United States Eventing Association

Grid Pro Quo with Michael Pollard

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:

This is an exercise that I really love to use for horses of all levels at any point during the competition year. I started using this exercise a lot after working with U.S. Eventing’s Show Jumping Coach Silvio Mazzoni.

My favorite thing about this jumping exercise is that is really rewards good basics, and I find that the better my horse is schooled on the flat, the better they will jump through this exercise. So in a way, this exercise is a great way to check in with yourself as to whether or not you’ve been doing your dressage homework.

Another reason I love this exercise is because you can use this for very green horses and riders by simply putting rails on the ground throughout. But you can also make it quite difficult by increasing the oxer’s height and width.

How:

Your success through this jumping exercise really starts with your warm up. When you are warming up on the flat, you will want to concentrate on your horse’s range of motion. I tend to start off by riding my horses quite deep, and will work to make sure that their back is loose and that they are stretching into the contact. When jumping, I really want my horses to take the time to look at the jump for several reasons. Obviously the main reason is for safety. If your horses is taking the time to study the jump, they are more apt to successfully negotiate it. And should you meet the jump at an awkward distance, your horse will be more apt to get out of trouble if they’ve taken that moment to really study the jump. Another reason why I encourage my horses to look down at the jumps is to encourage confidence and calmness. A confident, calm horse is a safe horse.

Before moving on to the jumping, you should make sure that your horse can do a lot of transitions – both between gaits and within the gait- without becoming unbalanced. For lower-level pairs, this can simply mean that your horse does not become hollow or dive onto their forehand during the transition. For more advanced pairs, you should be able to go from a forward, medium canter almost direction into a stretchy trot. The key for your transitions is to get the feeling that your horse is waiting for you. Once your horse waits, then do your transition, whether that is simply going from canter to trot, or from medium canter to stretchy trot. When you soften your hand, your horse should round their back and seek out the contact. When you think about it, this is exactly what you want over fences.

The final piece of the warm-up puzzle is to start playing over the poles on the ground, while maintaining the softness and calmness in your horse. If this means that you have to circle several times over one of the poles, then go ahead and do that. You will get a lot further with this exercise if you are patient in the beginning!

Once you are confident that you and your horse are properly warmed up, then you are ready to start building the jumping exercise. Depending on your level, it is easiest to just start with all of jumps as poles on the ground. You will start over one of the 18” verticals, then bend five strides to your gymnastic line, and then finish by turning the opposite direction over another 18” vertical. It does not matter what direction you start, but the idea is to create a figure-eight pattern over the fences.

Again, depending on your level, you can then start by building the gymnastic line jump by jump. The verticals can gradually be raised to your competition level, and the oxer can start our very narrow and then get wider as you progress. The great thing about this exercise is that there are challenges for the rider at both the beginning and end.

The challenge for the first part of the exercise is to come into the gymnastic line as slowly as you can. The ideal is to be able to come into the line as slowly as you can, and then add a stride in front of the entrance pole. And of course, you want to be able to stay soft throughout the approach. The distances in the line will encourage your horse to keep building throughout, and so your job as the rider is to stay balanced over your so that your horse can concentrate on the fences in front of him.

The challenge for the latter part of the exercise is to be able to have your horse stretch over the oxer, and then come back to you as you complete the bending five strides to another 18” vertical. If you find that after a few run throughs with the exercise that your horse is anticipating the turns and running through your aids, don’t be afraid to deviate from the figure-eight pattern and change your own pattern.

The biggest problem that I run into when using this exercise during lessons is that the riders don’t see their distances well enough. To be fair though, it is hard to develop an eye when you only have one horse to jump. In order to do more “jumping” without putting too many miles on your horse, I suggest that my students work over ground poles once to twice a week in addition to on actual jump school each week. The ground poles don’t have to be in any particular pattern, and it is often good to simply scatter a few around your arena and just work then into your flatwork. The goal is to be able to start counting down your strides to the poles until you can consistently count down from seven strides away. Once you’re able to do that then start playing with your different canters over the poles as well.

One thing to keep in mind about this exercise is that even though there are only three jumps it can be deceptively easy. So if you end up just working over the exercise with the gymnastic line as poles on the ground, then that is just fine. Work to get that piece perfect and then go on a hack, and come back to the exercise another day. Remember that your goal is to always keep your horse happy and confident, so it is always better to stop a little early than to keep pushing your horse and rattling them.

About Michael Pollard

A lifelong horseman, Michael Pollard runs Pollard Eventing and Chatsworth Stud alongside his wife, Nathalie. He has completed at the four-star level since the age of 22, and was on the Gold Medal winning team at the 2011 Pan American Games. Michael is constantly working with greats such as German Olympian Bettina Hoy, US Eventing Chef d’Equipe David O’Connor and the US Eventing Show Jumping Coach Silvio Mazzoni to better his technique and his ability as a horse person and rider. In addition to his active training business, Michael is also CEO of several carpet and equine related business run out of Dalton, Ga. To learn more about Pollard Eventing, please visit his website.