# Jumping position critique ! & "Catching my horse in the mouth" Lots of pics !



## Horselover165

*Jumping position critique ! & "Catching my horse in the mouth" Lots of pics !*

I know i'm horribly pulling on my horse while landing from this jump. :shock: "Catching her in the mouth" , Any suggestions ? .. If i give her too loose of a rein I don't really have time to shorten the reins again when I land from the jump since she loves jumping and she likes to "speed" right after a jump. What can I do ? please don't be too harsh , I just bought this mare, I have only had her about a month and a half , and besides now, I hadn't jumped in about 2 or 3 years. So I don't think It's that, that... bad. Contructive Critisicm people !  She is an 8 year old Hanoverian mare btw. (with an at times powerful jump)
































































VvV in This one my jumping position is pretty bad ?? :hide: I think maybe my problem is i need to stick my "butt" out  










-Thanks , ! & critique but please be nice.


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## Allison Finch

Horselover165 said:


> *What In see here is that you sat back too soon. You need to stay flexed forward until you land. I suspect you were never flexed forward at the beginning of the jump, either.*
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> *Sitting back too soon can be a problem for the horse. You are putting weight back towards the haunch and can actually cause the haunch to lower too soon, often costing rails with the hind legs. Also, it is impossible to keep the release and, as a result, you did get in his mouth a bit.*
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> *This is a time when I would encourage practicing with a crest release. Keeping your hands on the sides (not top) of the crest will teach you to flex at the hips and stay forward. Keep the hands on the crest until you land, for now, to learn the feel of staying more forward.*
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> *Here the problem I see is that you are jumping with a stiff straight leg. You need to relax the knee and allow it to bend more. This will allow your seat to lower and move back over the middle of the seat, not in front of the pommel. Bend your knees, flex in your hips, allow your seat to drop back.*
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> *You release is OK here, just don't take your hands off. I suspect, as you were so stiff in your legs, that you sat back too soon here and your hands lifted off the neck.*
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> *Not being a hunter rider, I am not a huge stickler on equitation. However, I see you are riding off the back of your lower leg, not the inside of your lower leg. I would have you rotate your lower leg so that your toes would be more forward, not sticking out. If you ever needed to ride a horse with spurs, the habit you are forming here would make that a problem.*
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> *Also, everyone in that class, as seen in the photo, seems to be riding with stiff locked arms, a pet peeve of mine. RELAX those elbows! If the arms are locked, there is no way you can follow the horses mouth and you will be coming against the bit with every stride.*
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> *This is a hard angle to see anything from. I think you are grabbing with your knees and are pivoting on them. As a result, your lower leg has swung back. This will cause the upper body to "topple' forward. This photo shows a minimal amout of this problem, but the potential is there with the lower leg swinging back. To stop this may be why you are so upright.*
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> *Again, very upright position that is not "flowing" with the horse. Legs straight, toes out, already too far upright to maintain your release.*
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> *Grabbing with the knees with the lower legs sliding back. Not flexed forward enough at the hips, causing too upright a position. This is making the release less effective. Bend forward more in the waist/hip.*
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> *The same...too upright, riding off the back of your legs. When you learn to unlock that back/hip/waist, you will fold forward curing most of these problems.*
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> VvV in This one my jumping position is pretty bad ?? :hide: I think maybe my problem is i need to stick my "butt" out
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> *Sick your butt out? What you need to do is put some bend in those knees and hips/waist so that your upper body can move forward and your seat can move back. You need to be careful NOT to grab with you knees, though. If you do, the lower leg will slide back making you topple forward, unbalancing you.*
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> -Thanks , ! & critique but please be nice.


I'm not sure which came first. You either learned to stand straight up when jumping because you were grabbing with your knees causing your lower leg to slip back. You may have stood up to get rid of the tendency of your upper body being unbalanced toppling forward.

Or, you just never learned to bend and relax your hips and knees causing these problems.

All in all, I am being very nit picky. I see some real ability with you and these problems can be easily fixed. 

Try keeping the crest release through the jump. BUT, make sure your lower leg stays forward AT THE GIRTH while you are jumping. You will have to relax and bend to achieve this.

As for riding on the back of your leg. I had a coach who would check the backs of our boots after every ride. If the sweat marks EVER went over the seam on the back of the boot, it showed we had our toes our. We were reprimanded if the sweat went over the seam.

A useful exercise to unlock the knee and keep lower leg forward is to do half seat (two point) at all gaits. Be able to do this with no hands. Your lower leg will have to be at the girth (not sliding back) to counterbalance the upper body. practise touching your bum to the cantle of the saddle to see how much the back of your leg needs to stretch to keep this position.


I hope all of this helps.


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## Oxer

i would get back to flat work if i were you. lots of 2 point on the flat. 
you have a lovely mare.


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## Gidget

Nice horse you have.

I have been takign jumping lessons for a short period of time. 
What I notice is that your body is pretty upright when you are in your
half seat. You need to follow your horse's movement.

You say your horse gets speedy....this might cause you to get in an accident one day. You need to make sure you have full control over her  I would go on the flat and work on your half seat and do some trotting poles over them. While you are doing this I would also work on shortening and lengthening your reins...it might help.


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## MyBoyPuck

I used to be guilty as charged. You do what I do. (or did). You don't bend at your hips and lock your elbows...bad combo. MIEventer actually had a great, albeit graphic visual to fix this problem. Picture yourself using a public rest room. You don't sit on the seat, you hover. You keep your legs perpendicular to the ground, fold your hips back to hover, and keep your shoulders over your center of gravity so you don't accidentally fall on the seat. I believe we deemed it the T-seat. Next time you jump, assume the T-seat and picture the TP is on the door in front of you. Really reach for the TP over the jump and make a conscious effort to unlock you elbows to provide that release. I try to think, as far as I put my bum back, that's how far I put my arms forward.


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## Eliz

^
**** that is the PERFECT visual. Was it MIE's profile that said/says "perfecting her TPoint position" (or something like that) and now I know what it means!! 

To the OP:
I know my first jumping coach was a hunter instructor, and she was always saying "LENGTHEN YOUR ARM". I have shorter arms, so that made me have really straight arms. So she would yell to me to bend at the elbow. Finally she understood that I just have stubby arms, and "lengthening my arms" is NOT going to happen


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## tinyliny

That critique by Allison was so good, so detailed and so thoughtful, you could stop right there. You will not get a better critique if you pay for it.

Yes , the horse is really lovely.


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## FoxyRoxy1507

i agree with what Allison said and i would go back to flat work first to build up strength in your seat and leg and when you go back to jumping throw a neck strap on your horse. it can be a belt or old stirrup leather just something for you to grab onto to help with your position and release and to ensure you dont catch your horse in the mouth until you get better. im actually going to be doing the same thing when i go back to my lesson with my trainer as my horse has HUGE jump (advanced level eventer) so i want to make sure i dont catch him in the mouth either when we start jumping bigger. it also helps as a visual to see where your hands need to be going and to stabalize you when landing, your horse will greatly appreciate this

you can actually see my horses jump in my avatar.. so def do this for your horse and flatwork will greatly improve your jumping


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## Horselover165

Allison Finch said:


> I'm not sure which came first. You either learned to stand straight up when jumping because you were grabbing with your knees causing your lower leg to slip back. You may have stood up to get rid of the tendency of your upper body being unbalanced toppling forward.
> 
> Or, you just never learned to bend and relax your hips and knees causing these problems.
> 
> All in all, I am being very nit picky. I see some real ability with you and these problems can be easily fixed.
> 
> Try keeping the crest release through the jump. BUT, make sure your lower leg stays forward AT THE GIRTH while you are jumping. You will have to relax and bend to achieve this.
> 
> As for riding on the back of your leg. I had a coach who would check the backs of our boots after every ride. If the sweat marks EVER went over the seam on the back of the boot, it showed we had our toes our. We were reprimanded if the sweat went over the seam.
> 
> A useful exercise to unlock the knee and keep lower leg forward is to do half seat (two point) at all gaits. Be able to do this with no hands. Your lower leg will have to be at the girth (not sliding back) to counterbalance the upper body. practise touching your bum to the cantle of the saddle to see how much the back of your leg needs to stretch to keep this position.
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> I hope all of this helps.



Thank You Allison , very detailed and helpful. I appreciate it. Thank You 
too all of you guys for helping me out. :thumbsup:


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## Horselover165

MyBoyPuck said:


> I used to be guilty as charged. You do what I do. (or did). You don't bend at your hips and lock your elbows...bad combo. MIEventer actually had a great, albeit graphic visual to fix this problem. Picture yourself using a public rest room. You don't sit on the seat, you hover. You keep your legs perpendicular to the ground, fold your hips back to hover, and keep your shoulders over your center of gravity so you don't accidentally fall on the seat. I believe we deemed it the T-seat. Next time you jump, assume the T-seat and picture the TP is on the door in front of you. Really reach for the TP over the jump and make a conscious effort to unlock you elbows to provide that release. I try to think, as far as I put my bum back, that's how far I put my arms forward.


Thanks !  that visual is actually quite helpful.. :rofl:
made me laugh a little too.


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