Jump in Balance at Any Speed

The implications of this are obvious: You should teach your horse this skill the same way you teach him any other. Introduce it gradually, and increase the requirements systematically and progressively. In the real world, this means you should not try to make the optimum time the first time you move up to a new level, with its correspondingly higher required optimum speed. (If you don't think this happens on a regular basis, you are not watching the same events I am watching.)

Practice Riding at Speed
To get better at galloping faster over cross-country fences in balance, there are a couple of things you have to do first: Learn a good galloping position, and know how fast you are going. As for developing a sense of pace at higher rates of speed, it is simple--so of course, people don't do it.

Borrow a meter wheel, if you do not have one of your own, and measure a "speed trap" on good footing in your conditioning area. If you are planning on moving up to Training level at your next event, set speed traps for 350, 400 and 450 meters per minute (mpm). Put a marker down at an obvious starting point for the 350-meter speed trap and another marker at the end of 350 meters. Put additional end-markers at 400 and 450 meters, so that you have a range of distances and speeds for practice. (Don't put any fences in your speed trap... that will come next.) Canter past the first point, start your watch and maintain the most consistent pace you can until you reach the end of the 350 meters. Make sure to stop your watch as you pass the end marker. If you have measured off 350 meters, it should take you exactly one minute to go through the speed trap if you are really going 350 mpm.

Once you have done this, practice cantering through the other speed traps at the measured speed for each one of them. You will need to increase your speed to cover 400 meters in one minute. Obviously, you will need to canter even faster, or gallop, to complete 450 meters in one minute. With a little practice, you will become accurate at setting the pace you want--and keeping your horse in self-carriage--while you canter back and forth through these exercises.

To avoid boredom, vary the order in which you go through these exercises so that your horse learns to listen to you for the desired speed and doesn't always expect to go from 350 to 400 to 450 mpm. (That sort of repetitive sequence will cause most horses to expect to keep going faster, rather than allowing you to set the pace.) Once you are confident of your ability to select the speed you want, let your friend hold your stopwatch. Go through the exercises and depend on your feel, not your watch. After each speed trap, check with your friend to make sure your sense of pace has not deserted you. If you can't do this accurately, keep practicing until you can. It is an essential skill. While you are doing these speed drills, you can also practice your timing without jumping, as I discussed in my September 2008 column.

I want you to be equally proficient with your sense of pace and with maintaining your horse's self-carriage. You will need both skills when you are on course. Once you feel confident with your new skills, you can add jumps to your speed traps. Remember to start JUMPING at the lower speeds first, then work up to the next level. It is absolutely necessary that you are able to maintain the same consistent speed in the approach to the fence as you were able to maintain when the fence was not present. The rule of thumb I use to determine whether you had a good jump is: Were you able to approach, take off, jump, land and depart... all at the same speed? The reason for this criterion is that you will be able to maintain this consistency only if you and your horse are balanced. If you are balanced, most of your jumping efforts are going to be good. In addition, good jumping is safe jumping, and that is a big part of your responsibility as a rider these days.

Reprinted from the February 2009 issue of Practical Horseman.