Are you an English rider who’s learning to jump a course? Sooner or later you’ll face the challenge of getting the right number of strides in a line. But before you can finesse your horse’s performance to that point, you must be able to count strides as you ride from one jump to the next. Although it sounds like rudimentary arithmetic, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Counting strides can leave even the most enthusiastic novice completely bewildered. Here are some basic exercises that will simplify the learning process.
Knowing how many strides your horse will take between jumps will give you confidence. Your horse’s performance will seem more predictable and your jumping rounds will flow more smoothly. You can count on it.
Further Reading Stop Horse Jumping Refusals
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Cindy Hale’s life with horses has been filled with variety. As a child she rode western and learned to barrel race. Then she worked as a groom for a show barn, and was taught to harness and drive Welsh ponies. But once she’d taken her first lessons aboard American Saddlebreds she was hooked on English riding. Hunters and hunt seat equitation came next, and she spent decades competing in those divisions on the West Coast. Always seeking to improve her horsemanship, she rode in clinics conducted by world-class riders like George Morris, Kathy Kusner and Anne Kursinski. During that time, her family began raising Thoroughbred and warmblood sport horses, and Cindy experienced the thrills and challenges of training and showing the homebred greenies. Now retired from active competition, she’s a popular judge at local and county-rated open and hunter/jumper shows. She rides recreationally both English and western. Her Paint gelding, Wally, lives at home with her and her non-horsey husband, Ron.
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