Is there anyone who has or does regularly jump 1m and higher that can give me some advice please?

[Flexibilityisquay]

I've been doing a fair bit of jumping over the last 18 months or so, up to about 90cm. I am really enjoying it, and I would like to progress to higher classes, but I am not sure if I am ready to do that or not. How do you know?

I can get round a 90cm class with reasonable style, but I can't in all honesty say I am judging the takeoff for each fence accurately, and I wonder if I need to be before I start trying to jump higher? The trouble is, I think I could be waiting for ever to get to that stage. Do I just need to bite the bullet and give the bigger courses a go? I seem to have a bit of a mental block about anything over 3ft. So should I keep going as I am until I can meet every fence right all the time, or am I better off just going for it, in the hope that practice over higher fences will help?

I should add that I am lucky to have an incredibly willing horse to ride. Once he is locked onto a fence, he will jump it. He hasn't stopped once in the last 18 months. I just don't want to abuse his good nature, trying to jump things I am not up to.

I event BE intermediate so not a showjumper, but train young horses too. From an evneter's perspective, if you ride without interfering, your horse should manage by himself. If you watch a horse loose school over a fence, they don't misjudge a take off. It is a negative relationship with the rider that causes missed strides etc (arguing, diving, rushing, chipping, standing off) because the rider is on the horse's shoulder/pony club kicks/sat down too deep/chased to the fence etc etc.

Your job is to develop a good canter on the flat and to have a quiet upper body. And to Practise at home over bigger fences.

However, if you want to improve your skill of seeing a stride, at home it is worth doing two things. With a trainer, get them to put canter poles to a small fence so you start to get a feel for your horse's stride. Then build up the fence to 1m. Then, over time, remove the poles and see if you can count down 3-2-1. It is also with doing the exercise with a neck strap and holding on to keep your shoulder back and to stop you getting involved with the reins. Watch videos of yourself too and see if you can count the horse in while you are watching.

I am an eventer as well, have evented up to 1*, and have about 30 years experience with horses. In your situation, I would be having regular lessons with a good showjump instructor (if you can afford it), who can iron out the issues you have described. Being able to 'see' the stride, or even better, riding the canter to a really good quality so that the right stride comes up, is best taught by an instructor. And these days, riding a quality canter to get a good stride is the preferred method, as opposed to seeing a stride, which seems to be the old way it was taught.

As an aside, if you are competing 90cm, then conventional horsie wisdom says that you should be training about 1m-1.10m at home. I do find that under 1m, you can get away with many problems and faults, and still get around a course. When you upgrade to 1m and beyond - not so much. For example, when I jump under 1m on an experienced horse, I tend to slop around a bit. Put the jump up to 1m, and I and the horse take it much more seriously, and I will sit down and ride, because it takes much more concentration, technicality and precision from the horse and rider. And I don't want to end up on the floor .

HTH

Agree about the quality of the canter and not trying too hard to see a stride.
I think I might be zzzales long lost older sister, having evented up to 2* many moons ago. I had a while out and have spent years fancying around with my current mare at BE 90 and sj only up to 95 cm. it took an early running sj comp to move me on, literally I always would do the 85 and 95 but one day I arrived at a fairly local comp to discover they were nearly finished the first round of the 95 already. The lovely organisers persuaded me to try the 1.05 on the grounds that it was very quiet so nobody would see , it was beyond fun and mare jumped better than ever and I went home with a huge grin on my face, so it is possible you are overthinking it a bit ( I say that as someone who had definitely developed a thing about going over 1m).
We haven't looked back since. Have fun.

Love the autocorrect
I wrote fannying around but obs too rude!

Thanks for the responses, lots of useful advice there! I do need to concentrate on a good quality canter, and try not to think so hard about seeing a stride. I am having lessons. I had a bit of a breakthrough recently when my instructor pointed out that I wasn't keeping my eyes on the fence as I came up to it. Such a small thing, but it has made a massive difference. It is frustrating though as I still don't seem to get it right every time.

Ehhn, I have done some work with canter poles. I can't get to grips with them though, we always seem to end up tripping over them! I will have to try harder.

Zazzles, I think I will try to up the height at home, and see how we go with that, I've got to try it some time! Horse certainly is better over bigger fences. He will slop over a 2 foot pole half asleep as if its all a bit beneath him, and not worth putting in any effort. As they go up, he certainly gets more careful, and keener!

Hobnob, it sounds like I am where you were before, except I have not got the previous eventing experience.

I will take on board what you have all said, and try upping the height at home first, to see what happens. I have a lesson planned next week, so that might be a good time to start. Thanks again all.

Do have a discussion with your instructor as to your goals of reaching 1m and beyond, as they should have a lot of valuable input in helping you reach that. The first step in showjumping 1m+ is being able to do that at home over single fences; then over 2-4 jumps which have 1-2 fences of 1m; and eventually over a whole course of 1m. And preferably, you should do this before setting out on a 1m competition course. It may take a number of months to prepare you for a 1m competition, however, it will also make your 90cm courses much better. Eg when I was preparing to make the step up from 95cm eventing to 1.05m a few years ago, I used a prep time of 6-9 months for an already experienced horse and rider, taking into account that I would be prepping for cross country as well as showjumping. It may take you more or less time, depending on the experience of the horse, the rider and the instructor.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Thanks, this has been really helpful. I feel like I have a plan now. Hopefully I can aim for some 1m classes next spring if I start working up to it now. The horse can certainly do it. He has previously done BE100 eventing, so it is just a case of me catching up with him. It will give me something to focus on over the winter.

Well I've made a start. I told my instructor what I was aiming to do, and she didn't laugh in my face, which is a good start. Had a lesson yesterday, and did some reasonable sized jumps. I finished it feeling a little bit frustrated though.

Last time I had a lesson I was told to look at the fence consistently as I approached it. I have been doing that, but it didn't feel quite right, as it means I am looking down at the fence as I get close to it. I asked about that, and was told I shouldn't be looking at the fence, once I get to the last few strides out, which is pretty much what I was doing before. I kind of feel like I am going round in circles and getting bogged down with details, as I m now obsessing about where I am looking.

Last time I had a lesson I was told to look at the fence consistently as I approached it. I have been doing that, but it didn't feel quite right, as it means I am looking down at the fence as I get close to it. I asked about that, and was told I shouldn't be looking at the fence, once I get to the last few strides out, which is pretty much what I was doing before.

Err, this is an odd bit of teaching. When the fences are low, you can get away with horse and rider mistakes like this, and nothing much will come of it. Once the fences get higher and higher, mistakes like this will cost, and at worst, you or the horse can end up getting hurt.

When I am jumping higher fences, as I approach, I clock the fence for position, the type of turn I need to do for the fence, the angle I need to approach, the sort of canter I have etc. But once I am about 5-10m (I think) or so in front of the fence, I then shift my gaze to beyond the fence, like 10-15m or so beyond, and keep the canter going. You need an instructor who can walk you through what you and the horse should be doing at virtually every stride - in the preparation to the approach, the approach itself, the jump itself, the landing, and the take-off from the landing. Rinse and repeat for the next fence.

Keep coming back to this thread, because if you are getting taught odd stuff like this, it may be an indicator that you need a new instructor to further your jumping. Nothing wrong with that, we have all been there at some stage or another in pursuit of higher goals.

HTH

even when I was only jumping 60-80 com I was always taught to look past the jump - where you are going, and to never look at the jump when you are close. (and certainly not down at it) Are you sure you didn't mis-understand the instruction?

I was always taught to look past the jump also, obviously you need to clock your positioning, angles etc.... Once you get to a point you should naturally be looking beyond and where your going when you land.

'If you look where your going you will go there - including the floor!'
Never forgot that when I got shouted it as a 10yr old for looking down
Its true though!

Thanks all. It may well have been my misunderstanding, I'm not entirely sure. I have another lesson next week, so will see how that goes.

No worries Flexbility, have a chat to your instructor and clear up the misunderstanding, and see if it is your misunderstanding, or whether she/he is teaching you something a bit odd. Either way, it is always good to clear up things like this, and helps your learning .

I thought I would resurrect this thread, as yesterday, after dithering and chickening out for ages, I finally bit the bullet, and did a 3'3" class. It was only at a small local show, and although the fences were up to height, the spreads weren't pulled out like they would be in a proper 1m class. It is definite progress though, and I don't know what I was so worried about. Dhorse looked after me like he always does, and we went round clear. Someone video'd it which was really useful. I could see all my faults, there is lots to work on, but it was no different really to jumping 3'.

Haven't read the replies but have you done grid work? It really helps my clients see their strides and you can start small and move it up! :)
Some horses jump better when the fences are bigger!!
Well done on the 3'3 class!

Hooray!! Well done!