rider’s mental preparation

A good start for your show season

Droits d'accès:

Visiteur

Programme / Dossiers Miniature:

Résumé listing:

The show season is just around the corner so it is time to review if you and your horse are ready for it. Let’s not forget that horse riding, like other sports, implies that the rider and the horse are ready physically and mentally to sustain the stress of the competitions.

Mots clés:

REF ART67

competition

Show Jumping

training for show jumping

rider’s mental preparation

rider’s mental conditioning

being competitive

Niveau de difficulté:

Intermédiaire

Contenu du dossier:

First of all, the fitness condition of the horse’s joints, muscles, and his respiratory system is a top priority. To bypass this crucial point is to take a risky bet on the rest of your show season. Schooling grids and trotting sets are vital to the physical preparation of a competition horse.

As for the rider, he must also be ready and must make sure that he is able to adhere to the basic priorities which are: using his eyes as an aid, having a good position and a mind compatible with show jumping, all of which to be tested at the yard over small courses before going to shows.

Another pitfall to avoid: starting with classes that are too difficult for the couple. One would want to start the show season at the same level he ended the previous season. Once again, it is to take a risky bet for both the rider and the horse. Bad experiences stay imprinted in the horses mind generating some behaviours that will be difficult to reprogram. Instead jumping successfully right away a course in competition with a calm and relaxed horse, can only be positive for you and your horse. At the beginning of the show season, horses are usually more energetic and all other the place, a bit stressed. Another reason why we should not be too demanding and take some time before jumping at our highest level. A minimum of three or four shows are necessary to get everyone back on track. Let’s add that to deal with the stress and imperfection of the beginning of the season, the rider should emphasise on a good warm-up before entering the show ring. Alternating the work with some frequent time of rest is highly recommended.

In a few words, keep a large view angle on your show season. To look after the blue short term is of no interest. On the contrary, plan your season month to month. You can always change and adapt your plan depending on your horse physical and mental shape as well as yours and on your results.

Let’s do it!

Cours associés

Cours associés:

Training Aiti for the CSI of Fontainebleau

Gymnastic exercises over a jump with Nénuphar Jac

Preliminary course training

Training on a dressage figure

Fun gymnastic in preparation for shows

Improving your horse’s responsiveness and speed in his jumping movement

Gymnastic on a grid

Conditioning the horse on the flat and on jumps

Preparing for lines and combinations

Miniature cours associés:

Théma:

TOPIC-ORIENTED FILE

Training exercise for flying change of lead

Droits d'accès:

Abonné

Image Miniature:

Résumé listing:

This is a gradual exercise encouraging the horse and rider to break down and automatize the movement for a good flying change of lead.

Niveau de difficulté:

Intermédiaire

Goal:

Performing a flying change of lead presumes that the rider has a clear concept of the movement and the horse has a good understanding of what the rider is asking him to do.

Michel offers a very gradual exercise with an easy set-up and a precise track. By following closely the steps of this exercise, young horses or less experimented riders will clearly understand to break down the movement and achieve the position needed to perform a flying change of lead. As always, to execute successfully this exercise, the rider needs to anticipate and prepare each movement and action: hence the importance of taking time to understand it and to make the proper adjustments.

Progress:

To demonstrate this exercise, Michel teaches Marine who rides Vivaldi, a 9 YO stallion owned by the Haras de Hus.

This well trained horse is already accustomed to the exercise. Therefore, Marine will be able to execute the 3 steps of this exercise in the same session. It is obvious that a young horse or a less experimented rider should work on each step over one or several sessions until the results allow you to get onto the next step.

In those cases, Michel advice and recommendations will be particularly useful since they emphasize in the rider’s position and the mental attitude to adopt in order to learn and succeed flying change of lead.

Théma:

RIDING LESSONS

Exercises

Keywords:

Rider’s position

Flying change of lead

rider’s mental preparation

quality of the canter stride

REF HAE26

Cours associés

Cours associés:

Improving the quality of the canter