EOTW - Get Straight To The Point

Introduction:
Welcome back to our "Exercise of the Week" series, tailored for classical jumping enthusiasts. This week, we're focusing on assessing straightness, a fundamental aspect of successful jumping. Ensuring your horse approaches jumps with a straight body is crucial for maintaining power, balance, and willingness, and for preventing wear on their joints and limbs. This exercise is essential for both budding and seasoned equestrians, underscoring our commitment to ethical and compassionate training methods.

Why It's Great:
If you approach a fence or a line with a crooked horse, the horse will jump from more weight on one leg, lose power, miss the distance, land with more weight on one leg, and you'll compromise their obliging nature, joints, and limbs, and challenge both your and their balance. This exercise will help you and your horse develop straightness, which is vital for successful and safe jumping.

Equipment List:

• A flat area

• 2 cones

• A mobile phone for recording (with a mini tripod or stand)

Setting Up and How to Do It:

1. Set Up:

   • Find a central area that is long enough for an approach from both reins.

   • Set up the camera at one end, ensuring it has a clear view of the entire line.

   • Place the two cones in a direct straight line in front of the camera.

2. Recording:

   • Set the camera to record.

   • Ride the turn onto the line marked by cones from each direction and in each gait (walk, trot, canter).

   • Look between the horse's legs initially (you should see the forelegs in front of the hind legs and a gap between them).

   • Observe the whole horse, including head, neck, and tail, and assess rider straightness (stirrup weight, shoulders level, arms, elbows, and head).

Tips for Success:

• Review your video to self-assess your and your horse's straightness.

• If your tripod is set for easy access, you can replay and re-ride (without dismounting) to make immediate adjustments and reassessments.

Challenge Yourself and Your Horse:
Once you can stay straight in the same gait, add transitions on straight lines to further challenge and improve your straightness and balance.
Once you can stay straight in transitions as well, add jumps.
Keep videoing and assessing your progress.

Conclusion:
Incorporating this straightness assessment into your training routine is a step toward achieving excellence in classical jumping while maintaining a strong, respectful bond with your horse. By ensuring straightness, you can focus more on effective training and less on corrections, fostering an environment of mutual trust and respect.

What's next?
For more insights and tips, follow our blog and stay tuned for next week's exercise - it will build on this one, and introduce one of the essential prerequisites for flying changes!

Thank you so much for being here!
Until next time,
Merindah