Jump that? Really? Looks scary - oh, okay then ....................
Ditches can be scary for young horses and there were several who found the concept of jumping over them a little too much at first at the Chris Burton clinic in Canberra.
The first point that Chris made was that there was no hurry when introducing a new type of obstacle
“We’re schooling young or inexperienced horses here and you need the attitude that you’ve got all day. Most horses need to first understand what you want from them, then once they’ve understood, their reaction may be “I know what you want but I’m scared’. That’s fine too but at that point it’s up to you, the rider, to ensure that the speed and timing of your aids make it clear what you want and that there’s nothing to be afraid of”
The efficacy of the riders’ aids was shown to be key to getting the reluctant horses to jump the ditch and Chris suggested that this is something can be trained away from the fence. If you’re having problems where your horse is backing up from a ditch and therefore not listening to the leg, then work on this by sharpening the horse up to the aids first
“Wake your horse up and make him attentive to all your aids before you even start to approach the ditch. He must immediately respond to your leg, make him sharp then when you feel he is really listening to you is the time to work on the problem obstacle but wake him up first”
“Your reaction needs to be super fast – if he backs up at all from the ditch then you kick but the second he stops backing away you must stop kicking”
“Sometimes you may even want to use the rein back as an exercise at the ditch they are backing away from. That may seem strange but the point is that the exercise is your idea, not theirs and that is the value of it. It is important for the rider to be making all the decisions, especially when the horse is unsure or hesitant”
Chris was riding one horse and he soon worked out that going backwards wasn’t an option. As soon as the horse stopped going backwards, Chris sat quietly, encouraging him to have a look (even a close look) and he finally leapt over it
“Once a horse is used to the fence and thinking forward, you can start thinking about getting the horse underneath you more on the approach. Try and get them there like a coiled spring and they’ll jump it, I promise you”
The more experienced group had fewer problems with the ditch and, once the horses were happily jumping it, Chris then introduced the previous curving line to the skinny log straight afterwards with the riders focusing on the line they were to ride between
“Of course the distance is important between these two obstacles but let’s just talk about the line. The funny thing is, if you’ve finished your turn and established the line, a horse doesn’t know that they are angling a jump”
