[IIIBarsV]

YouTube - Ben Hunter Hack NDHC 1

This is my Hunter Hack class from this past Saturday. I'm riding Ben- he is a work-in-progress, 7 yr old Appendix, 16.1hh, very green but very laid back. He's pretty relaxed now- almost too relaxed, really, I'm working to try and get him a little more forward. He's jumped crossrails once in a show and does minimal jumping at home. The day before the show was the first time he's jumped anything bigger than a crossrail, lol. The height here is 2'3.

The head shake in the circle was from a large horsefly buzzing around his head, not disobedience. I kissed him up every single stride, trying to RIDE to that jump! lol. Second jump I dropped my weight forward, anticipated, and dropped the inside hip/shoulder, which is what put him on the wrong lead landing and influenced his will to put effort into the jump. He never hesitated, just gave me very little effort.

Unfortunately, crop and spurs are basically unavailable because he gets obnoxious and does not respond to them- crop is a little bit, but he loves to get dead on my legs and hands {on purpose} if I use it at home to try and wake him up. He's a really weird horse like that.

Go figure, I actually won this class out of 8 riders, but two of 'em ate the dust, one walked over the first jump, and two refused. The two others who went clean landed on the wrong leads both jumps and didn't swap them over.

If I missed anything, point it out! That is the point of a critique.

[JBandRio]

Dang, can't see YT from work! I'll try to take a peek later tonight

[Chester]

Is that the whole thing? A small canter circle and 2 tiny jumps? Thats it?

Sorry, I don't understand these classes over the pond.

If it is an english class then the horse really needs to find forward. Or is it a western english class where forward isn't as forward as english?

[BriLeigh]

This could just be the video and I can't see it very well but to me it seems like your hands are moving a little too much. They look like they are going up and down, but again I can't really tell if that is actually you are not.

He really needs to be more forward. He seemed to have just fell over the 2nd jump, but you kind of mentioned that.

Considering the horse is still pretty green you did pretty well!

[JumpingBean]

Originally Posted by IIIBarsV

YouTube - Ben Hunter Hack NDHC 1

This is my Hunter Hack class from this past Saturday. I'm riding Ben- he is a work-in-progress, 7 yr old Appendix, 16.1hh, very green but very laid back. He's pretty relaxed now- almost too relaxed, really, I'm working to try and get him a little more forward. He's jumped crossrails once in a show and does minimal jumping at home. The day before the show was the first time he's jumped anything bigger than a crossrail, lol. The height here is 2'3.

The head shake in the circle was from a large horsefly buzzing around his head, not disobedience. I kissed him up every single stride, trying to RIDE to that jump! lol. Second jump I dropped my weight forward, anticipated, and dropped the inside hip/shoulder, which is what put him on the wrong lead landing and influenced his will to put effort into the jump. He never hesitated, just gave me very little effort.

Unfortunately, crop and spurs are basically unavailable because he gets obnoxious and does not respond to them- crop is a little bit, but he loves to get dead on my legs and hands {on purpose} if I use it at home to try and wake him up. He's a really weird horse like that.

Go figure, I actually won this class out of 8 riders, but two of 'em ate the dust, one walked over the first jump, and two refused. The two others who went clean landed on the wrong leads both jumps and didn't swap them over.

If I missed anything, point it out! That is the point of a critique.

The trouble with both jumps started way back when you picked up your canter. There was no horse there. He was dragging along on his forehand. Chipping to the first jump did not help any. There was a lot more going on with the second jump than lack of effort -- you were slow to the first jump and got a bad distance, and then didn't do anything about it to compensate in the line, so ended up getting 3.5 strides between the jumps.

Best case scenario you would have had the pace from the get-go to get the jumps to fall into place on their own. Next best would be to realize your mistake as you chipped the first jump and closed leg immediately to push forward and at least get the second jump well.

As you can see the biggest and most glaring problem is he needs to go forward, forward, forward. Going that slow is not safe. You can get away with it most of the time when the jumps are that small, but it's still not a good idea. He's not "almost too relaxed," he's definitely beyond a shadow of a doubt way too slow.

For your form, here's a laundry list --

* quiet those hands down

* get your leg stable. The video is too fuzzy to get the best look at it, but I can see it swinging, especially over the jump.

* your upper body tends to pump at him, presumably trying to get him to pick up his pace. Don't do it -- it won't do anything to get him moving faster.

* you're closing your hip angle too much for the size of the jump and the bascule of the horse. Like you pointed out, he's barely giving you any effort, and definitely not enough to close your hips that far. Wait on him.

He's a nice looking horse.

[rascalboy]

Pretty pony! Both he and you look turned out very nice.
Anywho, now, I've only had one hunter lesson, and I wasn't allowed to jump that time (besides, my horse can't canter yet, lol), so I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be.
So, you started off nice. He didn't give a terrible amount of effort on the first jump, as you've noticed, but he got over it, and on the good lead too. Do you have to have a specific number of strides? On the second fence you tried to push him, I think, but he didn't respond.
Long thing short (I'm late), for practice at home, try a dressage whip. There's no whacking like there is with a crop; just a quick flip, and it really gets their attention. (My mare doesn't listen to crops at all, but the dressage whip works). Just to get him moving forward. Make sure you're not blocking him with your hands.
Another thing to get them to move faster, is to pretend to run on them. Like, swing your legs alternately, like you're running, except that you're on the horse. It generally gets them to speed it up a bit.

[dotgotcalm]

Wow girlfriend! You've gotta get a gas pedal on that boy. lol

Seriously, you said something in your post that bothers me. (This is one of my pet peeves so hold on.) To me, it's just not acceptable for a horse to NOT accept spurs or a crop if they are properly used. They are both essentially extensions of the leg and should be accepted as such. Now, I know that you wouldn't tolerate a horse getting pissy over your legs so....why are you willing to let him get away with this? You are being to nice to this fellow, IMO and it's coming back to bite you.

He is a cutie and there's definitely some potential there although he's dogging so badly that I can't honestly access his jumping potential. He's certainly looks the part of a nice HUS horse.

[JBandRio]

Agree with Jumpingbean and dot You are working too hard to get him going which is leading to your busy body I wouldn't use spurs on him. Or a crop. I'd use a dressage whip and USE it. And hang on if that's what it takes He really can learn to move off your leg. It will make your life sooooo much easier But don't forget your old guy who taught you that sometimes it takes less to get more

One thing I didn't see mentioned - coming off your circle, heading to the first jump, I saw a lot of inside rein to steer him, causing him to rubberneck a bit and bulge his outside shoulder. More outside rein I know he's green, and you do sometimes have to use a very direct leading inside rein to steer well, but just don't forget to keep the outside rein so you don't inadvertently teach him to pop that outside shoulder.

I think he's quite adorable as well I bet he's got a lot of potential, you just have to get him going first. Have fun with that!

[tbtrainer]

Originally Posted by Chester

Is that the whole thing? A small canter circle and 2 tiny jumps? Thats it?

Sorry, I don't understand these classes over the pond.

If it is an english class then the horse really needs to find forward. Or is it a western english class where forward isn't as forward as english?

Chester, this is different from the hunters... let me try and explain, although I am not an expert on HUS..

If I stand to be corrected, someone correct me!

Hunters are English... but HUS are basically western type horses being ridden with English tack... their headseats are different, the riders ride slightly different at the w/t/c... there hands are lower and there bodies are a bit more upright... from what I've watched they really dont use a half seat.

I tend to call this style Winglish...LOL...

IIIBars, I agree that your horse needs to be more forward, and have impulsion from behind, he is very cute, and I do understand that he is green... when your jumping him at home (which I know he's just beginning) are you using ground poles before and after the jumps? They will help him get his correct spots and hopefully motivate him a little!

Western type horse



English horse (I was having trouble finding a hack pic)... I think you'll see the difference though...

YouTube - Horse Show: Zone 2 Hunter Finals

[JBandRio]

Originally Posted by Chester

Is that the whole thing? A small canter circle and 2 tiny jumps? Thats it?

Sorry, I don't understand these classes over the pond.

If it is an english class then the horse really needs to find forward. Or is it a western english class where forward isn't as forward as english?

This was a Hunter Hack class. It's a basic flat class - w/t/c - with the judge having the option of having each horse jump 2 jumps, usually a line already set up for the over fences classes. So the video wasn't the WHOLE thing, just the end jumping part. The w/t/c both ways had already been done It's sort of like a "suitable to be a hunter" class.

IIIbars didn't specify whether this was a "proper" English class, or a Western-English class. If it's the former, then by all means there needed to be more impulsion. The actual speed was fine, but it lacked impulsion. Even if it was a Western-English class, the horse lacked impulsion.