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| no groundline. no problem. |
I used to board at a show barn where there were always fun exercises set up in the arena and a trainer on hand to teach lessons. And then I boarded at a sweet ass jumping barn where we set our own exercises and had all kinds of fun together.
And now I board at a dressage barn, which is cool when I pop over some teeny crossrails and my fellow boarders are like "OMG THOSE ARE HUGE AND YOU ARE AMAZING", but less cool when I have to set up/take down all my own exercises and rarely have a set of eyes on the ground.
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| yeah so that was awesome |
So for those of you who jump outside of lessons, how do you handle it? I find myself avoiding exercises that involve setting a lot of fences or that are "technical" because I'm on my own if I get stuck. I'm always happy that my horse has a severe wood allergy. However, this is our normal right now and I still want to progress.
Do you just get on and off a lot? Set lots of alternates? Just do cavaletti and wait for lessons?
Previously I always tried to set things that I was comfortable with and wouldn't find myself in a "oh sh* " I can't fix this problem situation. Another good idea is to maybe as a jump trainer you do sometimes work with what kind of exercises you could work on when you're at home?
ReplyDeleteI liked to set atleast 3 fences of various height or type - x, vertical, and over so I had a few things to work on provided I didn't grab a rail and have to reset. Another thing I liked to work with was poles and used to try to set a few "related" distances and canter the poles and try to adjust my striding. My biggest advice though I'm no expert is to make sure you don't try to tackle too much on your own and over face yourself. Been there and it's no fun esp if there isn't a trainer on site you can ask to help you then and there
I'm going to leave this to others to answer, because I rarely jump outside of lessons and if I do... it's singles.
ReplyDeleteI am soooo grateful our ring has a set of jumps set up, because otherwise I would NEVER jump :) I usually only have to adjust height. I try to have a couple jumps I feel comfortable so I don't force my poor horse to jump any one fence more than 2 or 3 times.
ReplyDelete99% of my jumping is outside of lessons. Luckily we always have a course set up, so there's something there. I do usually go out and move something around, or raise/lower certain fences depending on what I want to do that day. If I knock a rail down I get off and put it back.
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling with this right now, but mostly because of issues setting up courses- I have no motivation to move standards all around the arena so they end up as a random mess near the center and I just work with it. I'm now trying to make a plan when I want to jump, like I did the last time (most recent blog post).
ReplyDeleteJumping around by yourself can be hard- but the practice is still helpful, even if it's not a lesson!
Getting on and off is a pain in the ass, so I always set myself some lower fences to warm up over, and then put everything else up to the height I actually want to work at that day. Some days I end up not jumping the 'max height' fences because that's just not the pony I have, but they're there if I want them. I set full courses, combinations, related distances, whatever. I just go in with a plan and then modify as needed depending on how the pony is going and how I'm riding. Grids are annoying to set up but great for jumping higher by yourself since it's harder to get in trouble when the distances are set for you!
ReplyDeleteYou can always bribe a certain blogger's mother to help you out. She'd probably be happy to. Just don't ask her to video because if you take down a rail or miss a distance, rest of the video will be of the ground and her commentary in the background.
ReplyDeleteI board at a hunter/jumper/equitation barn, so the ring always has jumps set up. When I get to the barn, I go straight to the ring and set things up myself: whether it's lowering jumps or setting trot poles or whatever. That way, I can just tack up Roger, get on a jump around. I'm usually hacking by myself in the evenings, so I find it easier to adjust everything before I get on, instead of getting off and back on a bunch of times.
ReplyDeleteHave kids. They make excellent slaves...ahem...jump crew. Ok that might be more work than you were hoping. I will set 3 jumps. One line and a single on a diagonal. I set one in the lime as the warm up fence then the second highest that I want to jump. Then the diagonal s good in between height. Jump the warm up fence by itself in burgh directions and then the diagonal the same. And then the line together and the way they are set up you can make a little course several ways with just those 3. If all is going well them maybe get off once to raise. But typically I have enough to work on and don't ever have to get off.
ReplyDeleteI've had various different arrangements, but right now probably have the best set up for jumping outside of lessons. The barn rule is that you can set whatever you want and do not have to take it down. Others can take it down if it's in their way. Most of us like having something set up so it works out because we all end up taking turns setting things up, changing things, and taking things down. Typically I make plans to jump with a friend and we set up a full course with varying heights so we have warm up jumps built in. And then at the end I will get off and make a few bigger for her because she's brave.
ReplyDeleteI board at a hunter jumper barn so I don't think I have ever been wanting for fences to jump, but when I boarded on a military base prior to moving to Kansas, it was an all around barn and I was the minority as an English rider and the only jumper on the property. I used to set up more simple exercises and just get off and on a lot to adjust height (thank goodness for mounting blocks!). Amy has some good advice, you can always set a few simple fences and then make them more difficult by adding poles or turns. Glad you and Courage out there having fun!
ReplyDeleteI usually go out on Monday and tell all the ponies, "Today we all learn to jump triple bars!" and they're all like "Ugh Mooo-oom we hate those" and I'm like "I'm the mother and I said so" and set up a triple bar. Then everybody has to jump it that week and I only have to change the height and width, not the entire setup. Usually if a horse is giving me a problem that I know a certain exercise will fix, I put up that exercise and all the horses jump it that week. It's good for the newbies to learn new things and for the experienced horses to go over things they know again and find out if there are any holes in their schooling.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I jump once or twice a week on each horse, so I can afford to just do one exercise a week.
I board at a dressage barn that graciously permits me to have all many of crazy jumps set up in the big outdoor arena.
ReplyDeleteIf I am planning a jumping day, I typically get to the barn half an hour earlier than I usually do to set the fences. Since I'm limited on number of jumps, I don't usually get to set up anything elaborate like oxers or grids. I utilize the barn's cavaletti blocks, a couple of sets of barrels, the jump standards I built, and anything that is reasonably safe for filler (like a Christmas tree or picnic bench).
I usually leave my jump courses up because the barn's trainer enjoys putting them down to teeny crossrails and forcing her dressage kids to trot over them. (We are good friends because we enjoy tormenting the children.) Speaking of kids, they're my jump crew when they're available. When they aren't, I just get on and off, which is tedious, but necessary.
I don't jump outside of lessons typically, but we always have a course set up so I'll pop over whatever looks doable.
ReplyDeleteIf jumps are set up already, I normally just change all the heights to be my height, but I don't normally jump *all* the jumps - just the ones that look inviting depending on how well the flat goes. If I had to move standards and poles each ride, I'd probably only set up 2 jumps because that's hard work and takes up valuable riding time! I'd work on things like angles, rollback turns, etc that don't require lots of jumps. Then maybe once a month or something it would be worth setting up a whole course so you can practice coursework.
ReplyDeleteJumps? What are those? ;)
ReplyDeleteI've been dressaging more than jumping lately basically because I've been too lazy to set up jumps. Now that the weather is at least nicer (and since if I want to get better at jumping I should do this thing called practice) I'm doing more of it. I only usually have time to set up a small course or a specific exercise on the weekends, so hardcore jumping is reserved for those days. During the week if I jump is usually just a single or two.
ReplyDeletei have no problem setting stuff up (esp when i'm all inspired and whatnot) but having to take everything down again would suck. so yea, i would definitely go for simplicity. and have jumps set at a variety of heights so i don't have to get off to raise them after warming up. really tho barn rats are where it's at - get some horse crazy kids to do the heavy lifting (and take video!)
ReplyDeleteI guess this counts as the only disadvantage of boarding at a kid-free barn.
DeleteI have recently started my WB mare over baby X's. As in small enough she can walk over them. She seems to love it and enjoys the work, but I try stay with no more than 3 for the moment. If she knocks a rail, I ride until there are more down than up, before I get off to reset. Using feed tubs and barrels as standards makes it easy to get back on, otherwise I use the fence... She's tall and I'm not.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm jumping outside of a lesson, I don't typically do a whole course--just some kind of exercise involving 2 or 3 jumps, and I don't set anything over 3 ft right now if I'm doing it on my own. I get a crap ton of ideas from the 101 Jumping Exercises book. If I pull a rail, I get off and put it back up and then get back on.
ReplyDeleteI love jumping so I have no problem setting things up and moving things around. I'm always by myself so I set everything up myself and when I start raising them I just get down and put them up then get back on. Luckily everything stays out where ever I put it so unless I am setting up a new course or completely new gymnastic I don't have to move stuff very far. I never have gotten into a situation where I feel like I have set up something too difficult for myself. What happens if you go to a show and something technical is in the course and you don't have your trainer there to help? Best to know how to problem solve on your own and learn it where there's no stress of being on a timeline to come up with a plan. I think the more technical stuff is fun, I always set up some kind of technical goal to work toward.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I will start sneakily leaving my jumps up and seeing if anyone fusses... so far everyone has been great, but I'm the only one who jumps.
DeleteCurrently I'm lucky to board at a barn that has all the jumps up and exercises set and all I have to do is change the height (which still might include being on and off). But before when I rode at barns where it was up to me up set up courses.... I wasn't very good at it. And if I did, I always made it simple. You can do a lot with two jumps :D
ReplyDeleteI never want to move/take down jumps at home and have found the perfect placement to get maximum mental work out of jumping just a few jumps. I have one jump in the middle of the arena (so if you were doing figure eights you would go over it in the middle). this allows me to work on lead changes over a jump and change up my direction multiple ways. Then I have a single on one quarter line and a two-stride combo on the other quarter line. Everything is spaced to be accessible from either direction. The only down side is I stick to quite low jumps to avoid issues I am on my own with. The great thing about it though is being able to get off and lunge my horse over something if I am too nervous or want to show her something "scary" like tarps/boxes/flowers, etc., which you can't do in a lesson!
ReplyDeleteI rarely jump outside of lessons - not worth it to me - risk making too many mistakes lol. But when I do, I ise books for exercises and distances. My advice is ALWAYS set your lines up properly, don't wing distances. That can really rattle a green jumper.
ReplyDeleteWe aren't allowed to jump outside of lessons at my barn. That's probably for the best for me ;) I love doing course of poles though!
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