Jumping Exercise
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Posted
by Mara at
6/22/2009 5:25 AM PDT
on Horse Barn
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In this week’s jumping lessons I focused on helping students improve balance and position over the jump. One of my favorite exercises for this is what I call “hands wide”. I call it this because the exercise involves the rider riding with their hands wide away from the horse’s neck both on the flat and over jumps to encourage them not to rely on the horse’s neck for support.
To begin with the rider can practice making upward and downward transitions in the two point with their hands wide away from the horses neck. The transitions are similar to the feeling of jumping so this is a great way to work on improving balance without actually jumping. As the rider becomes more comfortable with this they can move on to ground poles and then jumps.
Mara
