You are here

liverpools

Flexing and stretching over a jumping line

Droits d'accès: 
Abonné
Image Miniature: 
Résumé listing: 

An excellent gymnastic that favours the top line suppleness and the correctness of its motion. This exercise is also a good way to school the horse and rider over liverpools and water-jumps.

Niveau de difficulté: 
Intermédiaire
Goal: 

An excellent gymnastic that favours the top line suppleness and the correctness of its motion. This exercise is also a good way to school the horse and rider over liverpools and water-jumps.

Progress: 

This grid encourages the horse to flex and stretch his entire body. The double on the way-in encourages the rider to approach the line with a cadenced canter and sets the correct length of striding prior the water jump. Therefore, the horse is ready to cover the length of the water jumper that is next. The distance between the water-jump and the oxer on the way out reinforce the horse stretching motion.

Michel teaches Alice who spends a few days at the yard for a clinic. During this session, Alice rides Undiams, an eight year old gelding who has been trained for the last few weeks by Michel to reach the top level. Alice has, here, an excellent opportunity to discover new sensations with this horse who she rides for the first time.

Michel has set up a line of jumps that includes a water jump, a combination on the way-in and an oxer on the way-out. The horse has to bring together the quickness of his front legs, the stretching of his top-line over a wide obstacle and the pushing power over a high fence on the way-out. The key elements to be successful on this exercise are relaxation, steadiness of the strides, straightness and the rider’s eyes with a wide angle view.
 This set-up is also a good way to practise water jumps which can be feared by horses and are causing many faults during a course. It is therefore very wise to work this type of obstacle at home without the added stress of the competition.

Undiams has usually a tendency to speed up in combinations. After jumping the line a few times, it appears that the exercise is profitable for his training. The horse is focused and attentive to each single fence and deconstructs each element of the line.

Cours associés

How to correctly jump spooky fences on course

Droits d'accès: 
Visiteur
Programme / Dossiers Miniature: 
Résumé listing: 

On any course, there are fences that are more worrying than others: water jumps, fillers, liverpools… It is important to have previously found a solution, to eliminate all negative thoughts (...)

Niveau de difficulté: 
Intermédiaire
Contenu du dossier: 

(...) On any course, there are fences that are more worrying than others: water jumps, fillers, liverpools… It is important to have previously found a solution, to eliminate all negative thoughts while walking the course and during mental preparation. Imagining a successful jump over the water or the planks before setting off is an excellent way of managing to eliminate problems. As you enter the arena, do not hesitate to ride past the fence that’s worrying you, while patting your horse. When jumping the course, it is precisely while approaching these kinds of fences, that it is necessary to resort to the basis of all your work: keep your legs close to the horse and exaggerate your wide-angle vision. The legs are in contact but not tightened, ready to act to ensure that the same speed is maintained come what may.

Whatever happens, bear in mind that horses need to understand and learn. We have mentioned this previously; it is not when competing that one should present a horse, which has never even jumped a plain liverpool, with a 4-metre-wide water jump. Ideally, one should train over all the types of fences one might come across when show jumping. For those who do not necessarily have everything available, one can create a water jump using a simple blue plastic sheet placed on the ground.
As far as jumping the course is concerned, one fence down must not destroy all the rest. On the contrary, pretend it never happened, maintain your concentration for the rest of the course and use this opportunity to work on your horse and finish with no additional faults. This is important for competing calmly in future classes; the horse must remain confident (...)

 

Extract of the book "Secrets and method of a great champion"

 

Cours associés