Gymnastic Jumping Clinic

Today Cheyenne and I participated in a Gymnastic Jumping clinic being taught by one of my favorite trainers. This is an exercise I've never done, despite my love of jumping growing up. It's hard work, but nearly instantaneously beneficial!

We began with trotting over four ground poles; the not-yet-set-up jumps provided a guide for the horse to stay on. As my trainer said, the gymnastic line does the work for you. Gradually crossrails were added in, and we made it up to four in a row before running out of time.

I'm not entirely sure of the distance between the jumps. Eager horses that took them at a canter just bounced between them; not really even a stride. Clumsy horses (ahem...) took a moment in between with their full bodies.

Our issues: momentum. Grace (Cheyenne likely knocked down more poles than not, even if she did go over them without stopping).

My issues: looking down. Leaning forward. The thing about two-point is it is nowhere near as much leaning as you might think. I like to think of it as an optical illusion. Some riders, in some situations, do have to get up that high and off their horse's backs, but for the crossrails we're doing, it's not like that. I need to lift off her back, grab mane but not lean on her neck. Leaning forward slightly to brace myself is the goal; the horse's movement (much like a teeter-totter) makes it look like the rider is actually leaning forward. The rider should stay pretty straight and stationary, and remain there until you've landed. The horse will rise to meet your upper body, then return down at landing.


It was a really fun experience, and I don't know why I was never introduced to gymnastics before this! Cheyenne has got to get better about lifting her feet and knowing where they are; even just ground poles can make a world of difference, and I want to incorporate them into our non-lesson training work days.

Some pictures may hopefully surface of us doing well, probably many more of us looking goofy. Sadly our best run which caused the rest of the group to actually cheer was not caught on film. Oh well, there were witnesses!