We have all been there, standing at the ingate at a horse show, it is your turn to go in, your trainer clucks and there you go.  Your horse crosses that threshold and you panic, your walking in to do your courtesy circle and your thinking “there are two oxers set next to each other, which one was it that I am  supposed to jump?”  Worst of all, it is a derby round, an equitation round, or a hunter round, and the jumps are not numbered, your screwed.   Or maybe you are a newer rider that’s progressing well, and your starting to do some harder courses and your trainer, while setting jumps says, “warm up starting with that (said while pointing) outside line, diagonal, and the rollback to the single oxer from the in of that outside line”.  What do you do?

This blog will give you some pointers on how to better interpret that coded language your trainer speaks in lessons, and also how to improve your chance at a “best guess” when you’re on course and forget where you’re going at a horse show.  The real magic trick, knowing basic patterns.  For simplicities sake, I am assuming most readers are newer to jumping and showing. The courses and patterns addressed in this blog are most applicable to the 3’ and under rings (pony division, age group equitation, and child/adult classes).  Learning these patterns are something that comes with time but, hopefully I can provide some insight.

1.    Know the Most Common Types of Patterns Used in Course Design

Below I have listed the most common types of jump combinations and patterns.  You should learn these jump combinations as a single “obstacle”.  By learning these patterns, you will one, only must memorize combinations of jumps, as opposed to memorizing the course jump by jump (less to memorize).  And two, just having the familiarity makes it easier to memorize; sort of like in other sports where you learn “plays” and it becomes muscle memory.  

×         Outside Line – Two jumps place one after another on a straight line.  Straight lines are parallel to the long side of the area edge.

×         Diagonal Line – Two jumps placed one after another on a straight line that cuts long ways through the middle of the arena.

×         Bending Line – Where the first fence is off set from the second fence, and you have a dogleg in between jumps.

×         Rollback Turns – Two jump placed a few feet apart from each other.  One is usually perpendicular to the

×         End Jump – A single jump placed perpendicular to the edge on one of the short ends of the arena.

×         Corner Jump – A single jump placed perpendicular to the arenas edge, on the radius of any corner in the ring,

×         Center Jump – Single jump placed in the center of the ring, to be jumped towards one of the long wall’s in the arena.

×         180 Degree Turn – A more difficult version of a roll back where you have two jumps placed next to each other horizontally so the right hand standard of the jump on the left is next to the left hand standard of the jump on the right.  You jump one, then do a 180 degree turn back to the second.

×         Off-set single jump – Single jump that is not part of a line or pattern and will be placed in a somewhat random place in the arena.

×         Bounce – Two jumps placed one in front of another with only 12-14’ between them.  The horse’s front feet will land and take off without taking a stride in between.  This is a zero-stride line.

×         In-and-Out – Lines with only one or two strides between them.

×         Ramped Oxer – An oxer where the back rail is higher than the front rail.  These should only be jumped in the direction where the front rail is lower.

×         Triple Bar Oxer – An oxer with three ramped rails as opposed to the standard two rails. 

×         Square Oxer – Oxer where both top rails are the same heights.  Can be jumped in either direction.

 

2.    Lost on Course - Guessing the Next Fence Through Knowledge of Jump Types and Placement

Even the best of us, with lots of show miles can on occasion, forget where we are going while on course.  When that happens, knowing some basic knowledge about course designing and jump placement/setup will help you eliminate options quickly.  Below are a few of these basics that you should know.

×         Never jump a ramped oxer backwards, its dangerous.

×         Never jump just the second jump of an in-and-out.  No course will have you jump just one component of these lines.  If your horse runs out between the two jumps, you always start with the first part of the combination. 

×         Rarely will you see the “in” of a line be an oxer.

×         Boxes, such as flower boxes or fake brick walls will typically be set towards the front of a jump.  Sometimes if a course designer needs to be able to have the jump be multidirectional, they will put the jump fill in the middle.  

×         Roll tops, you always jump the round part.  Jumping one of these backwards is like jumping a slanted oxer backwards. 

×         A line will usually be a “like” jump to “like” jump.  Such as jumping the same color, to same color. (this rule most commonly applies when in the hunter ring)

×         Courses are designed to flow. If the turn your going to make does not flow and has an abruptness to it, or requires you to break stride, it probably is not right.  For example, an unreasonably tight turn for the level of competition, if you are weaving in and out and zig zagging through other jumps to get to your next fence, then you are headed the wrong way. 

×         Take a longer tour around the ring before you start your course. This will buy you (and your horse) time to think and get a better look at the jumps. Keep in mind, this must be done within reason, think about it in terms of an extra-large curtesy circle.  And if you are in the jumper ring, be sure not to cross the timers.

×         Do not look back horrified at your trainer, they can’t help you now, and you don’t need the stress of their “what the $&#% are you doing” glare adding to the situation.

 

3.    Know What Ring You are Riding In

First off, know what ring your riding in.  Patterns that you see in the jumper ring will be very different from what you see in the hunter and equitation rings.  A lot of riders will ride in all three rings, knowing what type of course and the patterns are used to design the courses will help you remember the course.

Hunter Ring

In the hunter ring, courses are standardized and less complex.  Most of the time, you will follow a figure 8 type pattern or “outside line, diagonal line, outside line, diagonal line”.  Keep in mind that course designers need to design course patterns that can accommodate two or three different trips for the division without having to modify anything so, the hardest part in remembering hunter courses, is which trip you’re on.  To help me remember which trip I am on, I make sure I know where in the course I might have two logical options, and I go over that part of the course more in my head.

Hunter courses will typically start with a vertical jump for the “in” of the line (first jump) and the “out” (second jump) will be an oxer; side note, you never jump an oxer backwards to enter a line.  Lines will typically be the same color or same theme.  For example, one line might have green poles with a white box at the vertical, and similarly, the oxer will have green poles and a white brick box.  Occasionally, you will have a single jump instead of an entire line. 

Patterns Found in the Hunter Ring Include:

×         Outside Lines

×         Diagonal Lines

×         Single Jump (never a center, end, or corner jump)

×         In-and-Out

Equitation Ring

These classes tend to be held in both the hunter and jumper rings depending on which (rating) show you are at.  The courses tend to be slightly modified hunter style courses designed to challenge the rider and prepare them for the jumper ring.  The courses will be harder through use of more complicated jump combinations.   

Patterns Found in the Equitation Ring Include:

×         Roll back turns

×         Bending lines with two jumps

×         Bending lines with three jumps

×         Straight lines

×         Bounce

×         End jump

×         Corner jump

×         In-and-Out one and two strides

Jumper Ring

In the jumper ring, you will see courses that do not follow a generic pattern like in the hunter ring.  Jumper courses will have more jumps in a course, more colorful and creative looking jumps, and more difficult courses defined by tighter turns, harder combinations of jumps, and options for “inside turns”.  And depending on what type of class it is, you might have to memorize two courses; your first ride and then if you go clear, the jump-off.  Memorizing courses for the jumper ring can be more difficult but, the jumps themselves are more memorable, often having flamboyant colors and unique and non-natural decorations. Your saving grace in the jumper ring is that the jumps are numbered for both your first round, and the jump-off.  I know when you are already struggling to remember a course that counting jumps as you go might seem like a waste of brain space but, I would work on counting jumps at home because even if you have to slow down to a trot to “search” for a jump at a show, its still better then going off course.  Now, if your having to break stride to find your next jump, chances are you might have time faults but, that is still far better than going off-course. 

 Patterns Found in the Jumper Ring Include: All of them! 

4.    Practice Hard Courses at Home

Just like everything else in life, practice makes perfect, and the more you practice memorizing courses and riding them at home, the better you will be at shows.  Most people only take one or two lessons a week which for most, limits the number of times they jump to those days. I also do not like to jump my horses more then once or twice a week when at home, which means unless you have multiple horses to ride, your limited in the number of courses you can jump anyway. Horses only have so many jumps in them, I try to use those wisely.   

To practice at home while not taking a lesson, go online and look for courses, there are a ton!  You can also take pictures of the different courses posted at all the different rings when you are at a horse show and set them up using just poles at home.  If you do not have access to that many poles, you can use cones to simulate where the jumps would be.  Remember you goal in this activity, it is to practice memorizing courses, not schooling your horse.   You should also put a time limit on how long you have to memorize the “course” as most anyone can memorize a course with unlimited time. Also have a friend setup the course so you are not familiar at all with the pattern. Now, just because you are practicing memorizing courses doesn’t mean that you should not take that opportunity to practice good equitation through the turns and using your aids but, if you are really struggling, maybe just focus on the one thing.

In conclusion, learning to memorize courses is something that gets easier with time and experience but, to speed up the processes; become more familiar with courses by practicing at home, watch horse shows on You Tube, learn the different patterns and jump combinations used by course designers to create courses and maybe a Percocet for those of you high strung ones (haha JK).