United States Eventing Association

Grid Pro Quo with Katie Ruppel

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:

Gridwork is all about teaching horses and riders to react quicker, and there is enough to do in this grid that both horse and rider will need to stay sharp to make it through successfully.

This is a super grid for working on straightness. The skinny rails are a smaller target for the rider to focus on and are a great tool to help the rider realize just how straight they need to be. If they are not jumping the middle of the skinny rail, then they are not straight!

The raised skinny rails before and after the bounces are more for the horses. It helps to get their feet off the ground a little quicker and makes it so that they cannot land and drag their feet

How:

For this grid, I actually like to start with the first bounce and have the rider come to it off both the right and left leg and also going in each direction. If your arena is big enough you can put two rails on either side about four strides—or 58’—from the last landing rail. These rails on the bending line are there to just help give you direction and keep your rhythm before and after the grid. For the riders, these rails also force you to keep riding after the grid. Many riders do not ride the landing side of a fence well enough, so this is the perfect fix!

Once the riders are comfortable through the first bounce, I will keep the riders coming through the exercise in one direction and off each leg. My next step will be to set up the raised placing rail and have the riders come through at least twice to make sure that they are comfortable with the entrance rail. Once all is well with that, I will add in the second vertical and landing raised placing rail to complete the double bounce.

I tend to make the middle vertical of the double bounce a hole or two bigger than the other verticals for two reasons. First, it makes the bounces a little easier for the horses to read, and the varying height helps to get the horse really tight and quick with his front legs. For the more experienced horses, I will sometimes tighten up the distance between the ground rails and the bounces. This just forces the horses to be a little tidier and more compressed.

After the horse and rider are comfortable and confident through the double bounce, I will add in the first vertical and entrance placing rail to complete the first one-stride. This is when the raised skinny ground rail starts to come into play. For the rider, this is where your straightness will be tested. It is easy to stay straight over the skinny rail when it is the first part of the exercise, but it is easy to drift to one side when you have to jump first. This is when, as a rider, you have to hold your position and stay committed to the line.

If you are comfortably and confidently going through this part of the grid, the final vertical will be a piece of cake. Just remember to stay strong through the bounces so that you do not miss the raised rail between the bounces and the final vertical. Do not forget to keep riding to the final landing rail and ground rail on the bending line!

For lower level riders, you can do several things. The easiest thing is to take out one or both bounces. You can keep it challenging by leaving the skinny raised rails in. For the younger junior riders, you can use regular sized rails instead of the skinny rails.

If you are riding an inexperienced horse, I would be more apt to replace the skinny rails with regular sized ones and leave all the rails on the ground. This is because for the younger, less experienced horses my main concern is keeping them forward and confident; they may not yet be ready to understand the skinny rails. If the horse is very wiggly, you can always put straightening rails on the ground to help show them the middle.

For horses that rush, this grid is great because the bending rails in the beginning help encourage a steady rhythm and same length of stride into the grid. There is a lot to do in this grid and the horses will likely only try to rush through once. If need be, let them pop out a rail and make a mistake and learn from it. I use the grids to teach the horses to be quick thinkers; I try to stay out of their way and let them sort through it themselves. Especially for the young horses, it gives them confidence once they have completed the task without too much interference from me.

Depending on the rider and horse, I will move on from this grid and do some course work, but if at any point I feel like their feet are slowing down, then I will run them through the grid again.

About Katie Ruppel

Katie Ruppel, a seasoned Advanced-level eventer, operates Yellow Rose Eventing out of her farm in Anthony, Florida. Katie has produced several Advanced horses, and is currently competing with Houdini, a thoroughbred gelding who she campaigns at the CCI4* level. Katie and Houdini completed a rigorous weekend at Etoiles de Pau this fall together. Katie has earned earned top placings at numerous international events throughout the country including: tenth at the 2012 Richland Park CIC3*, third at the 2011 Poplar Place CIC3*, fourth at the 2011 Jersey Fresh CCI3*, and fourth in the Under-25 Championships at the 2010 Fair Hill International CCI3*. Katie has also ventured into sport horse breeding on a small scale and has begun to competing her homebreds Hannibal, Hard Copy, and Desperadeaux in the coming years. Click here to learn more about Katie.