When they say a horse is “patting the ground”, what does that mean?
It means that the horse is balanced and uphill enough to be able to come right to the base of the fence, and effortlessly shorten that last stride in such a way that it produces a fabulous jump. Some horses do it naturally, but others need to be taught.
It’s a nice way to describe a chip. It’s generally a smart horse’s reaction to being ridden to a too long spot by the not so smart rider and keeping them both in one piece.
What Findeight said. Patting the ground is a smart horse’s ability to fix a not-great spot and still jump pretty well from it. I would not describe it as producing a “fabulous jump” by any means, though it’s usually not a complete whiff. The horse that is patting the ground is fixing the distance and jumping up and around the fence; it’s not scrambling to get out of a completely sunk distance.
I would sort of disagree with the above. I am sure hunters would consider most of what I was taught to be considered a “chip” because it isn’t gappy, but as a jumper rider I was taught to ride forward to the base. A well trained horse will “pat the ground” and rock back on its haunches so it has a lot of power to jump from the base. That is what I was taught to be correct and what I was taught to aim for. The horse to back itself off the fence. Key is that you have to have a nice canter because if you come in off balance and on the forehand he physically can’t.
a lot of hunters struggle because their jumps are what I consider to be too long and flat for the pace they are carrying (none). And conversely – XC, the deep distance is too deep when going at speed, you want to be a bit farther back when at a strong gallop so the horse has time to get its front end out of the way. It’s a matter of perspective and the job you are asking the horse to do at the time. But showjumping, a horse that you can ride forward to the base and who “pats the ground” is a praiseworthy attribute. And certainly that’s how we tried to ride the young horses – consistently ride them forward to the base, and the jumps will teach them their jobs from there. The strides coming in should be even, not that small last half stride – that’s what I would call a chip. If you have even strides and you are just way too close and the horse can’t jump the jump, you’ve buried it. But they can jump small jumps from pretty darn close if they have a good canter.
It’s what I do after augering in and not being too hurt.
To me it means the horse rocks back, barely touches ground in front to set a better distance and then jumps.
I don’t think it has to be a bad ride…sometimes you are just going to be a bit deep. To me this is different than a chip or burying your horse to a bad distance. When a horse “pats” the ground to me it is when you have a shorter but balanced last stride before the fence, the horse is light on the frontend and rocks back and jumps around the fence. Some horses will do this naturally…others that are well ridden will…and others, no matter how well ridden, just are poor jumpers and will not.
This is still a good jump and a fine distance but no the same as when you hit the jump just perfect and the horses jump out of stride.
It is also different then chipping to a fence.
Yeah, it’s not a flat out, ugly chip and throw themselves over. More like a half stride the rider may not have thought they needed.
[QUOTE=findeight;8131732]
Yeah, it’s not a flat out, ugly chip and throw themselves over. More like a half stride the rider may not have thought they needed.[/QUOTE]
See I think a horse is more liking going to pat the ground and jump well WHEN the rider sees the add as well. It is typically well ridden.
[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;8131738]
See I think a horse is more liking going to pat the ground and jump well WHEN the rider sees the add as well. It is typically well ridden.[/QUOTE]
Thinking out loud here, but maybe a difference between a chip and and pat is that for a chip, the rider is not expecting it and may have jumped ahead and it looks a bit awkward, whereas for the pat, the rider is sitting back waiting for the horse, so it looks smoother all around.
[QUOTE=lstevenson;8131140]
It means that the horse is balanced and uphill enough to be able to come right to the base of the fence, and effortlessly shorten that last stride in such a way that it produces a fabulous jump. Some horses do it naturally, but others need to be taught.
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This is my understanding as well… it’s a valuable thing for a horse to learn to do, and it’s not ugly like a real chip.
A tight distance with the horse forward and in balance is “patting the ground.” A tight distance when the horse is not forward or in balance is a vomit over the fence called a “chip.” The other clue is when a horse chips he lands in a heap on the other side.
A “chip” and a tight distance are CERTAINLY NOT the same thing–unless you live in Hunterland where all they care about is a perfect distance or take off spot. In Eventerland we don’t have a tiny spot less then a foot in diameter we have a big wide circle in front of the fence. And you damn well better know how to jump from anywhere in the big circle because difference fences, terrain and questions before and after that fence mean you need different shapes and styles of bascules over the fence. And you better be able to do it in a balance and forward manner.
Some people think you are a “real” eventer when you go Preliminary. In my book it happens when you can ride forward to a distance 6" from the base of the fence–on purpose.
My guy patted the ground this morning in a lesson.
We were coming up a hill to a biggish (for me) oxer. I had enough canter, was pretty organized, as in trying NOt to over manage it - and he patted the ground, and had a great jump over the oxer.
I looked at my trainer - and she thought he jumped it well.
That’s my view of things, as well. Sometimes the rider has planned for the ‘pat the ground’ due to the questions being asked by the fence/course. Other times, the rider is fixing what would otherwise have been a ‘chip’. Sometimes you realize that you aren’t going to arrive at the fence at a good distance, and rather than gunning for the long spot, you can sit up, ensure the canter is balanced and ride to the tighter distance and get that ‘pat’ the ground feeling. A ‘chip’ happens, a ‘pat’ is planned (sometimes by the rider, and sometimes by a savvy horse!).
[QUOTE=subk;8131945]
A tight distance with the horse forward and in balance is “patting the ground.” A tight distance when the horse is not forward or in balance is a vomit over the fence called a “chip.” The other clue is when a horse chips he lands in a heap on the other side.
A “chip” and a tight distance are CERTAINLY NOT the same thing–unless you live in Hunterland where all they care about is a perfect distance or take off spot. In Eventerland we don’t have a tiny spot less then a foot in diameter we have a big wide circle in front of the fence. And you damn well better know how to jump from anywhere in the big circle because difference fences, terrain and questions before and after that fence mean you need different shapes and styles of bascules over the fence. And you better be able to do it in a balance and forward manner.
Some people think you are a “real” eventer when you go Preliminary. In my book it happens when you can ride forward to a distance 6" from the base of the fence–on purpose.[/QUOTE]
This is my understanding as well. And in my last jump lesson…trainer had me both purposely putting my guy forward to a deep distance at an oxer…then purposely trying to get in on a bit more of a gap distance into a line with forward striding (then to quiet striding so you didn’t want to be running down the line to get the first striding, because you would then eat it on the out combination).
This horse is naturally very quick up front and generally good about patting the ground in a deep distance.
What lstevenson and subk said! :yes:
That was awesome, thank you, the apple I was eating tried to kill me when I choked on it LOL!
[QUOTE=NCRider;8131768]
Thinking out loud here, but maybe a difference between a chip and and pat is that for a chip, the rider is not expecting it and may have jumped ahead and it looks a bit awkward, whereas for the pat, the rider is sitting back waiting for the horse, so it looks smoother all around.[/QUOTE]
I also think of a chip as the more “downhill” move of the two. As istevenson pointed out, the horse may be too close to the base, but he’s light on his forehand if he just pats the ground with his front feet.
[QUOTE=findeight;8131324]
It’s a nice way to describe a chip. It’s generally a smart horse’s reaction to being ridden to a too long spot by the not so smart rider and keeping them both in one piece.[/QUOTE]
A “chip” and patting the ground are two VERY different things. A chip is a rider mistake. When the horse “pats the ground”, he was properly ridden forward to the base of the jump - and this will usually allow the horse show his best form.
