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The best jumps are when the horse maintains the same rhythm and stride length on the approach AND the landing. You should be able to cover your eyes, and *hear* the consistency of the horse's stride in the final strides, and again on landing. If you can hear
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“Riding forward to the jump is NOT accelerating to the jump. There is a difference.” ~ William Fox Pitt
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Don't let the quality of your transitions suffer in your effort to be accurate. While both are important, it is more important to perform good transitions, than to perform them exactly at the letter.
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Remember that even a cow can jump a 3 foot fence from a standstill - if it wants to. So never worry about whether or not your horse has enough scope to do lower level eventing or jumping. The bigger issue is whether or not you can keep him balanced at
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When lunging, pivot with one foot so that you keep yourself still and centered in the middle of your horse's circle. This way, he will learn to make an actual circle shape, rather than an odd shape.
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"You're never going to be perfect, let go." ~ Chris Bartle
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“Only the rider who is free from any contraction will have a horse equally free from contraction. A team such as this is the ideal” ~ Nuno Oliveira
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The "hold their head up and gallop" approach to training your horse to jump ditches may get you over, but it can easily cause your horse to be somewhat afraid of ditches for the rest of their life. It is much better to go slow and let them
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“Happy horses get high marks. Good basics get high marks. Too many horses do the movements held and forced, and this will get low marks.” ~ Christoph Hess
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“Event horses need to learn to jump facing into crowds and other spooky things. At home, I have my horses jumping into banners on the fence line and other things to get them used to that idea.” ~ William Fox Pitt
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When running cross country in muddy conditions, always look for a fresh track to run on between fences. Not paying attention to this detail and letting your horse gallop in the tracks made by previous horses will increase your horse's workload... adding to unnecessary fatigue, as well as
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With horses, just like with people, let your actions speak for you. For example, you may think you are rewarding your horse when you say "Good boy" or "Good girl"… but if you don't also release the aid, your horse will not really feel
