easy it gets to collect them, or how they become more willing to jump, and even better when others can ride them and they behave perfectly. The best thing I have ever felt was when a friend of mine was able to jump Yuta an entire 1m course with no problem, and she’s a beginner! It made me feel like my trainer and I have worked hard on him and he has responded really well enough that anyone can get on him and give him a low course no problem.

About the whole ‘difficult horse is an unhappy horse’ I have to disagree. Some horses no matter how much you train will always be difficult but that doesn’t mean they’re unhappy or that they are uncomfortable, its just their temperament.

About Yuta refusing… Honestly he used to refuse with his old rider all the time at 1.10 before I got him, he would rarely win and always had time faults and/or disobediences. Yuta is still a very consistent horse at 90 cm and 1m but when it gets to 1.10 he used to refuse to go further, now he jumps every 1.10 obstacle I put in front of him, which is why we started to go higher to 1.15-1.20 to continue his training, and I have no one to thank but my trainer who has shown me how to make horses become more in tune with your aids and how to make them fall in love with their job.

Winchester also came to me as a bit of a difficult horse, bit more willing but he refused as well. Luckily with the help of my trainer we made him state champion and he stoped refusing, even when the jumps got up to 1.40 (not me but his new owner when he tried him) he just kept going no matter how bad the distance was or how big the jumps got, and I was so proud of him even though I had been through a lot with him. I had to sell him because of other problems but in the end he never refused jumps for me, and Yuta never refuses anything lower than 1m, at 1.10 I have to ride but its rare for him to refuse (only if I suck), right now at the new height we’ll we’re working hard at it but it takes time.

Also, if he were becoming like Winchester he would bolt at every jump and never stop if I asked for more than a trot, which he luckily doesn’t do. I simply sit down, squeeze my leg and say ‘oh’ and he stops immediately so no, he isn’t becoming like Winchester Thank God.

So now I’m totally confused. Why did you buy a horse that already had an ingrained habit of refusing jumps?

I hope you got him at a very big discount because of this.

[Bepau]

@Scribbler

So now I’m totally confused. Why did you buy a horse that already had an ingrained habit of refusing jumps?

I hope you got him at a very big discount because of this.

The original plan was to just have him for 90cm and 1m, like 2 years or maybe 3 if we went into eventing, but we meshed so well together and without even realizing it, 3 months into our partnership we were jumping 1.10m without a flaw. We think maybe he wasn’t comfortable where he was before and since he’s been with us he just seems to get better and better, he shows his true colors and just flourishes. My trainer had said when we were horse shopping that he really liked the horse but hated his rider and, at least to me, it seemed that Yuta just needed a new rider and a new start

[Scribbler]

@Bepau

The original plan was to just have him for 90cm and 1m, like 2 years or maybe 3 if we went into eventing, but we meshed so well together and without even realizing it, 3 months into our partnership we were jumping 1.10m without a flaw. We think maybe he wasn’t comfortable where he was before and since he’s been with us he just seems to get better and better, he shows his true colors and just flourishes. My trainer had said when we were horse shopping that he really liked the horse but hated his rider and, at least to me, it seemed that Yuta just needed a new rider and a new start

But the behaviour is continuing with you?

[Bepau]

@Scribbler

But the behaviour is continuing with you?

Not really, I have yet to get eliminated in competition with him and he’s never refused a 1.10 jump with me, he’s gotten super good and a lot of people have even congratulated me and asked me to contact them when I start to look for buyers for him in a few years.
After I read @supershorty628 reply I think the height might be intimidating me a bit and i feel more pressure to get a better distance, which in turn means that I end up maybe making Yuta nervous because I feel tense and stressed. I was thinking about it today and maybe since I just hear people say so much that the distance at 1.20 has to be perfect or else maybe it’s gotten to my head. I just have to understand that not every distance will be perfect and I have to learn to ride every distance no matter what.

[Scribbler]

@Bepau

Not really, I have yet to get eliminated in competition with him and he’s never refused a 1.10 jump with me, he’s gotten super good and a lot of people have even congratulated me and asked me to contact them when I start to look for buyers for him in a few years.
After I read @supershorty628 reply I think the height might be intimidating me a bit and i feel more pressure to get a better distance, which in turn means that I end up maybe making Yuta nervous because I feel tense and stressed. I was thinking about it today and maybe since I just hear people say so much that the distance at 1.20 has to be perfect or else maybe it’s gotten to my head. I just have to understand that not every distance will be perfect and I have to learn to ride every distance no matter what.

I thought the whole point of this thread was that he was giving you dirty stops above .9 m and you were falling off. How does that match up with “never refused a jump”?

[chicagojumper]

Oh my.

Actual DIRTY stoppers are fairly few and far between, especially at the 1.1-1.3m level. I know this because I specialize in riding those ding dongs, lol. Most stoppers at that level are either dealing with pain issues or riders that are not accurate enough for what that horse needs. The horses always get lumped into the dirty stopper category but, anecdotally, I can hop on and buzz em around at 3’6-3’9 and reassure them my eye is good and the stop disappears within 10 minutes.

Secondly, I have not finished reading this thread yet but a couple comments I want to already make is…if you have a solid independent seat with a good hand and a good eye (which your trainer should make as prerequisites to even jump the 1.1m, that’s literally local level Child/Adult Jumpers w/o classic), getting dumped in front of a jump is pretty rare. It takes an actual dirty stop to do so, and by dirty I mean crashing through a jump then spinning out in the middle of the oxer or something equally egregious. Most stops are created by overfaced horses or overfaced riders that cannot accurately manage the appropriate ingredients to a good distance (straight, forward, rhythm). Those stops come from a mile away and if you sit up, put on leg, steadily hold both sides of their face, your typical 1.2m horse will happily take you to the jump and save your ass. If you’re falling off because the horse is sort of stopping or running you through a standard, you need to step down a level.

My advice would be to step down a couple levels, lesson 3x a week with your trainer including one full flat lesson a week working on rideability (does your horse shoulder in? haunches in? can you counter canter?) AND probably some no-stirrups work improve your leg and core strength (so you can sit a stop), then work at smaller 3’0 stuff locking in your eye and giving your horse confidence in YOU.

[chicagojumper]

@Bepau

The original plan was to just have him for 90cm and 1m, like 2 years or maybe 3 if we went into eventing, but we meshed so well together and without even realizing it, 3 months into our partnership we were jumping 1.10m without a flaw. We think maybe he wasn’t comfortable where he was before and since he’s been with us he just seems to get better and better, he shows his true colors and just flourishes. My trainer had said when we were horse shopping that he really liked the horse but hated his rider and, at least to me, it seemed that Yuta just needed a new rider and a new start

This is all very My Pretty Pony for me.

How’s your flatwork?

Jumping a stopper around 1.2 because you have a bond is not gonna end well, sorry.