rhapsody is my 4 year old hanovairian, this is our 1st event for both of us, we were second after dressage, 15th after crosscountry (i had a spill in warmup then went clear XC but with lots of time faults (slow) then after stadium with 2 rails i finished 12/36+ riders
she was looky for the first little bit, and behind my leg, but then we got rolling, and when i missed a distance, she hit the rails. jusge whatt you can! thanks!
Hey Kendra….I say this to riders in my clinics all the time: “It’s the riders job to find the right spots…..it’s the horse’s job to listen to the rider”. In other words…..YOU have to see the right distances as they are coming up, then tell your horse weather he needs to shorten or lengthen his stride during the approach, so he can get there to a good jumpable distance.
In this video…you MISSED terribly to # 1, then again to # 2…which he knocked down….not his fault…YOU MISSED! I thought you had him over bridled and behind the bit. He wasn’t going forward enough for a jumper. The other rail down….over the oxer….you missed again, & he jumped long while you got left behind, and were still sitting in your saddle!
Go home and do some homework working on finding and adjusting for your spots. You can do it over poles on the ground, or you can simply do it by cantering by fences, and finding your spots to the imaginary distances, as if you were actually jumping them , instead of just cantering by them.
I was at this event to with my 4 year old thourghbred off the track we were in pre-entry aswell! it was his first event to:) We finished 9th
Are you going to be at the fall alhambra?
Like the person above said, you need to pay attention to the distances make sure the horse is in front of your leg before the first jump and I think it would be beneficial for you to ride with a more forgiving rein because you yanked him in the mouth a couple of times when you missed your distances which is why he wasn’t moving forward and he wasn’t jumping the best at first. Make sure you use your leg and I think that it would be best for you to prepare yourself better before the first jump. Good job though!
I agree with a lot of what was written above, BUT I also know how hard it is to ride a greenie! I’m not sure exactly how green he is but with being only four I’m sure that he is not super confident and experienced. I know how hard it is to get young guys moving forward when they are so “looky” and backed off, AND because they are so “looky” and backed off it’s hard to find your distance. The only thing you can really do is push forward as much as possible and give rein, I know how that john deer jump feels lol. Overall I think you did your best and now know exactly what to do next time!
thanks everyone. shes only been jumping for 2 months, and is really inexperienced with all this. i know it was my fault when i missed, im working on it alot, and by alot i mean everytime i jump. and yes i will be doing the fall event!
Adding to my comment before, I think you did a great job for riding such a green horse and its good that you made it around the course, and I believe that its incredibly hard to be an amateur taking a green horse around because you need to be spot on because they obviously don’t know what they’re doing but for that you did great. I didn’t mean to imply that you rode poorly, you must be good to get a four year old around a course like that. Good luck in the future!
thank you. i have done EVERYTHING with this horse, when i bought her 1 year ago she was just halterbroke, thats it. all i was aiming for was to get around the course, i wasnt out to win, just make it around. and she hadnt seen these jumps before, and there was no time to show them to her, nor was there any schooling rounds. and thank you, i have her out at a show tomorrow, in some 2’6 jumper classes, to get more rounds in,
i am also incredably new at jumpers, and this was my first event, with a nasty fall the day before (my arm is still burned) so i was riding more conservativly, and defensive. im am luckey to have such a forgiving baby horse!