Jumping Critique please!

Hey guys!
So I've now gotten very interested in jumping. I went through this huge jumping phase last year (some of you might remember) and got a bit of position help. Now I'm back at it. My pony is only 14 hh and despite that she can jump up to 2'8". She's also 29 years old and acting like a 6 year old.
However, I'm ready to bring the jumps up a few notches. The barn owner has an Arab gelding who's 15.1hh and has a LOT of spring in him. We've been re-training him and I've been doing a LOT of jumping with him. His name is Maverick and he's 6 years old. He jumps much differently than Cheyenne does so I've had to get used to the way he jumps and correct my two-point so that I'm not too far back or too far forward with my two-point.
I was wondering if you could critique this (nicely) for me please? I got pictures yesterday evening of us. I'd really appreciate it! Tell me (in a nice matter) what I'm doing wrong and how I could correct it.
Thanks a lot!

This picture is last year, you don't need to critique this but I wanted to show you what I look like jumping my pony, Cheyenne.


This is me and Maverick. I know the angle isn't very good but from what you can tell... The jump's at 2'8" :


Here the jump's at 2'4"


The jump's at 2'8" here


Here the jump's at 2'4"


The middle of this cross is just over a foot and the top of the poles are at 2'6"


More pics will come later :)

I'm no jumping expert & there's probably others on here with better advice... From what I can see though...

You're still jumping ahead of your horse. You need to wait until he starts to raise for the jump & lifts you out of the saddle. I think your stirrups need to be shortened as well so you can PUSH that heel down. Don't push in your toes because you're rocking yourself forward & causing your leg to swing back. I'd also like to see your stirrup going diagonally across the bar of your foot. The outside bar should touch your little toe & angle across your the base of your foot. I think your leg looks solid though without TOO much drastic movement. The second to last picture is how I'd like to see your body positioned (not on his neck so much though) with with your hips bent & butt hovering over that seat. You're also roaching your back slightly. Hands need to be more generous as well. Right now you're tucking them under your body when they need to reach forward more & give a generous amount. I think you need to lengthen your running martingale rings in order to achieve this.

Personally I would advise going back to schooling over smaller jumps & really focusing on your position. No offense meant with this - but I think you look much better in the picture from last year form wise than these.

For hand position:
http://www.horsemask.com/images/pics...P_PALMS_05.jpg

Stirrup position:
http://www.drivecms.com/uploads/wihs...laration_1.jpg

As you're clearly confident over these heights, I would say that now's the time to bring the height of the jumps DOWN and work on the horses technique, and your technique.

Any fit and healthy rider/horse combo can get over jumps - but only well schooled ones can get round a tricky course speedily and safely for both.

Have you done much grid work? This is great for both you and your horse to get both thinking about placing, timing and rhythm.

To me it kinda looks like you are just leaning into the neck... I would rather see you do more of a crest release and sit up a bit more coming into the jumps... You need to get you stirrup into the ball of your foot (Its not really safe where it is) and then that will allow you to stretch you heels down and put your weight through your heels and this in turn will help with you sitting up..

What I do like is you are looking up with a nice flat back just try thinkinking about the jump coming to you more than you going to the jump

I'm just wondering here... but, is that a running martingale or what? I can't clearly see, but it looks to be holding your reins down a severe amount(which would make it uncomfortable for you both if you were to release), and if it is a running martingale, it's not adjusted correctly.

Thanks for replying everyone! I have to run in a sec so I'll just answer this one and come back to the other comments later today :)

Yes, my stirrups needed to be shortened one more hole I believe. I had only raised it one from my normal flat height. I ran out of holes, I'm too short :p
I had been focusing on western for a while before so that explains where my feet are in the stirrups...gotta get back into foot position there, my foot kept slipping out of the stirrups.
Roaching my back is definitely an issue with both my flat riding and my jumping. I'm getting a bit better with it than I was but yes, very true :)
I can see what you mean about my hands. I'll remember that for next time :)
I was much more comfortable with my Grannie Horse that I rode in the first picture, which is why I look better with her. With the new horse I have to focus on actually getting him over the jump and THEN my position...my old horse, Cheyenne, and I trust eachother so much that I don't really have an issue with getting her over so I could focus on my position better with her...It'll come with him too I'm sure :)
Thanks for posting!

Like I said I'll answer the rest of you guys in a bit :)
Thanks!

I will throw in my two sense :)

I think you need to give a bit bigger realease. I know that when training a spunky horse, especially an arab, you need hold - but I also recognize an uncomfortable hold on Cheyenne. Also, your running martingale is way too tight. Loosen it up.

HEELS DOWN!! Big pet peeve of mine... on top of that, your stirrups are hitting your heel. If Maverick spooks and unseats you, he could drag you easily with those sturrups and heel. I don't want to scare you, but at the same time, you need to be aware. I would take your stirrups up just a bit, to help you develop this heel, and so your irons don't run up on you like they are.

Don't be afraid to grab mane! This helps so much when learning a new horse. It forces you to give, it gets you up out of the saddle ... It's just safe :)

I would work on low gymnastics. It would really help the both of you :)

Okay, I brought them down to crossrails last time I rode and put up a mini course for us to do. Threw in a barrel as well to jump over since I wanted to introduce him to something else. ;)
Okay that's quite helpful thanks :)
I believe it is a running. I have another thread about my hand position and people were also mentioning the martingale. I'm not very familiar with them but Maverick's owner said to put it on him for now. Anyway people in the other thread were mentioning it as well so I'm going to talk to the owner about it. I got the lecture in the other thread don't worry haha
Thank-you :) brought up my stirrups one more notch the other day which makes it up two notches higher than normal. (The pictures were one notch higherl I think I could even bring them up another notch because my stirrups are usually fairly long when I ride on the flat (I'm a western rider as well as english). Anyway, as for my hands, okay, I'll see about that release and try to bring my hands farther up next time. I started with grabbing the mane because he had this huge refusal problem where he'd canter up to it and get faster and 3 inches away from the jump he'd stop. So I held his mane for that but we've mostly gotten over that now as long as I'm paying attention and cuing him for the jump. So I'm a lot more confident with that now and I only sometimes hold his mane, but I'll start up again and see if it helps bring me and my hands up his neck :) thanks a lot!