Learning to ride a "big" jumper

[Tha_Ridge]

After three decades of cantering around looking for the hunter gap, I’ve decided that my new life goal is to become a confident and competent jumper rider. I’ve shown small jumpers before (low adults and random 1.0m warm-ups for hunters or equitation), but here I find myself with a bonafide 1.30m horse, fresh off the boat from Europe, and by golly, I want to learn to ride him damn well.

The horse is a saint who knows his job in and out, but he is very much a European amateur lady’s horse and wants me to sit in the back of the tack and hold on. Can anyone share their tips for staying in the backseat on a horse like this other than literally chanting “lean away” every stride? He’s smaller—think a classic speed horse—who likes to take you, but isn’t too bloody. I know there’s no quick hack or fix other than jumping lots of small jumps and learning the ride (which we’re obviously doing), but I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s made the transition to the jumper ring.

(P.S. He already has three bonnets. )

[MadTrotter]

Lucky you, what a beautiful horse!

When I first started hunting, I was seated on the hunt master’s veteran 17.2H mount, given a couple shots of whisky and instructions to grab the breastplate strap if things got hairy. While fences did not usually get to 1.3m (more typically 3’-3’6”) the hedges could be quite ferocious, the speed intimidating, and the footing unpredictable.

Now, if you’re not in your early 20s and slightly drunk I do not recommend this strategy.

But using a grab strap to let go of his mouth while you learn how he feels over fences is not a terrible idea and I wouldn’t judge you.

But as you know and said, the “correct” answer is to start at heights that you’re comfortable with, bounce/gymnastics, do that until it’s boring, then move up. So it would be like, trot in to cross rail, canter 1 stride to boring vertical, bounce out slightly interesting height oxer, keep doing this until jump 3 is boring. Play with speed/angles to hips confidence.

Good luck!

[NancyM]

Nice horse. Make sure your leg is secure. Those who throw themselves forward onto the front end when a horse jumps also often lose their lower leg in the process. Make sure your lower leg is secure, and stays in place at the girth. Then tell yourself that throwing your body forward onto his front end is gonna make him hit stuff- let the front end remain free without carrying your weight laying on it. “Free up his front end”. Stay off his front end. If this is an issue, try tying your stirrups to your girth. If you do this, IF you go to throw yourself forward and slip your lower leg back, you feel like you are dislocating your hips. Not nice. You learn real quick to not do that any more. Once you’ve got it, you ride differently… more in the middle of the horse and less on his neck. Frees up his front end over bigger jumps. You sit on the engine.

[Xanthoria]

I’ve got a youngster who does 1.30 over BN jumps when she’s nervous so I’m right there with you… except a lot less polished…

Another way to think about sitting back and looking up is to put your head “on the rail” - like there’s an invisible rail up there that it’s attached to, following the course.

Or, “show the jumps your feet” - let the jump see the soles of your feet on the approach. That will push your body back/up.

[CBoylen]

In general, most people transitioning from the Hunter ring do not carry their hands high enough, which prevents them from sitting back enough.

[Renn_aissance]

If you are not doing this already… Pilates or yoga with a focus on your core strength. That will help immensely with your upper body control.

[Tha_Ridge]

Yup, I think this is a big part of it! It still feels so unnatural but I know it’s “correct” in this case.

[Arlomine]

A little out of the box perhaps, but I think some dressage lessons could be very beneficial to recalibrate your seat. Especially some longe lessons without stirrups/reins. Your current horse may not be the best candidate for that though, unless super quiet on the LL
European riders ride with their base in their seat, not so much the base in the lower leg like American riders. The European lesson ladies that I saw in Switzerland jumped relatively huge courses by American school standards. Their lower legs were NOT their base of support. It was very interesting, coming from a USA hunter jumper background myself.

The warm-up flat work was completely different. The horses were round, there were tons of exercises involving leg yields and shoulder in. Spiraling and spiraling out in the canter. Countercanter. Transition work. Then everybody started hopping over giant fences.

So, in addition to the good suggestions everyone else has made… I think becoming more comfortable with the functionality of your seat and core in terms of really shaping your horse will help you a lot here. Much more than just trying to “assume a different position”. Jumping a hard jumping horse requires a much more dynamic opening and closing of your hip angle, and the sweet spot is smaller. You will need to get both stronger and more flexible.

[Mouse_amp_Bay]

Love this, thank you.

Just happened to be watching this recently, good demo of the spiraling in and out.

[foursocks]

Your horse is adorable and he looks like a blast!

I stumbled my way sideways into the jumpers when I returned to riding after getting my professional degrees. I very quickly realized I didn’t have enough money to get a competitive hunter so I (somewhat naively) decided to do the jumpers. It took a few years and lots of not-quite-stellar riding before I ended up with a trainer who put me on the right path, and I was lucky enough to get a horse who was born for the jumper ring.

The thing that has helped me the most is dressage. For the first year I rode with my new trainer he would say “DON’T TIP! STOP.TIPPING.” over and over because I was doing the hunter halfseat constantly. When I finally realized that sitting up meant feeling like I was going to tip over backwards, and then saw that in the ring mirrors I was actually NOT leaning backwards but simply sitting up straight for once, it was a revelation. In the years since then I’ve worked really, really hard to understand and be able to use my seat as an aid, to use my legs and hands more effectively, to engage my core, etc., and without dressage training it just wouldn’t be possible.

There are plenty of jumpers who go best with the rider in a lighter seat; mine goes best in a deep one, but I can two point all day long to the jumps now that I know how to use my seat and other aids to make sure he is balanced and working underneath himself before we get there. He likes to drop his back in front of the jumps and use his natural power to get over the fences because it’s just easier to be lazy and not use his back–but that only works up to a certain height. When we get to about 1.20m+ his job is so much physically harder for him if he isn’t using his back properly and balanced up. We covered this up for a bit by just galloping at all of the jumps (which is somewhat terrifying), and then relying on his natural cattiness to get him back for the turns and such. However, If I go into the turn with him very balanced and on his hind end I can set him up several strides out and then sit chilly and just let him go to the jump and whatever distance is there will work out because he is light in front and over his back.

Anyway, this has been a long process for me! I’m not the most naturally gifted rider (to put it mildly) so I’ve always had to work extra hard and learning how to do proper flatwork and then have it carry over to the jumps is something I’ll always struggle to do correctly. Without it, I’m just a passenger who is not helping and sometimes hindering my horse, so developing both of our skills and our partnership has been worth it!

[Tha_Ridge]

Just have to say that I went into my lesson today thinking about all the things everyone here pointed out and truly had my best and most confident ride on the horse yet. The jumps are still small (1.0m or so), but I was finally riding with enough pace to have options to support him to the base, make tighter rollbacks, adjust in the lines, etc. It was a blast!

[weixiao]

One thing that helped me when I was first starting to do the bigger jumpers was to think about bending my elbows more. The result was a higher hand than I was used to from the hunter ring and seemed to click better for me and naturally keep my shoulders back more than just thinking about lifting my hands. One of those things that just depends what clicks with your brain but that helped me so throwing it out there.

Also, I found that when I thought about sitting away from the jumps/back I wanted to do it by arching my back dramatically, which did move my shoulders back but made me stiff and messed up my pelvis and leg position and balance and caused a weak core. I really needed to think about keeping a flat back and a strong core as I did it. For me, the best visual was imagining I had a parachute attached to the middle of my back pulling my upper body away supportively and almost “tucking” my pelvis. In the beginning, it felt like I was rounding my back but really it was just a flat back vs my usual over arched back. The important thing is keeping your core strong and not collapsing into a heap. The visual worked well for me and my specific issues and might not be helpful for you but just throwing it out there in case it does help!

[Tha_Ridge]

@weixiao

Also, I found that when I thought about sitting away from the jumps/back I wanted to do it by arching my back dramatically, which did move my shoulders back but made me stiff and messed up my pelvis and leg position and balance and caused a weak core.

I totally catch myself doing this! I think just sticking my chest out more is sitting up straight and it’s really not. Your visual is helpful!

[Bluey]

So, that was decades ago, but one problem I had teaching mostly hunter riders to start jumpers was the absent following hand, that is really important when jumps get bigger.

I was surprised when a junior on his last year, that used to take monthly lessons with GM, just could not let go, kept his horse where the horse had to struggle to use himself over jumps not being able to bascule properly.

What helped were gymnastics and grab strap and hands out to the sides, to gain confidence on a more independent seat than it seems hunters required then.
Don’t know if that still applies today.

[eclipse]

@CBoylen

In general, most people transitioning from the Hunter ring do not carry their hands high enough, which prevents them from sitting back enough.

Definitely this….I went the other way (from jumpers to hunters) and had too high a hand so I sat too far back! Once I figured out to carry my hands lower, it helped my hunter seat. Now I can transition between a hunter position and jumper position much easier by carrying my hands slightly different!

And @Tha_Ridge your new horse is gorgeous!

[Feliz]

Beautiful horse

Thinking of the fence as a big drop into water helps me not tip forward so much - when I remember to do it. I came from eventing

I also try to check my position regularly when I’m hacking to try and stop reverting to my naturally sloppy habits. When I do canter sets I’ll pretend that there’s a huge upright that we’re jumping at a particular clump of grass and for some reason that really helps me sit up and back, keep impulsion etc.

Interestingly I rode a horse a couple of times last week that is the exact opposite of my jumper and that helped a lot when I schooled over some decent sized fences a few days later. The other horse (fairly green) needed a lot more leg and a supportive hand, whereas my jumper would prefer to be left entirely alone - which fools me into taking my leg off and tipping forward. Newsflash - sitting up and waiting for the fence gives me a better ride 100% of the time

[Tha_Ridge]

Awesome lesson #2 yesterday! We switched him into his show bit (Beris two-ring), which I think my trainer was a little nervous to do because she was afraid I’d pull too hard, but I’ve only made that mistake twice and both times it results in the wonderfully kind jumper quietly coming to a walk three strides out. I am beginning to LOVE the feel of riding up to the base and feeling this powerful little horse rock back, give an amazing effort, and go, “OK, where’s the next jump, lady?!”

[foursocks]

@Tha_Ridge

I am beginning to LOVE the feel of riding up to the base and feeling this powerful little horse rock back, give an amazing effort, and go, “OK, where’s the next jump, lady?!”

It’s so fun, isn’t it? A nice, gappy hunter jump is a lovely thing, but the big, bouncy ball feeling of a really athletic jumper is even better, to me. My horse will happily jump from underneath the fence as long as he is balanced and on his hind end. It’s an incredible feeling, especially when you get this massive, powerful jump and the horse lands balanced and eager for whatever comes next.

[omare]

I do not think it hurts to also watch videos of the top jump riders–now granted, they can put everything together, and are tremedous athletes, but I think it does not hurt.