FOLLOWING on from the gridwork exercises published two weeks ago, we have two more exercises from Ian Fearon for riders to work on at home.

After the positive news that equestrian activity can resume from May 18th within a 5km distance of your home, riders can remain hopeful that they can get back out competing and training in the not so distant future.

Gridwork exercises will teach a horse to be athletic, quick-thinking, accurate and confident. It will improve a horse’s rhythm, balance, reactions, style and technique. Which will in turn, improve your rounds in the show jumping ring.

Gridwork will provide the opportunity for a rider to practice style, position and balance while jumping a fence. Riders will quickly notice improvements in confidence, sense of rhythm, reactions and ability to judge distances.

It is a progressive training system which uses poles and fences and pre-determined distances.

This exercise can be used for teaching horse and rider to be in harmony and balance together whilst riding big wide turns or tighter roll-backs.

Start with wider turns at a relaxed pace, as horse and rider master the exercise, tighten turns and increase pace. The rider must always be in control of the turn, ensuring that the horse is straight on the take-off and landing stride.

The rider must develop instinctive and quick use of the weight aid to ensure that horse will land on the correct canter lead for the direction of the next turn. The rider should work on the horses suppleness and work on smooth turns, forward impulsion, getting the hind leg under body for more power at the fence.

The rider should work on good body position, riding from their leg, carrying the hand in lighter but more positive contact – in a lighter more forward seat or sitting really tall – and still able to follow the horse.

Using the set-up progress to adjusting turns and jumping across the fence. Ensure that the horse is straight on take-off and landing stride.

Second grid

These fences are at a three stride distance from each other and can be set at about 90cm in height. This grid allows the rider to vary the exercise to practice smooth turns on both reins. Use leg position and weight aids to influence the right canter lead after each fence. It is important to be straight at take-off and landing at each fence.

Biography

Ian Fearon is a high performance HSI Level 3 coach and tutor and one of Ireland’s leading trainers. Ian is a successful coach to rider athletes of all levels. He has managed and coached several Irish show jumping and eventing teams at national and international level achieving gold, silver, and bronze medals. He is also a private show jumping coach for riders at national and Grand Prix level. Each year he is the head coach for the SJI national training clinics. The exercises and grids shown here are from his booklet which he uses while coaching. These exercises can be adapted to suit riders of all levels.