Jumping Grid Distances

Hi everyone,

I have a 14 hand mare who I find it very difficult to set up accurate distances for when jumping grids.

I was told to set them 3 human strides apart, but they always seem to be wrong! Is this horse distance and should it be adapted for ponies? What distances do you use?

Thankyou.

3 human strides is a ridiculous measurement, because we don't all have the same length stride. I would teach yourself how to walk a 3ft stride as that is easiest.

Then you need to figure out how long your pony's stride is. I would set the distances for a 10ft stride and then go from there.

Good luck =]

3 human "strides" = 1 stride.
I walk 4 strides, allowing 1 stride to be for landing and take off for a grid.

You must have monster strides !

The reason counting that way is ridiculous [if you don't know your 'stride' length] is because everyones 'stride' is different. My stride length is shorter than that trainer who is a foot taller than me. So 4 of my strides are not as long as 4 of his. It is incredibly inaccurate !

I am not sure, I guess everyone does it differently, hard to explain over a computer too, lol.
The only way I know is from Peter Holmes, international course designer, used to coach me and he did course setting clinics as well. I have always set courses this way and have never had problems.

I know for an average size horse, it's 9' for a canter bounce, 18' for a one stride using verticals, 21' for a vertical to oxer. Maybe just reduce all those distances by 1' until you find the stride that is correct for her.

One day my trainer and I set pretty good stride lengths for my horse for a bounce, 1 stride, 2 stride, and 3 stride. After we were done I went back out and counted it in my own normal walking stride and kept those numbers in my phone. Is it fool-proof? No way, but at least when I want to set a grid quickly I can just use my own steps.

I guess that doesn't help you set the original strides, but will help you remember them later