Monday 23 July 2018

Improve your jumping position With showjumper Bex Mason

Improve your jumping position
With showjumper Bex Mason


Do you need to hone your jumping position? As Derriere’s showjumping ambassador, I have some tips! It can be tricky to find that perfect leg position, and many of us have our stirrups a little too short - you will need to have quite short stirrups, especially as the fences rise in height, in order to give you the required shock absorption through the ankle joint. Your stirrups need to be short enough so that you can comfortably get your seat out of the saddle, allowing your horse to bascule through your legs. Your heels must stay down, and you need to have a bend in the knee, keeping your lower leg position ‘anchored’.

Practise your position

Because we use our jumping position for only a few seconds at a time, it can be difficult to master. Familiarise yourself by taking your jumping position when schooling on the flat, without jumps. A common mistake is to allow your lower leg to swing too far back, inadvertently encouraging your horse to speed up. Keeping the weight into your stirrups with your heels well down should prevent this happening. Over a fence, really focus on keeping the weight down into your heels, and do consider your upper body - if it is too far forward, e.g. if you lean forward too early, you may get catapulted forward, and your heels will rise. It is usually better from a safety perspective to be behind the movement that in front of it!

When training, I like to use bounce fences, where the horse will not put any strides between each jump, maintaining the jumping position throughout a grid. Start by setting out canter poles and if the distance is correct for you, it will be about the same for bounce jumps. One non-jumping stride is approx 7.5m, and two non-jumping strides approx 10.7m, but this is totally variable! Ask a friend to assist by moving the poles and adjusting them for you, and putting back any knocked poles, or work with your instructor. Try to keep the lower leg still, and think of the hips as acting like a ‘hinge’.

The show jumping position needs to be quite versatile - riders jumping higher showjumping fences are often seen in unusual positions when they ride against the clock, for example leaning to one side of the saddle, or pushing off from the ball of their foot to gain balance if the horse cat leaps. This means they need to have optimum foot stability, as the ankle acts like a spring for the rider’s limb, and must not collapse. Although all riders are different, the predominant style for event riders’ positions over XC fences currently seems to be more ‘chair’ shaped than when tackling arena fences, with the lower leg quite far forward, and the rider’s body weight further back with the heels well down as an ‘anchor’.

Either way, e.g. whatever your discipline, we can all improve our strength and stability through lunge lessons, which helps to mobilise and open the hips. Remember your comfy riding underwear too!


About Bex
Bex has worked for many years breaking in horses and competing at an international level with elite riders such as Tina and Graham Fletcher (GB), Ludo Philleaperts (BEL), Steve Cohan (NZ) and Viki Roycroft (AUS). Bex specialises in producing competition horses. “I find myself expressing love for my Derrieres daily,” Bex says of the underwear range. “I openly discuss the results and versatility of the products, whether it’s to customers at my yard, or fellow competitors at shows; I don’t even realise I’m doing it - these pants change riders’ lives!”



Friday 20 July 2018

Positional points from Derriere Equestrian

Positional points

Derriere Equestrian offers some advice on how your torso affects your riding position.



For any rider working to achieve a consistent rhythm and outline with their flatwork, the torso is key. It can influence all aspects of your riding, in both positive and negative ways.

From a dressage point of view, judges are looking for a horse that goes forward with a good level of self carriage, rather than one with a false outline, whatever the level of competition. It is common to see people ‘hanging on’ to the rein contact, with a rigid hand. However, the hand simply connects the seat to the horse’s mouth, ideally in an elastic way. The seat and the elbow are the ‘anchors’ of the rider’s position – not the hand!


Self carriage

Equine self carriage is achieved through a soft, yet consistent rein contact, and targeted flatwork training to get the horse working forwards into the contact. The rider should aim to carry the hands and keep them level, without trying to interfere with the horse’s head carriage too much; it is also important to ensure the rider’s arms don’t straighten, which is an indicator of tense shoulders. Tense shoulders usually lead to a fixed hand, meaning the rein contact isn’t elastic!

‘Carrying the hands’ really starts at the shoulders – when you are schooling, try to think about establishing a good rhythm with sufficient self carriage, without ‘holding’ the horse – the hands can actually be quite light. For a good rein contact and a correct torso position, drop the elbow comfortably and relax it. This is the key to having a good rein contact; not a fixed hand!

A common fault for many riders is to collapse their hip – they usually drop their hip to the outside, which imbalances the horse. Remember, your body weight needs to be in the direction of movement. To correct or avoid a collapsed hip, sit up tall and make sure your back isn’t slumped. Relax your shoulders and check your arms – do they have a bend at the elbow? Carry the hands!

Remember also the importance of ‘personal comfort’ in the saddle - if you are working to improve your flatwork, good riding underwear is a boon. Consider padded underwear like the Derriere range; remember - when the rider is comfortable within the saddle, there is less likelihood of compensatory misalignment of the spine and pelvis, e.g. altering the body position to avoid pain to the sensitive crotch areas. And a comfy ‘personal area’ means a more effective partnership with the horse!



www.derriereequestrian.com