An Exercise For Horses That Are Eager At The Jumps
Show jumper Lauren Fischer shares a riding exercise she uses to teach horses patience and adjustability.
“The purpose of this exercise is working on line, track, straightness and control with your horse. When you do it the first time, if you set it at 60 feet, it will be four strides. It’s the same speed, the same line, in four even strides.
The second time you do it, you do a collected five strides in between the two. The third time you do it, you want to bend out the track and collect in doing six. This teaches the horse adjustability and yourself, control and patience and waiting for your horse to come up to you when collecting and bending the track.
If you have a horse that is a bit eager at the jumps, and you want them to learn to be patient and to listen to you, and to come up underneath, this is a great exercise in keeping your horse at the same rhythm as you are.
I do it with my Grand Prix horses, with my young horses and with all my clients.”