Its a day every english rider waits for, or fears, the day that can be a the first jump. This is a page on getting you prepared for the first jump.

The First Jump

The first jump can be the best time in a riders carreer, or the worst. But for me it was the very best! Here's my story of my first jump: I was learning how to jump, and I was trotting over poles and all in 2-point. But I hadn't jumped a real fence before. For my lesson that day, Dana (my instructor) said I could do a real fence that day, if I did good on the flat. There were fences set up, but she took them down, and on one side of the arena there was a 3 poles on the ground, between two standards. They were spaced out, but not enough for a horse or pony to trot or canter through. Then I cantered, Precious, who doesn't like the words "Go where I want you to" decided to jump the poles. She headed rihght at them, and I grabbed her mane. She jumped them, it was like flying, in that lesson Dana set up a real fence and had me jump that. It was one of the greatest times I've had in riding.

When you jump, always wear boots with a heel, a helmet, and pants, not shorts. (You should always wear that when you ride, I'm just stressing it for jumping.) In some of your first lessons, most likely, you may have trotted over poles, not in 2-point, or jumping position. Where I ride, we call it 2-point so through this, I'll call it 2-point too. Ok, 2 point is when a rider folds forward, almost on their horses neck. I'm not good at explaining stuff, so here's a pic!!! (The face is kinda demented!)

OK, once you learn how to 2-point, its best to practice it at the walk and halt before trying a fence or poles. You put your heels down, and slide your hands ½ way up your horses neck, and have your body follow, then sit there to get accustomed to it. After you've learned how to do this at the walk and halt, you'll probably do it at the trot. Just do the same thing, it makes the trot less bouncy! After you've done that at the trot, you may walk and trot over poles for a little while, take the poles as if they were nothing there at all. After a lesson or two of doing poles, you may do a real jump. Most likely it will be really small, I started off at a foot, and an X. Your instructor may ask you to 2-point a few feet away from the fence so you aren't caught off gaurd. I'd reccomend grabbing mane for extra balance! Come up to the fence looking right ahead of you, never below it, then grip with your legs and grab mane and go up and over. Its so much fun! So I hope this article helped you with your first jump!!!