That is what I have been told by my riding instructor. Apparantly, I do not bend enough at the hip when riding a jumping exercise. Of course I don't bend enough at the hip, I'm not taking the risk that the horse is going to take one look at the fence and slam the brakes on. If that happens, I get fired out of the saddle, and then get told that I should sit up more! Catch 44 situation really. It wasn't that I didn't trust the horse I was riding today, Mandy, it's just that I have had one too many bad experiences riding horses over jumps. Also, all that bending forwards and then sitting up does my back no good what-so-ever. I'll stick to flat work if that's OK.
Strange really, because the whole RollKur exercise started off in showjumping and then got picked up on by dressage riders. It's a bit of a circle really. A lot of showjumping riders now use lateral work when warming their horses up to keep them switched on and listening to the rider, rather than just walk, trot, canter, do a few circles, and jump a few fences before going into the arena. Now it's all very technical. I couldn't go doing showjumping without at least 6 months hard training to understand exactly what goes on when warming a horse up. Oh, I could go in and jump a course, no problem, but knowing what is good and what is bad in the warm up? No idea, it seems to follow some sort of fashion. This season, lateral work is in big time, next season - who knows? The whole lateral work thing in showjumping was first seen mainly with Franke Sloothaak, one Germany's most successful riders. He started to incorperate dressage movements into his warm-ups when riding "hot" horses to keep them focused on him more than jumping the fences. Now it has been picked up on by most riders as a way of helping to solve problems. Your horse isn't strainght? try using leg-yeild in the warm-up. Problems making those tight turns in a jump-off? Pirrouettes are the answer. Some showjumpers are even going to the dressage riders themselves for advice!
Anyway, my not bending enough at the hip, probably isn't that much of a problem. I give with my hands and take my weight off the horse's back, so technically I am in some semblance of a jump position. It's not easy to concentrate on so many things at once: Keep your leg on, make sure the horse is straight, give with your hands, push with your hips, lean forwards, bend at the hips. Too much thinking!
