Leg matters
Lower leg position is also equally important in helping you maintain balance and a secure seat. Focus on
keeping your heels down and your leg nice and long.
Weight in the heels will help with balance and it will help
you react to what is happening underneth you. If you
are having trouble keeping your heels down, read our
article Heels Down in this issue for exercises you can
do to help.
Everything we do has an effect on them!
Ride a rhythm
This is a pretty standard rule for every discipline. Focus on it every time you are working your horse, no
matter what your focus is for that day. In trot you can
count one- two, one- two in your head (or out loud if it
helps!) In canter, focus that your horse has a clear canter rhythm, meaning that it is three beats and jumping
from behind. Sit him up on his hind legs so that he has
all the power from behind, to push off and make a great
jump. Of course the gallop stretches let his neck out
so he can gallop along nicely. If rhythm is an issue for
you, start out with some poles on the ground that you
can canter over. Remember, if you are having issues
on the flat, or over small jumps then you are going to
have much bigger problems over the big jumps! Place
the poles all around the arena, some down a straight
line, some single poles and some on a circle. Stride out
the ones in the line and make them different distances apart to make the most of this exercise. Ride over
the poles in all sorts of directions and introduce angles
when you are feeling confident. Try to let your horse
figure out his own striding rather than micromanaging
him. When you feel some improvement over the poles
then move onto the same exercise with cross poles
and smaller fences. You don’t need to be jumping big
fences all the time, you just need to be jumping small
fences well. If you aren’t managing the small fences
then things are going to become uncomfortable and
tricky out on the course.
Most of all
Tackling the tricky jumps
Every rider has their fences that they hate riding over.
For many, these are the dreaded skinny fences, corners
and ditches. They don’t need to cause shivers down
your spine when you are walking the course. Make your
weaknesses your strengths! If you are worried about
these type of fences, the best thing you can do is practise first in the arena, over show jumps
which are easily knocked down, without major conse
quences. Build your confidence here before moving
out onto the cross country course. By the time you
get on the track you will be feeling great and you will
wonder what you were ever worried about!
have the best time out
on the course!