# Critique me and the Danman :] LOTS of pics! flat & jumpi



## dannys_girl16 (Jan 4, 2008)

Ok guys, let us have it -
Keep in mind my horse is a greenie! A very, very high spirited one  and I'm riding in a dressage saddle, so my leg is back in the jumping shots - it's the only saddle we have that fits the cold-backed wonder right now and it has MAJOR kneeblocks! OH and we also use a Bitless Bridle by Dr. Cook.
Here goes:








canter.








2'6 - not in the dressage saddle here, i know i look bad but i loooove this shot of him  
















OLDDDD. this pic cracks me up  
































































































i LOVE this pic - not in the dressage saddle, in a wintec AP.^^^








back in the day when i had a jumping saddle ^^^
















^^^sitting trot pics :] danny is coldbacked so for a long time he couldnt handle this. now his back is strong and happyyyy  
































^back when we rode in a bit...hes behind the vertical...blechh.








me and my perfect man...i was leaning in my right stirrup but who cares...he's incredible


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I'm not good at critiquing, but your horse looks very nice! When i got my horse, she was also cold backed, but after she warmed up, she was fine. She doesn't do it anymore tho.


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## Cheval (Jan 1, 2008)

He's adorable!

#1: You;re leg is sliding back (you know this), pull your shoulders back, and bend your elbows.
#2: Woah! He has a great expression, his tuck seems good (however, I'm not a hunter rider so I can't say much about that). You have a pretty good position...try to stay off of his neck.
#3: I can't tell much (blurry!), so no critique.
#4: Well, it's old...you probaly know what you need to work on now! 
#5: You need more of a release. Your leg is slidding back, but your in the dressage saddle. Also, you need to get out of the saddle more, however it is a dressage saddle, and I can totally understand how hard it is to get out of it when jumping (they suck your butt in)!
#6: You kind of have "chicken arms". Shorten your reins a bit. Your upper body looks pretty good. 
#7: You're getting too ahead of him. But you're in the dressage saddle, right? 
#8/9: You have a pretty good overall position, besides your leg is back. Also, more release.
#10: Try to get out of the tack a bit more. Your leg looks nice, he has a nice tuck, and looks really happy.
#11: Shorten your reins, you leg is slidding back. Your upper body looks fine, and if you weren't in the dressage saddle your leg would look great.
#12: It doesn't look that bad, it's kind of hard to tell for some reason.
#13: Try go get out of your tack and more of a release.
#14: You're getting too ahead of him. I can't tell though because of the lighting.

Okay, I'm stopping here.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Cheval has some great advice!! I'll just chime in for one thing:
Find the box for a correct bascule 
In some of the jumping pictures, you're taking off too far back and in some you're "chipping" your fence (taking off too close to the fence). This isn't a huge problem with these smaller fences because most horses can correct themselves enough to make it over the fence, but if you move up without correcting it, you will notice problems. 
The "box" that you want to find will put a nice bascule over the fence so you'll make a nice arc over the jump and take off and land approximately the same distance from the fence on either side. This box that you want to envision is about the same length away from the ground line or ground pole as the jump is high, and is centered. 
*ahem* got too frusterated trying to explain it... so here it is, illustrated!!








http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff172/rian_686/box.jpg

I'm sorry to all who know what a bascule and box are, but I know some people don't, so I'm just putting this in here for simplicity sake...


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

I never knew that. How do you go about taking off in the ideal place? Do you put ground poles?


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Yes, you can definitely work with ground poles. The idea is to start small then work up. It's very hard to explain it like this, it would be so much easier to do if I were standing in arena with you!
There are a few ways to go about finding the box, but first off you need to know how to collect and extend your horse so you can make the proper striding to approach the jump.
You can feel where the horse takes off, and if they get too close to the jump, they have to "pop" over it, and if they take off too far away from the jump you will feel them stretch out to try and cover the extra distance. It is a fine art, and one that takes years of experience to master.. heck, I've been aware of it since I was around 6, and I still sometimes chip if I'm not paying attention!
A good way to get your box is to actually physically draw it in the sand in front of your jump.. it's a good idea to have a helper do this so after every jump you can stop and analyze it, then have your helper re-draw it. You want to see 2 sets of hoof prints pretty close to the box. It will take lots of time and lots of mistakes, but soon enough you should be able to tell when you've taken off in the right spot. 
Ground rails will help a horse that's taking off too close to the jump as it will push the ground line back a bit. 
All in all, you have to start telling your horse where to jump rather than waiting for your horse to jump.


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

ok i understand. When the weather warms up and i start jumping Vega, i'll take a look. Before we can do that, we need to have a total refresher of everything, but she should be good about it all.


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## brittx6x6 (Mar 4, 2007)

JustdressageIt and Cheval baiscally have everything I was going to say covered.

Here are just a few over all things that i noticed

-toes in!!!!!
-leg under you
-arms in
-need to be out of the saddle a bit more

I think your horse is adorable and it looks like you have come pretty far with him!! Good luck with your training and let us know how he is doing(keep us updated)!!!


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## dannys_girl16 (Jan 4, 2008)

thanks for the tips guys!
danny and i are spending spring break at a big event barn doing some INTENSE jumping training - in the right kind of saddle  i'll post pictures and videos in april once we get back - hopefully there will be a lot of improvement.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

No critique from me. I really loved the last few photos of him trotting on the loose rein, quite the stretch in the photos!


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## dannys_girl16 (Jan 4, 2008)

haha yeah long-and-lows are his favorite thing - those pics were when he was just learning them - now i have to work to keep his head up sometimes


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