United States Eventing Association

Grid Pro Quo with Joe Meyer

Don't let winter weather get you down. Use the off season as an opportunity to fine tune your riding! In this winter weekly web series, we will revive past Grid Pro Quo articles from our magazine, Eventing USA, to help you brainstorm ways to keep you and your horse in tip-top shape even if you only have access to an indoor arena.

Why:

When it comes to improving yourself as a rider and your horse as an athlete over fences, grids are a great tool to utilize. Regardless of the sequence, grids are excellent tools for strengthening the horse and rider, as well as creating a better balance for both. This balance is created by forcing the rider to find their own balance without relying on the reins. And while I highly recommend integrating gridwork into your training routine, I do like to make sure I keep a good balance between practicing over grids and practicing over regular courses. I find that gridwork can be mentally taxing for the horse so I encourage my students to not “over grid” and instead to use them as a supplement to their regular jump training. The two exercises that we’ll work through are both relatively simple grids that do not require a large amount of standards and poles, so they are easy to set up in a variety of arenas.

How:
Exercise #1 is a simple grid that is a nice gymnastic for young horses or green riders to gain confidence in jumping combinations. It is important to remember, particularly with green horses and riders, to build the grid slowly and one step at time. It will pay off immensely to repeat part of the exercise one more time to solidify things, than to try to skip ahead and run into problems. After the horse and rider are easily able to maintain a steady rhythm through the trot poles, I will add in the first cross rail. The goal for the rider is to maintain the same steady trot rhythm that they had through the poles over the cross rail. Once this is accomplished I will add in the first vertical. Once the horse and rider find this easy, I will add in the oxer as the last element of the gymnastic. At low heights – 3' or less – the exercise is simple and should help teach the rider how to use their leg pressing to and across the jump. The distances are straightforward, which makes it easy for the horse to be properly placed and balanced at each jump.

If a horse is rushing through the grid, there could be several reasons why it is doing so. While many times riders think that their horse is being bold by rushing to fences, I have found that most of the time – especially with Thoroughbreds – they are rushing due to a lack of confidence. So this is why it is so important to keep the jumps small to start and let the poles do the work instead of the rider holding the horse back. Another reason that a horse may rush is because of a weakness in their canter, and this exercise is a great one for helping strengthen the canter without the rider pulling on the reins.

If the horse is insistent on rushing, I would caution against making the exercise bigger or more difficult in an effort to slow them down. Instead, I will sometimes add in one ground pole in the middle between the first crossrail and vertical, and then possibly another one between the vertical and the oxer. With a green horse it may take several sessions doing the exercise before the horse gains confidence and strength. And as always, if the horse loses confidence at any stage, it is important to make the exercise simpler until the horse is confident with every stage.

Exercise #2 is a more advanced version of Exercise #1, and requires a horse that has a fairly well-established canter and a rider that has a strong base. It starts with the same three trot poles, with a vertical as the first jump instead of a crossrail, and then another vertical 9'-10' after that. This creates a bounce instead of a one stride as the first part of the exercise. With horses that are just learning about bounce exercises, I will keep the verticals as crossrails, and make the distance 9' so that there is no confusion to the horse as to whether he should be trying to put in a short stride. For more experienced horses, the bounce stride may need to be lengthened to 10' for them to jump comfortably. Once the horse and rider are comfortably and confidently jumping through this, I will add in an oxer 21' from the bounce.

For the rider, this is a very good training exercise to teach them to stay with the motion of the horse through the bounce and then maintain enough lower leg strength to stay with the horse over the oxer. For the more experienced horse, this is a nice tuning exercise to keep the horse attentive and sharp with his front end. I will also use side poles laid on the ground to help with straightening for the more advanced horses that may have a drift. I also like to lay a pole across the top of the oxer for a visual to encourage the experienced horse to make a better effort and to jump higher.

About Joe Meyer

Originally from the Wairarapa region of New Zealand, Joe Meyer made the move to the United States in 2011 and currently bases his business in Ocala, Florida alongside his wife, Ruthie. Having been based in England for a number of years as well, Meyer has competed at some of the world’s most prestigious events including the 2006 World Equestrian Games, the 2008 Olympic Games, as well as Badminton, Burghley, Luhmuhlen, Pau and Rolex Kentucky. Meyer’s approach to teaching and training is very down-to-earth, straight forward and uncomplicated. His vast experience enables him to help his students through any common, or not so common, problems they may encounter on their journey to reach their goals. To learn more about Meyer, visit www.joemeyereventing.com.