If you're scared, you're not having fun. Whether you take three months or three years or perhaps decades to learn to go over jumps doesn't matter.
Your instructor or coach should be willing to go your pace and not compare you to other riders. Your first step in learning to ride over jumps is to work with a coach or instructor to develop a secure seat at all gaits from a walk to hand gallop. You should also be able to ride these gaits securely in two points or half seat. It's common for instructors, especially those teaching kids, to hurry through the basics and get the student jumping before they're really secure.
This is often a mistake and ultimately leads to unsafe, unhappy riders and unhappy horses. It's difficult to say how long it will take to develop a secure seat—it varies for every rider.
A really keen, athletic rider on a well-schooled horse may be able to start jumping after a few months of lessons. Others may take longer, either because they aren't as athletic, or are keen but apprehensive. This is where a good instructor or coach can make a big difference—someone who will know when to give the student a little motivational push, without overwhelming them. After you have mastered the basics, you can start riding over poles.
Often instructors will start with just one pole, that will be ridden over at the walk. You will then learn to walk and then trot over a line of poles, both at a posting trot and two-point seat. Once you've mastered that you'll start cantering over the line. It's important to understand the spacing between the poles so it's easy for you and your horse to accomplish this exercise safely.
This is where your coach is a good resource. From poles, you will move to caveletti—poles that are raised a few inches off of the ground. Again, you'll trot and canter over these as your horse moves with greater impulsion to lift itself over these tiny jumps.
Once you're secure going over the caveletti the next step will be a small cross rail. This will be just high enough to encourage your horse to actually jump, rather than step over the rails. As you approach this cross rail, it's important to keep your seat securely in the saddle. Look forward beyond the jump at where you want to go after you land. It is never a good idea to push a horse to compete when lack of maturity makes it difficult to achieve the level of training needed.
If you listen, horses are good at telling you what they can handle and what they cannot. Many slow maturing horses catch up quickly once they grow up a bit. Physical difficulty might be the cause due to soundness or balance issues in a growing animal. Either over-stressing or boring an individual by an unsuitable training regime can result in a youngster not thriving.
Perhaps it is a lack of understanding what is being asked. Every horse learns through being handled and ridden. Be sure yours learn to understand and like their job, rather than learning any of a myriad of resistances that confused and pressured horses resort to when they become frustrated, confused or over-faced. The series outlines the progressive exercises and time frame one can adapt to the individual horse.
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Riding at a trot it would also be easier to control the approach's pace. To an arranged envelope you can add a pointer on the ground put 30 cm ahead the obstacle. Additionally, V poles prove very useful - two poles arranged diagonally, while one end of a pole is leaning on the obstacle and the other is put on the ground.
Envelope is a perfect obstacle for teaching the horse how to jump, because the crossing poles set the centre of the obstacle, which involuntarily teaches the horse the right place of jumping - right through the middle. The envelope's front should be at least 3,50 m wide.
It is worth placing the obstacle in the exit direction, a few metres behind the corner and preferably by the fence - in such a way, the fence will play the role of one of the V poles.
Such arrangement will naturally limit the horses from his sides and lead on the obstacle. Additionally, the corner's presence will not allow him to speed, and that will eliminate a few bad habits and mistakes that your horse might make while approaching the obstacle.
Jumping more than once one obstacle in the first phase of jumping training makes no sense. The horse is already pretty confused how to properly jump over one obstacle - more of them might only reinforce his fear and unwillingness.
What does the "first phase of jumping training" mean? It is a relative concept - depending on the horse, it might take less or more time. To be more precise: it takes exactly as long as the horse needs to learn to jump without much thinking, cleanly and firmly.
By the way, it is worth paying attention to the fact that even experienced horses better fix their mistakes while jumping single obstacles or ranks rather than jumping the whole parkour. It is very simple: jumping only one obstacle, we have time to think and analyse the mistakes before the next jump.
What is more, we can take a break after each jump, due to which the horse will not tire so quickly, and we would be able to perform more repetitions. Especially during first jumps, what the rider's body does has immense influence on the young horse.
Your mistake might create negative associations for the horse. So remember to maintain a delicate contact with the horse's muzzle while jumping. In case the horse stops before the obstacle, which will force you to take-off from a stop or in case the horse tosses his head right before jumping, you have to quickly catch his mane or brace yourself against his neck.
By doing so, you will prevent pulling the reins abruptly and you will maintain balance as such. While jumping you should also try to slide your hands towards the crest, minding not to do it to quickly. If you give the reins away too early, the animal will feel like he is all alone.
But your hand cannot be too "hard", namely stiff and not giving to the muzzle's pressure. Because the horse has to know that you allow him to stretch over the obstacle, round his back and extend his neck. After the phase of jumping the envelope at a trot, you can move on to another obstacles - still setting them at maybe 50 cm depending on how high your horse is , also using the pointer, V poles and setting them by the corner and fence.
You can replace the envelope with straight rails. When your horse gets used to it, it is worth changing it for an oxer, of which the pointer should not be outthrust, placed right behind the first pole of the obstacle. What is more, it is good when two ends of the oxer are on the same level or when the other pole is set a hole higher than the first one.
In another stage of training, it is worth trying to arrange the obstacles in various places of the manege, slowly resigning from the V poles. After the phase of jumping over various obstacles you may introduce low ranks, still jumping at a trot.
It all depends on the horse. Give him as much time as he needs - so he would feel safe and the jumps over particular obstacles would not cause him any troubles. Behind a corner, on the long wall by the fence of manege, arrange three cavaletti for a trot spacing: ca. By doing so, you will hit their middle after riding on the long wall.
Your horse should jump the cavaletti in both directions without speeding, riding at even pace. If you succeed at this, you can set an envelope at a distance of 2,20 m from the last cavaletti, arranging one more V pole as the role of the other will play the arena's fence. After a few jumps, you can place a pole on the ground at a distance of 3 m behind the envelope, over which your horse will perform the first jump at a canter.
Then you can change the pole on an envelope and jump the rank times. You can add one V pole to each of set obstacles from the middle of the arena. In another stages, you place the pole on the ground after the second envelope, again at a distance of 3 m, which next you replace with an envelope.
Three obstacles in a rank is enough for a young horse. However, you can experiment by changing for example the second and third obstacles with straight rails, and change the last one with an oxer at the training's finish.
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