How do you
Improve your Jumping Style?
"I believe it's the riders who have to raise the standard - and it's position and correct aids, that's how the dressage riders have raised their level of competition. They realised that unless they improved, they just would not get the movement out of the horse, and so get the marks to keep up with the better riders of the world."
"Unfortunately in Australia, showjumping is below the international standard . So there are riders that can still win classes without having their horses as well trained as you would need them, if you wanted to win classes in Europe or England or America."
"This is the problem in Australia and it's why showjumping is not improving; the standard of riding is still behind the rest of the world."
"What we need are more course builders, like Leeson Sirrett, who isn't afraid to put up a tough course, whether there are ten or fifty horses in the field. That way the riders either don't go in the competition because they don't feel they can cope with the course; or else they go home and say, 'Well if that's the way it's going to be and we want to keep competing, we'll have to try a bit harder, get better training to improve our riding, and look for better horses'."
"The classical Caprilli forward seat, if you are looking at being a perfectionist, is the style to follow. But the problem with the perfect style is that we have to have everything else perfect to begin with."
"The horse has to travel perfectly, the rider has to have perfect seat and leg position, we have to be in perfect balance in the saddle, and our horse has to leave the ground and make a lovely shape in the air to enable us to sit in the perfect Caprilli seat."
"The American trainer, George Morris invented another release called the crest release. The difference between that and the Caprilli style is that the Caprilli style requires a straight line between the rider's elbow, hand and horse's mouth. Now the problem is that if the horse lowers his head to a large degree, it is difficult for the rider to follow his mouth down the side of his neck with his hands. It is a difficult position to hold without either getting left behind or over balancing.
George Morris developed what he calls a crest release which is commonly used in modern day showjumping. It involves the rider placing his hands on the crest of the horse's neck, sliding his hand up the neck, and using the neck to support his hands which in turn can support his upper body in the air; that enables the rider to maintain a more stable position. The only difference is that it takes away that straight line from the elbow, hand, horse's mouth; but providing the rider gives the horse enough freedom in the air it is just as effective.
Pic 1 - Caprilli position
Pic 2 - Morris crest release - it's also an example of the long release used in the crest release method
Pic 3 - Medium release
Pic 4 - Shorter release
We use a short release if we want to jump a tall upright and turn immediately on landing. For example, if we are jumping the first part of a short combination, we want to use what we call a short release, because we don't want the horse to land and get long on landing.
If we are jumping an oxer where we have to turn immediately on landing we might use the medium release providing the oxer is not too wide.
If we are riding a combination, or a triple bar, or a fence with a lot of spread or against the clock we would use the more forward long release.
That's why we need to use the three different releases, and why we practice them and learn to use them at different times. Too often people get carried away with their releases, and they either end up with a release that is too short and they actually restrict the horse in the air and the rider's head and shoulders rotates over their hands; or they make too long a release and their hands are up around the horse's ears, and on landing it takes them too long to establish balance and control. It also puts the horse on the forehand on take-off, if the rider gets in front of the horse's movement too early.
It's absolutely imperative for a rider to have a good lower leg position. The lower leg is the starting point to get technique correct. I generally start with the lower leg, work up to the seat, then the upper body and then the hands.
I think it is so important for a showjumping rider to establish a good sound solid lower leg in the correct position to apply the aids; the lower leg is the base to support the rider's position in the air. We can't only rely on having a good balanced seat over a fence, because our seat is out of the saddle. We need a good sound lower leg that is able to stay perpendicular to the ground and so stay close to the horse's sides to maintain our balance in the air. Then we can land on the opposite side of the fence and feel that we have got weight in the stirrups. Without a good sound lower leg we can't land and take-off and stay on the horse in a balanced position. Many riders end up flopping on the horse's neck or pulling back on the reins. The reason is they don't have a good secure lower leg.
My idea of the perfect lower leg is:
* it should be just behind the girth
* the toe should be turned out at about a 30 degree angle
* the heel should be lower than the toe
* the weight should be on the ball of the foot with the stirrup in line with the outside toe, the outside edge of the stirrup, the calf and the inside leg should be close to the horse at all times.
Whether you are using your leg strongly on your horse or not, it should be just resting beside your horse.
If your leg is six inches away from the horse and you need to apply leg in front of a fence, it takes too long from when your brain tells your leg to go on the horse to the end result.
I like to see the toe turned out at about a thirty degree angle because it places your lower leg more comfortably on your horse and stops you from gripping with the knees so much.
Gripping with your knees is an old fashioned way of riding. We always encourage our pupils not to grip with their knees so they can get their lower leg closer to the horse's side. Most riders who grip with the knees end up with a loose lower leg in the air; it slips back and tends to kick up.
Once we have worked on the rider's seat and legs, the next important thing is the rider's hands. But I must stress, that I always believe the seat and leg position are most important; the hands come later.
It is the same in every day riding. It's always leg first and hand second when the rider applies the aids. The position of the hands should be where the horse's neck and wither meet. The hands should be close together, about four to six inches above the horse's wither.
The hands should really hold the reins, most riders hold the reins between the little finger and the third finger, and the reins should come up through the palm of the hand and the rider should always clamp the thumb on top of the rein so it makes a locking device between the thumb and the index finger. A good grip on the reins is especially necessary for showjumping, so that when a rider is approaching a fence or in the air they don't lose their grip of the reins, that is most important.
I also believe that the riders should make a good firm fist on the reins. It doesn't have to be so strong that they can see the whites of their knuckles, but it should be firm enough that they have always got a good firm grip on the reins.
Often when I'm teaching I see riders who just ride around with no real contact and a loose rein with their fingers very open and they are prone to losing the grip on the reins. Their thumbs should always be upright and slightly turned in following the line of the horsess shoulder.
What we have here is a rider holding the reins with a good firm grip, with the thumb firmly pressed down on the rein, with the rein between the thumb and the index finger without loose fingers on the rein.
This is what we often see in novice riders, or riders who are a bit nervous. They tend to ride with open fingers and are worried about putting pressure on the horse's mouth in case it might offend him, and the next thing is the horse reefs at the reins and they have lost the reins all together.
Usually if a horse is cantering along with his head in the air, and cantering along with his backside out or his shoulders in, it's because the rider isn't using his aids correctly on the horse to begin with and the horse is not accepting the contact of the rider's hands. In this situation I would take the rider back to the walk, I would get him to halt the horse, I would get him to make sure he has even contact on both reins. I would make sure his seat and legs are
in the correct position, I would encourage him to concentrate on feeling the horse with his lower leg, to make sure his lower leg is always feeling the side of his horse.
Even if the horse is a little hot, I would still encourage the rider to teach the horse to accept his leg on the horse. A lot of racehorses are not used to the leg, and the slightest touch of the leg will tend to make them over react. They will either jump forward or sideways and as soon as they do that, the rider will grab with their hands and the horse's head will go up in the air.
Again, we will go right back to the walk and we will try and get the horse walking forward accepting the leg and seat aids and walking forward into a nice elastic contact. I mean, it can be either a strong or weak contact, as long as there is contact and the rider's arms are not flapping in the breeze.
Once the horse can walk forward in either a straight line or a large circle, I would get the rider to decrease the circle in the walk and start to introduce the inside leg aid combined with the inside rein aid to try and get the horse more supple through the shoulders, neck and back, and to also try and get the horse to accept the aids in a very relaxed manner.
These aids should only be applied starting off by just an increase in the pressure of the leg until we get a response. The same with the hands. We just squeeze on the reins, slightly pull on the inside rein just a little stronger until the horse starts to give to the inside aid. It depends on the horse's mouth, whether they have got a hard mouth or a light mouth, but we are looking for contact at the end of the day. We are looking for a horse that responds to our aids and stays between our hand and leg.
Once the horse can accept our aids on either side of the body, on the left rein and the right rein then I would move into the sitting trot and introduce the same exercises. At the same time, I would be looking for downward transitions in the walk. I would be going from walk to halt, concentrating on the horse staying in the shape and not resisting the hand and poking his nose out during the transition.
It doesn't matter whether they are showjumpers, eventers or polocrosse riders, the rider should be in the three point upright position at this stage; just your normal shoulder/hip/heel line and sitting in the saddle.
Showjumpers in my mind get a bit preoccupied with the two point seat, and they can't ride in the three point seat correctly to begin with. I think it is very important because the three point seat is where we can use our aids the most effectively. Once we stand up in the stirrups and take our weight out of the seat, some of our aids are diminished and our legs becomes a little weaker; as soon as we put our weight back into the stirrups it makes it harder to use our legs effectively. There is a lot to be done in the three point upright seat and the different seat positions to me are further down the track.