Exercise 5 MIX IT UP
“With horses like DB2, you have to keep them interested. So now I want him to carry on with a little more jumping, but I’m going to mix it up a bit and ask him to jump a cross-pole,” explains Katie. “I try to challenge him every session, not in a difficult way, but with something that he has to think about.”
How to ride it
Place a small cross-pole in the centre of your arena. Approach in canter and let your horse pop over the jump. Think about keeping him straight and not letting him get strung out. He’ll probably just step over it at this height, but that’s fine as it makes him think about picking his feet up. Ride over the cross-pole two or three times. Now change the upright you were jumping earlier into another crosspole. This time pull the two poles apart a bit, so you’re making the fence a little wider at the point where the poles touch the ground (above left). Don’t make it any higher — in fact, you could lower it if you want. Pop over the cross-pole in canter. Circle around the fence, sitting deep and keeping your horse together. You should find that his shape is becoming more consistent and the canter has some quality about it. Pop over the fence again. Now make the cross-pole a little higher to encourage him to pick up and round his back even more.