The joy of jumping

By now, you know that riding great courses comes down to a few fundamentals – a solid rhythm, a commitment to your line and a balanced approach. But if you’re introducing an inexperienced horse to jumping, all these fundamentals can feel pretty difficult. So how do you turn gangly-legged approaches and helicopter jumping efforts into something more mature, smooth and competitive? By building straightforward exercises that do the job of explaining it all for you.

Good preparation

A solid warm-up and a focused plan for your ride ahead are always important, but never more so than when riding an inexperienced horse. Green horses are impressionable and even the most basic of sessions will teach him something, so it’s up to you to make sure he’s learning good habits, not bad ones.

With this in mind, structure your warm-up around what you’re hoping to achieve – in this case, the fundamentals of balance, rhythm, and confidence. You’ll achieve this first by allowing him to relax into his work with a decent, stretching walk, and then by riding numerous transitions once you pick up trot and canter. Use your corners to help balance him, ride plenty of figures and changes of rein, and use transitions as frequently as possible to shift weight onto his hindquarters and rebalance him naturally while also tuning him up so he’s more responsive to your aids.

Did you know?

Trotting into fences is a great skill to learn and practise. Many top-level event horses have found their ways out of tight spots by being able to do just that, so don’t feel you must always canter when jumping.

Top tip

Finish once he’s made an improvement. That can mean different things for different horses, but it rarely means he’ll have executed the exercise perfectly, so take the pressure off and keep your expectations low while he learns.

Learn how to ride Louise’s simple gridwork exercise and solve common problems in September Horse&Rider – out now!