Placing poles

[MitchyInge]

What do you do if your horse takes off before the pole, apart from feel proud that he stays in the air all the way over the jump?

Fall off probably!

Enter him in next year's Grand National?

Get so shocked I cleared it, I forget to turn the corner with my horse and fall on my head!

Get rid of the pole and see how you get on, some horses just don't really get them. Are you approaching in trot or canter? Try altering the height of the fence, if you make it bigger and or wider he may not be so gung ho about the whole thing but that depends how brave you are!

Also meant to say grids are very good at making horses think, slow down and watch where they put their feet. Good to have a helper on the ground to adjust things for you incase poles go flying though!

line of poles eg 3 beforehand,canter stride distance, approach in trot and ask for canter at last pole. I find being really determined to approach in trot and saying'wait, wait!' loudly can help focus you and horse.