I recently have been having a hard time jumping 2’9 and above. I know most people don’t consider that height to be a problem but I went a year without jumping and lost a lot of confidence. I get anxious and then rush the horse to the jump. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to correct this? Thanks!
Slow and steady! And you’d be surprised at how many riders fear anything over 2’6". You’re in good company. Just keep at it until your current height is boring and easy. If you never get there, so what? Enjoy the ride.
Agree with ParadoxFarm completely. It will come over time, it’s kind of like a broken heart, you can make the healing go slower, but you can’t really make it go faster…
the sign you’re ready to move up is when you get bored at 2’9. And feeling like 3’ is a whole other level is certainly widely held, it’s definitely a psychological barrier.
Enjoy the journey and eventually, you’ll sneak in a higher fence that will make the 2’9 fence that was intimidating before seem totally easy. I’m personally against setting an entire course of fences at a higher height all at once and prefer having one or two “bigger jumps” especially set in a straight-forward line. Give it time!!!
ParadoxFarm is right, and the real answer is…time and practice. You just have to keep jumping that height until your brain realizes that it’s not that scary. It helps HUGELY to have a horse that finds that height easy and will jump regardless of your decisions. If your horse struggles at all (whether it’s because of you or has nothing to do with you) it can be impossible to get comfortable.
I say this all of the time to people…YOUR comfort over a fence height is often directly correlated to the horse you’re sitting on. Because I jump big heights, people often comment that I must not be scared of anything. The reality is that my comfort over fences is tied to the horse I’m sitting on. When I’m sitting on one of my 3yo babies and pointing them at their first fence, I think that the 2’3" vertical in front of me is as scary as any 1.50m+ fence on my big guy. Or when I’m schooling my daughter’s medium pony, 2’9" looks HUGE and I have to remind myself that it’s no big deal (for said pony).
But there’s another part of the equation, and that’s your perception of the height. This may sound kind of silly, but if you’re able, you can set all of the jumps in the ring big while you’re riding (4’+) and ride around them every day. It will change your perspective on what a big fence is. Then when you set a 2’3"/2’6"/2’9" fence it looks much smaller in comparison. Again, it sounds silly, but it really can help!
When my daughter first started jumping I realized that when I have all of the fences set as crossrails and tiny verticals she gets nervous when I set a 2’9" or 3’ jump for her. But if I’ve been jumping prior and everything is set at 4’6"+, she’s ready to point her pony at my 3’6" warmup fence without a second thought (I have to yell at her to WAIT until I can lower it!).
I have the same problem myself. I try to keep a couple of jumps in my ring set at 4’6"+ so that I’m used to riding around them. Otherwise they look massive when I start jumping up prior to the show season again.
I started jumping for the first time last year. I started out with teeny little jumps, but then when I actually put them up to 24" or so of where I’d have to jump for the shows in our area, I was like “eeeek!”
Granted, I was also gaining confidence in my English saddle at the same time (ridden Western for years) but once I made myself do it a few times, it became fun!
Still a little butterflies when I bumped myself closer to 3 feet, but practice builds confidence!
Cut yourself some slack and give yourself some time to build your confidence back up. Go at your own pace.
[QUOTE=hunter-jumper;8470213]
I recently have been having a hard time jumping 2’9 and above. I know most people don’t consider that height to be a problem but I went a year without jumping and lost a lot of confidence. I get anxious and then rush the horse to the jump. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to correct this? Thanks![/QUOTE]
simple cahnge your mind effects sweetie and play poles
start off on the ground … and learn your strides and distances then do small grids with cavaletti and small jumps maye no horse or person can jump big till they learnt small have someone to help if possible and just move the pole up a hole… we not jumping we playing poles got it
we are playing POLES
[QUOTE=hunter-jumper;8470213]
I recently have been having a hard time jumping 2’9 and above. I know most people don’t consider that height to be a problem but I went a year without jumping and lost a lot of confidence. I get anxious and then rush the horse to the jump. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to correct this? Thanks![/QUOTE]
simple change your mind effects sweetie and play poles
start off on the ground … and learn your strides and distances then do small grids with cavaletti and small jumps mate no horse or person can jump big till they learnt small have someone to help if possible and just move the pole up a hole… we not jumping we playing poles got it
we are playing POLES
count me with you!
My mare is so crazy brave, she’s going to jump with or without me. often times if I set up some free jump stuff, she will put herself through them without being prompted.
I am just starting back into jumping after many years off. So I too am pretty nervous.
the idea of having bigger jumps around the ring actually sounds like it might help a lot! definitely keeping my eyes on this thread. you’re not alone !!
I LOVE THIS IDEA! I never thought of it outright like this, but this is so true. Over the summer, I was lessoning with a lot of girls that were doing the A/Os or Juniors. While riding around with them, you get use to the height. In no way does it mean I was jumping them, but it made my jumps look so much smaller, I rode with more confidence and the distances came naturally… like they should!
Oh amateur brain, I love how I can trick you!
Great advice here. 2’6" looks like mountain as my 4yo wiggles down to it. Not so much on my been there/done that/take a joke A/O horse.
It is important to remember that with a good, balanced canter, every distance will work out and the jump will take care of itself. Most horses can simply leverage themselves over 1.10m - no talent required. So, really, if you keep an even rhythm by counting out loud (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4…) and wait for the fence to come to you, it will work out just fine.
Using gymnastics and building the last element or two is a great way to help you learn you can jump bigger. It sets you up to get there right, and momentum helps carry you through. I’ve done it myself, and have done it to help others, many, many times!
Also just doing it, a lot, helps. Jumping a couple of bigger fences every time you jump will start to build your confidence. You can always jump around a course at a height your comfortable with, and include a simple grid with a bigger fence out, or make a couple of the outs of your lines bigger to start.
And finding and and making your canter exactly right helps TREMENDOUSLY. When I was suffering from serious nerves, I did canter poles nearly ever ride, to help memorize the canter I needed to jump around a big course. The more I did that, the easier I found it to canter down to a big jump because I knew I had the canter to help us get there right. I also started to feel sooner when it was wrong and had the tools to fix it, where before I often didn’t feel it until it was too late, would panic and make a bad decision, and then have an ugly jump.
Really, the best way to do it is just to do it, but set things up in the beginning to eliminate the variables that can make it scary. Gymnastics is the best way to do it.
Thing that always worked the best for me was watching those showing/schooling higher. That retrains your eye so when you look at your jumps, they are laughable.
If you have to, go watch a bigger show, stand right at the rail. So many barns these days have very few if any jumping 3’ and higher making it really, really hard to keep your prospective. Then you get shows with nothing over 2’6" and you train yourself to think that’s big because it’s all you see.
Spent a couple of years showing 3’ and occasionally schooling to 3’9", even jumping a 4’ line at a AA once (back rail on the oxer dropped with an add). Was schooling after the last class of the day thinking the jumps were set at 3’6" for Junior/AO. Nope, 4’ Regulars. Had I known, would have freaked instead of just thinking they were big but doable… you bet I didn’t miss any spots looking at those. Second time something like that happened, several years before went in after the last class to school the 3’ Adult course when I was getting ready to move out of 2’6". Got around fairly well but not without adding, trainer got mad but then backed off. It was the Junior course at 3’6". There is some wisdom in sneaking fences up on you, takes the mental part out of your riding.
Took about 8 months off showing. Stayed home and rode with the 2’ to 2’6" crowd. Took some lessons with the…more mature…happy hour group. Had a blast. BUT, when I went to my first show back and went into a 2’6" class to warm up? Came off the courtesy circle, looked at the first fence and…it looked like the Great Wall of China. Then I started kicking myself for being silly, lost focus and chunked it off a dying, dying dead canter followed by running up to a stop at the dreaded single oxer on the diagonal that followed. Horse was over my indecision and conflicting aids, let me have it good after getting over the oxer on the second try off of a pathetic “pace”, dam near got bucked off on landing. I excused myself to avoid further humiliating my horse.
Trainer was busy but ordered me into a golf cart with a well known trainer friend headed to the High Junior Jumper ring, told him to make sure I stayed there and watched the whole class. I did as ordered. Showed in 3’ later the same afternoon, thought they looked like ground poles. Even got a nice ribbon.
Its not just all in your head but when you train your eye looking at too many very small jumps, anything else is going to look big. Go look at people jumping more bigger jumps to keep your perspective.
In my opinion, everyone here has great advice.
I really believe gymnastics are THE BEST way to build rider AND horse confidence while jumping more. something simple like 3 trot poles 3-5’ apart (depending on how big your horse’s trot is, double that to a big crossrail, then 18’ (short one-stride) to a vertical maybe 2’6" and then 21’ (more standard one stride) to a 2’9" vertical. eventually raise the first vertical to 2’9" and just jump til its easy and boring. then work up to having all exercises and jumps to 2’9" until theyre boring and easy. I also find it helps build confidence when you set a placing rail at all jumps to help “see” the last stride. 9 or 10 feet our, give or take, depending on your horse’s stride and jumping style.
give yourself and your horse some time and patience.
Why rush it? When the jumps start to look small you’re ready to move up. Horses get over faced, so do people, maybe you just need more time to get confident where you’re at. I’d also recommend the book Pressure Proof Your Riding, I just finished it and found the ideas about goal setting and strategies for confidence really helpful.
You’re not alone! Check out COTH blogger Natalie Voss’ post “Jumping Five iPhones”!
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/amateurs-us-jumping-five-iphones
[QUOTE=findeight;8471502]
Thing that always worked the best for me was watching those showing/schooling higher. That retrains your eye so when you look at your jumps, they are laughable.
<snip>
Its not just all in your head but when you train your eye looking at too many very small jumps, anything else is going to look big. Go look at people jumping more bigger jumps to keep your perspective.[/QUOTE]
Having set jumps in schooling for the 3’6" and over crowd and then watching their division go at a show immensely changed my perspective. In the beginning of the year, I was having problems with anything over 2’9"-3’. Suddenly I’m asking my trainer to keep putting the jumps up because they look too small and asking when I can move up a division. Never would have thought that would happen!
I’m a weanie, especially if I haven’t been doing much jumping.
What works for me are grids, more grids, and still more grids, on a saintly horse that can do them blindfolded and backwards, and doesn’t care if YOU"RE doing it blindfolded and backward LOL. I found a neck strap is a huge help as well to get a feel for the height without snagging your horse in the mouth.
[QUOTE=PNWjumper;8470263]
But there’s another part of the equation, and that’s your perception of the height. This may sound kind of silly, but if you’re able, you can set all of the jumps in the ring big while you’re riding (4’+) and ride around them every day. It will change your perspective on what a big fence is. Then when you set a 2’3"/2’6"/2’9" fence it looks much smaller in comparison. Again, it sounds silly, but it really can help![/QUOTE]
I totally agree with this! I loved riding after the “big jumpers” last winter and in the big sand ring this summer after their lessons or after a show with all of the fences set at 1.20m+. The first few times they looked massive, but they really didn’t look that big after a while (other than the width of the oxers, those still look massive, sorry!)
[QUOTE=BITSA;8471785]
Why rush it? When the jumps start to look small you’re ready to move up. Horses get over faced, so do people, maybe you just need more time to get confident where you’re at. I’d also recommend the book Pressure Proof Your Riding, I just finished it and found the ideas about goal setting and strategies for confidence really helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Pressure-Proof-Your-Riding-Techniques-ebook/dp/B00F21UEX0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452103286&sr=1-1&keywords=pressure+proof+your+riding[/QUOTE]
While I don’t disagree with you, I do know, from my own personal path and watching and helping others, that sometimes our desire to do more and challenge ourselves needs to overpower or anxiety. If the foundation is there to do it right, and there is a want to push yourself, then you should. But if you’re comfortable and happy and like where you are, then, yeah, no need to push. You can only get better when you push past through the comfort zone.
