Trouble with striding.?

Question

I’ve never really got striding. I try to count when I get up to jumps but I don’t get the whole judging thing and I always seem to get it wrong and go crashing through the jump. Is there any easy way to explain and do it? Please help

Thanks x*x

Answer 1

Stick to trot until you start to judge distances yourself. When you do progress to cantering, the best way to practise striding is with canter poles and grid work. I use 4 or 6 canter poles depending on space (more when you have more confidence) and place them at your horses normal canter stride (usually about 4 - 5ft apart i think).  Canter over 6 poles and then get someone to put the last pole up into a cross pole jump. When you are confident over this put the pole number 4 up into a cross pole jump. Again, when you are  confident over this put the 2nd pole up into a cross pole jump, so you are going pole, jump, pole, jump, pole, jump. Next put the last fence up into a straight bar jump. Finally remove the  1st and 5th poles, and swap the second jump with the 3rd pole. You will be left with pole, jump, jump, stride, jump. Adjust the distances until you are confident, add jumps, move jumps, etc until you find your horses own stride. I used to have a nightmare at local shows on my pre-novice as the striding used to be 2 1/2 strides at double fences. This allowed the ponies to go 3 strides, but my lad had to do 2 long strides. Occasionally though it was easier to pull him short and do 3 strides! Hope this helps!!

Answer 2

Set up a cross rail or two and ride your horse two it counting with the stride 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Try doing it while simply going around the ring. Once you get a feel for the stride and are counting properly turn the horse towards the jump and keep counting. This will help you determine where the horse will take off. If you have trouble getting a rhythm then get someone who knows how to count strides to count them out for you and you count along. At first you will still get bad spots but you will be able to go with the horses motion better because you are counting. After while you will begin to see a spot when you have a good one. The first spots you will see are the ones that you dont have to do anything to get. They are just there. Then you will start to be able to see the spots far enough out to do something about them.

Don't try to see a spot where there is none at first. Just go with it. Try to jump the same height for awhile because even a three inch difference can throw off your ability to judge a distance. Don't stress about it not being able to see a spot though. It comes to everyone differently.

Answer 3

Seeing a good distance is harder for some people than others.  It definitely helps to have a horse which will find the distance itself.

There are two exercises I like for helping riders to get better at judging distances.  The first, is to set up a line of two foot jumps.  (I think gates and walls, are easier to see distances to.  But if you find them intimidating, stick to plain verticals).  You want the line to be an easy five strides for your horse.  (Ask your instructor or another experienced horseperson to help you set it up.  Because every horse is different, I can't give you an exact measurement.)

Go through the line a couple times and get the two jumps in 5 steps (count outloud!  It helps!).  The next time, ask your horse to shorten his stride and get 6 steps.  Once you've got that, ask your horse to lengthen and get 4 steps.

The other exercise I like is to set up a small crossrail.  Canter towards the crossrail and shout "ONE" the last step before the horse takes off.  Canter it again, and say "TWO, ONE" on the second and final step before the jump.  Then do "THREE, TWO, ONE".  See how far you can get.

Keep trying.  It takes a while before a rider can develop a good eye.

Answer 4

Striding makes jumping easier for a horse especially with large jumps !

When jumping you should aim to take off the ground 1 horse stride before the jump ( about 1.5m/2.5m depending on horse size ).

If you can't find the striding isn't correct and problems could be caused by incorrect striding , you then collect back the horse, half-halt and add in an extra stride.

Normally you find striding is only used in showing and higher level showjumping. On basic-medium level showjumping or xc you find that riders let there horses figure out striding as the jumps are smaller , dont need much accuracy and can't be knocked down as easy as large jumps.

Striding takes practice and if your horse is strong and fights for his head then problems can be caused, fences rushed and poles / refusles can happen.

In the schooling ring practice putting canter or trotting poles ( 3/4/5) before the jump so the horse has to figure out his feet to get the correct strides and clear the jump easily. Do this on both reins, then try on a circle where you will then have to collect up the horse as he willf ind it more difficult.

Practice and enjoy

Good Luck

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