Smallish horse without a big stride

[Horse_around]

Hi! I’m looking for tips and experiences for getting comfortable doing the step on a smaller horse. My last horse was 17 hands with more than enough stride. New young horse is 15.3 with a great jump, but he doesn’t have a huge step. The horse is green and we’re currently still doing the adds and keeping the jumps low (around 2’6). My Trainer is not worried and thinks the step will be there, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it & some days I feel like I’m on a pony. We do practice all the things like getting an adjustable canter, straightness, etc. but any tips on how to adjust to a little horse with less stride? I feel like I’m going to need to hand gallop the entire course.

Would also love to hear any success stories for hunters that didn’t naturally “walk the lines” but went on to be competitive. Thanks!

[Ponyplusaninch]

FWIW, usually it does get easier when the fence height goes up.

At 2’6”, even on the average stride horse you have to think “forward” to encourage a horse across and go after the first fence to make it down the line. 3’ means a bigger jump, bigger arc, naturally more open stride.

My horse has an average stride, but you wouldn’t think it given how big he is (17.2). I would so, so much rather jump a 3’ course vs. 2’6” where I feel like I just have to press him constantly to make the lines.

So while it may be growing pains right now, it will get better.

IDK if you hack on your own, but an exercise I did a lot of over the winter was working on going in between the add stride and the regular over small cavalletti. The lesson to be learned from that exercise is in order to go between the two, you need to have a quality canter, plain and simple. It will call you out when you don’t lol.

[Mander]

To add to Pony_an_inch, at 3’ the takeoff/landing also move a bit further away from the jump. Distances at competitions are measured 6’ from the base of the jump, but at 2’6’’, many horses only take off/land maybe 3-4 feet from the fence so all of a sudden your 4-stride distance is actually going to require a 13-14 foot stride! No wonder you feel like you’ve got to gallop the whole way!

[Willesdon]

Time and familiarity. Feel the horse you are sitting on rather than riding the one you used to ride. Soon you will forget the previous big step and instead concentrate on what is going well with the new horse.

[fourfillies]

Completely agree. If you are keeping the distances between the fences on an honest 12’ step 2’6” feels much worse than you will at 3’. I went to a schooling show, did a schooling trip at 2’6” and felt like the lines were terrifyingly long at 2’6” on my guy who has plenty of step. Then just cantered the 3’.

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

Former pony rider and small horse rider… when you think you have enough pace, add leg and gallop.
What feels like a rocking horse canter on a 16.2+ horse will need to feel like you’re really moving and going forward on the petite wonders. You have to decide if you really like to get them in gear that way and have that feel, bc the second you half halt or sink in your tack, the add will inevitably pop up.

[IPEsq]

Do you have any lower level shows in your area where the low classes are set a tad short? If so, start there. You will need more canter than to do the add, but they’ll have adjusted down a little bit to accommodate the fact that you don’t have as much take off and landing room as you need at 3’. You can also ask your trainer to make some adjustments at home if you are doing private lessons. As the jumps go up, you should be able to make the transition easier.

This may never be an over 3’ or 3’3” horse at rated shows though because when you get to 3’6” you may well have to hand gallop, and that’s not something that places on top these days all else being equal with the round. At the moderate heights, you may do just fine with something that feels like a gallop to you in comparison to your last horse. How it looks depends on this horse. Does the horse appear to flow nicely over the ground albeit not covering as much distance as your big horse, or does the shorter step look stabby? This is a question of general gait quality, and if the horse has a pretty nice looking canter with good jump to it, then yes you may have to hustle around the course, but it won’t look bad.

[2bayboys]

I had a similar thread about my small horse and there were some really good thoughts contributed.

Languishing between the add and the step

Just hanging out in baby horse land between doing the add and moving up to the step and looking for ideas to make that transition easier? Horse is a 6yo gelding that was supposed to be a large pony and has ended up at 15.2 so far. COVID put last year’s horse show plans on hold so he’s only been out a handful of times and we are doing the babiest of baby green divisions at local shows. He’s not ever going to just lope down the lines at the real distance but I feel confident that the step is in t…

[findeight]

Its not just about the jumps with those a nickel short in step. You need to learn to use all of your corners to keep your step ALL the way around your courses, not quit riding after every line…especially if you blew it in and had to hustle out, you cant fiddle your way around the corner then try to fix it on the approach to the next fence…as we Adults are famous for.

Your track around the corners needs to be wide and sweeping carrying the same pace from dead center ( hopefully) on the landing, around the corner to dead center taking off for the fence after the corner. If you can get that, distances will just be there and the line ride easy. If I can learn to do that, you can too. Even diagonals-if you get the corner, they are right there. Really.

Horses gifted in step can minimize track and pace errors by their pilot but, if you happen to be one that is starting to light up, you can use squaring instead of sweeping your corners to quietly back them off a little.

Ask your trainer to work with you on track around your corners and see how that influences getting into and down your lines. Something that helped me greatly was setting two fences at about 3 and 9 o’clock in your ring. Put road cones or similar markers on the left and right of dead center on the take off side of each fence. Use the whole ring to get a good pace and jump the first, get a nice, sweeping corner and carry it to the center of the second fence the keep going around a couple of times.

You want to train your eye and body to quit micromanaging step, picking to find a spot, chasing to get down the line and then quitting on landing. The horse needs to stretch out and flow and you need to let it happen. We spend so much time jumping a couple and stopping and picking at distances while ignoring track, no wonder some look choppy trying to get around a full course.

Its hard to use text to convey a concept but if your trainer is any good, they will understand what Im trying to describe here.

[Horse_around]

Thank you all for the great tips/advice!
I do think (hope?) as the horse gets stronger and straighter and jumps go up, it’ll fall into place and feel “just right.” Its been a while since I’ve had a young horse and my last one had the opposite problem/too much stride that we needed to contain.

This horse is a very pretty mover and doesn’t look choppy. He’s a hack winner and has an attractive canter. He’s won o/f in the baby greens (2’6) in good company at AA shows doing the step and doesn’t look like he’s galloping, so I know he’s capable. I think it’s just adjusting to such a different type and he is also naturally super lazy and takes a lot of leg to get moving at all. Trainer is great and I’m trusting the process while we are working a lot on track and straightness doing the adds at home.

One other thing is the horse can get on the forehand when asking for more pace which I know is a strength and balance thing. He’s starting to feel like he’s able to carry himself and stay uphill, which will help so much. It’s much better but still happens when he gets tired.

Trainer thinks the step should be there once we’re in a bigger ring at the shows.

[DawgLady]

I have a very similar reality, and here’s the best advice I’ve gotten so far:

Straightness is your friend.

Once I was told this, I started to realize that I wasn’t focusing on straightness at all. Once you stop to think about the geometry of it, it makes sense. If your horse jumps off center at the first jump, then fades a bit the other way, it’s easy to add 2’ or more to that line, which was already sorta long for him.

I wouldn’t say it makes the lines easy, but it certainly makes them easier.

[findeight]

Shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Goes double on a stride challenged horse down a line- if you aren’t dead center to dead center down a line? You are adding more distance to that line and all it takes is an extra foot or two to make the out distance poof into a chip.

[Rel6]

If it makes you feel any better, everything you’re saying is similar to what I’m experiencing on my green one who is a big horse with a huge stride. Showing in the 2’3’’, in an indoor ring, where we’re a bit crooked down a line (and he’s a naturally slow guy to begin with) we just do a lovely, quiet add until he wakes up a bit and gets straight. I know at a bigger height in a bigger ring I’m going to be jumping in and whoa-ing to make his stride fit - but for now, we just see where he’s at and decide if we’re doing the adds or not.

So no tips (you’ve gotten great ones) but just reassurance that even with a naturally big-strided horse, his quietness and greeness means we are in the same boat. It will come!

[StormyDay]

@Horse_around

Thank you all for the great tips/advice!
I do think (hope?) as the horse gets stronger and straighter and jumps go up, it’ll fall into place and feel “just right.” Its been a while since I’ve had a young horse and my last one had the opposite problem/too much stride that we needed to contain.

This horse is a very pretty mover and doesn’t look choppy. He’s a hack winner and has an attractive canter. He’s won o/f in the baby greens (2’6) in good company at AA shows doing the step and doesn’t look like he’s galloping, so I know he’s capable. I think it’s just adjusting to such a different type and he is also naturally super lazy and takes a lot of leg to get moving at all. Trainer is great and I’m trusting the process while we are working a lot on track and straightness doing the adds at home.

One other thing is the horse can get on the forehand when asking for more pace which I know is a strength and balance thing. He’s starting to feel like he’s able to carry himself and stay uphill, which will help so much. It’s much better but still happens when he gets tired.

Trainer thinks the step should be there once we’re in a bigger ring at the shows.

He sounds a lot like one of mine.

Before I jump my guy, I get him in a really nice dressage frame and then gallop him in that uphill frame. It took a while for us to get good at doing that, but I aim for similar to the gallop in the upper levels of dressage; forward but still uphill.

He goes so much better over the jumps over that. Makes the step and feels forward. When I forget to do it I can really tell.

[enjoytheride]

I’m not showing hunters but I personally go for the add on my short horses. I’d rather have a good forward pace for my horse to look pleasurable and add one down every line than to gun it down the lines trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.

[Mander]

This is probably less applicable to OP in this instance since they know the horse can do the step and not look rushed, but at least in the lower level shows (I won’t speak to A/AA shows) I’ve heard a few judges say that assuming the strides aren’t marked on the course, they’d place as follows:

1. Horse that does a consistent, but graceful, add down equidistance lines (ex. maybe they do all the 4-stride lines in 4, but all the 5-stride lines in 6)
2. Horse that gets the step each time but looks hurried to do so
3. Horse that does the add in some lines and the step in others.

Of course, there are caveats, but it seems that judges are more open to rewarding smooth looking rounds over ones that are technically more “correct”.

[findeight]

When you feel them getting a little downhill? Open your hip angle a little, drive forward and raise your hands. We do tend to bury our hands in the neck, especially if we are tiring or need to get a stronger position (as is true for most of us.)

My best trainers called it getting the “ merry go round canter”. Hands up, driving seat and up-down-up-down. Work a little of this into your warm up flat work going from extended canter to collected without losing impulsion. That will help him develop balance and strength and you get stronger and and feel your canter. Adjustability is your goal on any horse regardless of step.