Moving Up and Expectations - Checklist?

[blondewithchrome]

Totally agree with this. I show in the 3’3 and rarely jump a full course of 3’3 at home. I didn’t before I moved up, either. There will be 1 or 2 thrown in but a course of 2’9-3’-3’3 with different tracks, rides, etc is more than enough.

I do agree you should be jumping THE height at home in some fashion so you can be prepared for the height at the show. But I think demonstrating mastery of pace, connection, track, and execution at 3’ is going to give you much better prep than just galloping around a 3’3 course at home without any of the above and saying “yep, I did it!”

[Tha_Ridge]

@blondewithchrome

But I think demonstrating mastery of pace, connection, track, and execution at 3’ is going to give you much better prep than just galloping around a 3’3 course at home without any of the above and saying “yep, I did it!

Totally. I had a lesson today that was such a good example of that - three bounce cavaletti set on a circle with a forward bending line to a vertical (perhaps 2’6") in 5 strides. Do you know how many times I galloped up to chip in 6? As I was whining about it, my trainer literally goes “I know you can jump a course and will go and get it in the show ring, so let’s make it hard here.” Made me think of this thread.

[Pokerface]

So, to me, “schooling higher at home” doesn’t necessarily mean regularly jumping an entire course at that height, but that it’s consistently thrown in for a few jumps. That might mean doing gymnastics where the out is the higher height. One of my old trainers liked to do courses that ranged from 2’6-3’9 when I was showing in the 3’6. So if the course had 8 fences, 5 might be 2’6-3’, a couple 3’6, and maybe a 3’9 fence. It gave us the practice of the course and the heights, but saved our horses a bit.

It’s not about jumping the legs off your horse, but more about making sure horse and rider are comfortable with what they are jumping. 3’ at home and 3’ at shows are rarely the same! You don’t want to add nerves + “fluffy” jumps + a pair that is at the top of their height abilities.

A horse does not have to be a 3’3 horse to get over 1-2 3’3 fences. I did a clinic once with a now disgraced clinician. My horse was a solid 3’ horse, and we were sent galloping down over a fence that was easily 4’-4’3. Not the horse I would have chosen to do that on, but we lived .