Q: My pony finds it really hard to stay straight on the approach to jumps. How can I improve this?
A: A straight approach to fences is really important. It doesn’t matter what height you are jumping; you need a straight approach to give your pony the best chance of clearing it.
To practice:
- Start by building a small fence at X and laying a tunnel of poles on approach and getaway. These poles will help guide your pony in a straight line before and after the jump.
- To begin with, approach in trot and don’t come all the way down the centre line to get to the fence. Turn towards the fence sooner, so your pony has less time to wobble.
- Remember to keep your leg on to support your pony. You want to use equal leg on both sides so that you can help to keep him straight.
- As he starts to stay straighter, you can approach from further away to test and improve how long he’ll remain straight for.
- When you are ready, try in canter.
- Once he’ll stay straight all the way to the jump in canter, remove the poles on the ground, so he doesn’t have them guiding him.
Once you have completed all of these six steps, you and your pony will be used to approaching jumps on a good straight line, and this will set you up for success in the arena!
