Sometimes my instructor will have us do an exercise where we’ll get 5 strides in a line the first time and 4 the next for example. This is something I suck at lol. I get nervous about messing up the distance when we leave out a stride and then I do mess it up! It will end up being one of those annoying half strides or a chip. Any tips?? Keep in my this is just over little cross rails and very low verticals.
You need to establish the longer stride well BEFORE the first jump.
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In your warm up, practice getting your horse well in front of your leg. So extend and collect within the canter, and if your horse is sluggish, consider using a stick to encourage him. You want him to really surge forward when you first ask, not the second or third time.
You want to get most of the work done on strides one and two so that your horse is absolutely confident at strides three and four that he’s taking off after 4 strides. Your longest steps should be the first ones, you don’t want to end up at the very end of his stride on stride 4 AND have to jump, that’s physically taxing. I would also practice on your own over ground poles, ideally over a longer striding line, like a 6 or 7 where you don’t have to make up as much ground over each individual stride.
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Don’t think of it as “leaving out a stride” but rather “compressing and adding a stride” then when you go back and open the stride you are really getting the “correct stride”. We do this exercise a lot, it helps teach you to balance and compress and bring your horse back and go forward immediately. Taking out strides is not a good thing! Both the adding of the stride AND the then the lengthening of the stride should be done within the first 1 to two strides of landing after the first pole, not before takeoff…at takeoff you should already have the “correct “ distance which is established early down the line, and not by pulling or running at the last minute (this is how crashes or run outs happen!). Sit tall, leg on, steady hand (leg always says forward hand either always forward or is saying “steady we are collecting”), keep the pace, And at the base keep leg on, don’t drop your shoulder or hands and if you miss don’t panic…it’s not the end of the world! Horses can always help us out when we have given them a good foundation to jump from!
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Agree with those above. The “leaving out” portion of the lengthening exercise is accomplished heading to and then within the first couple of strides inside of the line. You should be able to sit up and balance a bit before the “out” if you’ve ridden it correctly. So you should have established the length of step you need around the corned heading into the line, ride forward for the first couple of strides, and then be able to relax (or ideally, even whoa) in the last step before takeoff.
If you’re riding into the line the same as with the collection and then trying to run to get out, you are, indeed, doing it wrong.
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I add leg and pray. 
I loathe this exercise because I have long had a hard time with “forward” and will happily turn a 5 stride line into 12 strides. However it’s good to remind yourself that the jumps are very small, and your horse is capable of stepping over them at the trot (or even walk, if they’re cross rails!) which can alleviate some of the anxiety about missing the distance. Sure it might be ugly, but generally super safe.
The replies from the others above are exactly what I have done to be successful at this exercise.
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Get a gallop and jump in going.
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Agreed with the others. You need a bold canter to the first fence and continue that pace for the first few strides in the line. That way you can sit up and balance before the second fence so you’re not chasing the whole way.
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FWIW OP, I’ve been doing that exercise for like 20 years (various formats, innumerable horses) and it’s really hard. If you’re a bit of a nervous nellie like me, then part of what you get from the exercise is better tolerance for messing up.
If your free rides - assuming you get any - are simple WTC, by the time you’re in the lesson, it’s hard to have a meaningful conversation with the horse about going forward. You can prepare for next time - and for life - by exploring how big and how small you can make the horse’s canter during your free rides, and then alternating between big, medium, and small. I like to alternate between big canter on a large circle and small canter on a small circle. It breaks up the monotony of flying down the long sides or diagonals. In time, you’ll be able to create more and more difference between them.
Other suggestions about practicing meaningful cues for “forward” can also help.
Even better than hitting the gas pedal on strides 1 and 2 after fence 1 is to just come in with more pace. You may need to practice a lot to get a feel for the right pace - it’s often bigger/faster than might be comfortable at first.
If you don’t get time to ride on your own, you could ask your instructor whether you could practice lengthening and shortening the canter on the flat in preparation for doing it over poles or jumps. If she says no, just do the best you can. Most of us suck at this.
When you’re pushing for the correct distance but you’re not sure you’ll get it, remember to stretch up tall, keep your eyes up, and keep squeezing. Then even if you get a really yucky chip it won’t feel so bad.
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Some people need to spend a lot of time on this exercise without fences to get comfortable with the feel. Start with two cones or windows or marks on the fence (or dressage letters if you have them). You want them on the longest side of the arena, pretty close to the corners (but not in the corners). You want to be straight on the long side when you pass them.
For an entire ride, just practice counting every time you pass them. Don’t change anything. Count in both the trot and canter.
Then, in whichever gait you are more comfortable, start trying to change the number of strides you get normally. Add or take away one. Then try the other gait. Then go back to the easier gait and try to add and remove 2.
If your horse isn’t in front of your leg, that’s a different issue that you’ll also need to deal with.
Once those are working, try replacing your markers with ground poles, and eventually cross-rails.
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I think the two biggest things in leaving the step out are holding your pace through the corners and staying straight.
I know I am guilty of wanting to steady through the corners but you need to push for a longer stride. A prompt and properly balanced turn is super important as it sets you up to be straight. Any wiggling/popping shoulder/haunches in the line and your not going to be able to leave it out (or its not going to be pretty). It definitely takes practice but good luck!
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Us control freaks hate this exercise. You have to give up managing the “in” distance and focus on your pace in, through and out of the corner. Hateful.
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I am the QUEEN of ok ok let’s get one stride less, we’re totally capable, oh CRAP we’re going fast oh no no (half halt) oh phew we got my comfortable stride… so what if we added it felt safe. I’ve been working on this very hard and one thing that has helped me is to watch video. I feel like I am flying and used to feel almost out of control. I wasn’t, it was my brain tricking me into thinking that. Lots of other great tips here, but if you feel like maybe you are going to fast and that taking out a stride is scary watch yourself. It takes time to develop confidence and to get a feel for the rhythm. That is even harder if your mind takes over to tell you that you can’t and that adding or chipping is safer. In addition to the above setting ground poles at different strides (9-10’ add to start then moving to a 12’ show stride) really helped me feel a difference in the type of ride I needed going to a line.
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Thank you!!! This is all super helpful!!
Another thing to think about (which actually, you are doing too much of, but you know what I mean!) is to make sure you’re going over the fence in-stride, and taking off a little closer to the first fence in the line so that you are also landing a little further away from Fence #1 (and therefore slightly closing the distance to Fence #2).
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Yes, to what everyone has said, I’d just reinforce that this is basically a collection/extension excercise. And if you are uncomfortable over even a crossrail you can practice this over poles or even just watching the markers go by in a dressage arena. It’s about lengthening and shortening the stride anywhere, not about “leaving out” a stride.
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Pretty much everyone has said it already, but I always found it most helpful to establish that canter I needed going into the corner, carrying that pace through the turn and then establishing my track for the line. You need pace first and to keep that consistent on the approach to the jump.
I’m not using my words well this morning, but here’s a video example of what I mean (just the first line). You can see in this clip that my mare is much more packaged up in the turn in almost a bouncy canter, whereas in this clip from the jumpoff, she’s got a much more open canter. It’s not that she’s going faster, but her stride in the first line is much more compressed than in the jump-off.
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