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A wise investment

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 15:23

Walking the course with an experienced coach or rider is probably one of the best investments in safety that you can make. However, it is important that they have seen you ride and know your strengths and weaknesses otherwise, although their advice could be sensible, it may be inappropriate in your situation. The experienced coach will make the course walk ...

Fear of falling

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 15:10

Particularly for the young, the fear of falling off can be greatly reduced by learning how to fall and getting fit enough to fall, under the direction of a qualified gymnastics coach. This strategy will benefit the vast majority of riders, because riders of all levels do have falls at times. Every effort should be made to avoid falls, but ...

Get on

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 14:23

Finally, never forget that good preparation allows you to get on again the next day, rather than horse and possibly rider having to stay at home nursing stiffness, wounds or a loss of confidence. Make the training truly progressive and enjoyable, and have a good fittening programme in place. Horses should not be ‘just’ fit enough, they should be more ...

Drop fences

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 14:20

Once you can achieve the exercise in the panel on the previous page, then the next step is to jump down a bank from a slow trot, making this same opening of the angles as your horse jumps off and then closing the angles as he lands. As you open up the knee and hip joints going down a drop, ...

Kick on

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 14:03

You can get in gear at home by warming up well, with particular emphasis on your horse going forward from the leg with a normal rein contact, until you can lengthen and shorten the canter with ease. Having both you and your horse in gear mentally and physically is a key requirement for cross-country riding,and your ability and confidence to use ...

Take off and landing points

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 13:48

The major things that are different as you go faster are the take-off and landing points. As you go faster the ideal take-off point is a little further away and, with a symmetrical arch, you will also land a little further away. Jumping at 500m/m, it is normal to take off around 2.5m away from the highest point of the ...

Going faster

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 13:43

The work on a horse’s basic jump technique is vital. There is little point going faster over fences until a horse has learnt to take off using both hindlegs together. If you have established a method of show jumping that produces a consistent stride length before and after the fence, and you have a consistent balance with a good lower leg ...

Seeing a stride

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 13:37

Knowing what stride the horse is on is important and very small changes can be helpful, but you must be careful not to distract the horse close to the fence by making big changes to the stride length in the last moments. Instead you must encourage your horse to take some of the responsibility for altering his stride if this ...

Putting your horse ‘in gear’

William Micklem, 16 May 2010 13:31

A runaway horse is not ‘in gear’ – he is freewheeling and out of control, and a danger to the rider and himself. To be in gear, there has to be sufficient calmness and acceptance, alongside a willingness to go forward and connection through the back, to give true impulsion. A cross-country horse needs impulsion just the same as a ...

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