I am wanting to move onto bigger jumps?

Question

I have a 14hh Fell Pony, VERY athletic and clears 4ft with ease ( escpaing out of fields) . I have jumped him over 3ft on a couple of occasions at home which he manages with no problem at all. At competitions I am still doing around 2ft 4. I want to move up to 2ft 9 though. He is perfectly capable, but the thing is - im not. Whenever we come to a spread i completely tense up which makes him really nervous. and it seems daunting approaching large spreads as they seem to loom over his ears. Im training over about 2ft 6 at home. My pony is only 8 so he has potential, and hopefully I do - how can i train and make us both more confident to jump bigger at show jumping competitions - and eventuall cross country.

Answer 1

Welll if u wont to move on to bigger jumps inprove on your jump and riding the only reason she isnt doing that is because something is going wrong wen u rid your horsex Good question thankyou x

Answer 2

You need more self confidence and only you can help that

Answer 3

I've been riding for 3 years and I still get tense sometimes. It's nothing to worry about. If you are really nervous just practise at home as much as you can. You could ask a friend to hold him on  a lead rope as you go over the jump. Don't move on until YOU are ready.

Answer 4

practice loose jumping him over bigger jumps, once you've seen him do it without a problem, you'll be more confident when you go to do it yourself

when you jump, dont look straight at the jump...

start in a trot, ride up to the jump, but as you turn the corner, look at soemthing to the side of the jump, and dont take your eyes off it until you have landed and started to ride away. once your confident doing this, move on and do it in a canter. then put the jump up higher and do it again

when your confident doing bigger jumps this way, go back to looking straight ahead. dont look at the jump, look at something ahead of it, and again, start off in a trot, then canter, then make the jump bigger

i know it sounds weird, but my instructor got me to do it, and I'm way more confident going over big jumps now!

its because if you look at the jump, and if its a big jump, you pony is more likely to refuse, or else your going to get nervous, and you'll start to interfere with your pony's strides (completely by accident!) and you will probably knock it down

of course, the thing where you turn away isnt the proper way to jump, it is only to get you out of the habit of looking at the jump!

hope that helped!

Answer 5

Take your time. Don't push too much beyond your comfort zone. "worried dad" is right that you should be schooling beyond what you're showing, so you don't want to be schooling 2'6" and showing 2'9", but rather the other way around. Practice at your comfort zone for the most part, then maybe boost things up just a touch toward the end.  

When I was younger and actively jumping, my trainer used to raise the rails one hole (3") when my back was turned (and not tell me) so I wouldn't fixate on the new height and get too nervous. If you have a trainer working with you or a friend who can do things like that, it might help.

Just take it easy, and move up gradually.  You want to push yourself to improve, but not in such large steps that you get hurt.

Answer 6

Slowly work your way up to 2'9''.

See if you can go to a schooling classes with a height that's in between, we have a schooling show around here for "transitions'', and they have classes in between all the regular ones. I think they have 2'5'', 2'7'', etc. They also have a couple of the regular ones, 2'9'', 3'6'', etc.

And lunging over 2'9'' is a good idea - then you can see that your pony is perfectly capable. Maybe ask a friend who is similar to your size jump him over 2'9'', so you can see him jump with a rider.

Good luck!

Answer 7

i agree w/ all of them just trust in ur self and u can do anything!

But if u feel better have a trainer!

Hope that i helped!!

Bye

Answer 8

This is why we train people!!!

You should be training at least one step ahead of where you are competing. If you are training now at 2'6" you should move that up to the 2'9". Compete at 2'6" and train at 2'9". This is the whole reason we train, to get you as well as the horse used to jumping bigger obstacles.

Once both of you are totally confident over 2'9" then you can move up to 3' in training, and if you feel comfortable enough 2'9" in competition.

Good Luck!!

Answer 9

just remember that he can do it and u just need to trust  him

Answer 10

Firstly lunge him over 2ft 9 so you see that he can clear it and he will clear it. Make sure that you are as confident as you can be at jumping 2ft 6 then move onto 2ft 7  and whenever you are really confident move unto 2ft 8 and so on.

Answer 11

well, maybe build up the height of the jumps gradually, dont force yourself to do it, just stay calm.