Question: I am a novice jumping rider. I have trouble following or staying with the horse over a jump. I seem to either jump ahead, or get a little left behind. My instructor has tried various exercises and has been patient but I have seen little improvement. I take one step ahead and then seem to resort back to the same habits. What exercises do you recommend for this problem? Thank you for your input. Kate - Lindenhurst, IL

Answer: When you are learning how to jump it is vital to have a safe, steady, rhythmic and reliable horse to gain experience on. If the horse does not possess these attributes it can be very difficult to get a sound and proper education. When you are developing basic jumping fundamentals the horse must be rock solid. It might take some time to locate such a horse; usually a phenomenal school horse or someone's privately owned hunter type of a schoolmaster.

The absolute best approach for your type of problem is an excellent lunge horse that can be lunged over small obstacles or cavalletti. If you can find such a horse, or your instructor knows of one, then that would be the ideal learning opportunity. Here, you remove the stirrups and tie-up the reins and you start incorporating a low single cross-rail on the rail/wall side of your circle, opposite the open side. Of course, you begin at a trot and once you develop confidence and you are following and flowing with the horse you can then move onto a canter. Later, you can add another cross-rail on the "open" side of the circle which can be done at a trot or canter. And then later, you can start to build your obstacles to a more substantial height to gain more confidence and flow, but only if the horse allows or is capable. This truly is by far the best way I believe to learn. Your hands become independent of the horse's mouth, you develop optimum balance, and you begin to really flow with the horse. And, not just over the jump but between the jumps as well. Once you have "mastered" this, returning back to it periodically for review and schooling can only be beneficial.

If the above situation is not available to you, I think the next best choice would be to have a very small gymnastic grid set up for you with proper striding. With that very reliable teaching horse, you would simply remove your stirrup irons and tie-up your reins and start by jumping through a small cross-rail grid beginning with only one or two elements and eventually working up to three or four small cavalletti. This exercise will also help instill the above stated qualities to your riding. Later, once you are well versed at this and it becomes quite easy, you can then turn your small cavalletti into more solid jumps if the horse is capable.

With either of these plans it becomes almost impossible to get "left-behind" or jump ahead and anticipate the obstacle simply because you must rely on your own balance and feel to stay with the horse. However, having that great teaching horse and instructor to implement these suggestions is crucial to achieving success at either one of these layouts.