Latest news about Strides
Catch up with the latest news about Strides Software.
Learning to see a Stride
One of the fundamental skills in ALL jumping disciplines is the ability to see a Stride. Seeing a Stride is the ability to judge the distance on approach to a jump and adjust your horse's stride so it takes off at the right distance in front of a jump. Seeing a Stride has many names such as seeing a Distance, timing, accuracy, putting a horse in a good spot, not missing and many more.
To learn how to see a stride is more about intuition and feel rather than a science. For this reason, there have been many unorthodox riders who have done very well due to being very accurate. A confident rider will consistently see a stride better than one trying extremely hard to do everything right. The more you think about seeing a Stride worst you get, worrying about missing usually results in disaster!
So how do you learn to see a Distance without trying so hard? My view is practice, practice and more practice! However, if you constantly jump your horse every day, you will not have a horse for very long. My solution are canter poles. Canter poles can be done every day you ride. Practice approaching a pole as if it is jump and aim to take off at the right distance to it. With a pole, if you get it wrong or miss, its whoops let's try again. No crash, no disaster, just try again. Poles have another advantage, your horse will not help you as much as they would over a fence, so this will enhance your ability.
As you get more accurate over poles, try to get a good stride with minimal adjustment. Then work on riding on a forward canter and then a shorter canter. There are many exercises you can do over poles. Strides Exercises has many exercises you can perform over poles. Most are very simple exercises. The way they are ridden is what is important. Performing these exercises well is a challenge.
Have a look at the Pole Exercises that are published in Strides Exercises. I do canter poles on most days I school my horses. I start with flatwork and then do poles in the second half my session. I also practice on a jumping canter that I do in the ring.
Draw reins are a schooling aid that many riders use to keep their horse's head down in a rounded outline. They are especially popular amongst jumping riders, and I see many top riders using them....
Building Confidence in your Horse
When jumping your horse, whether be over cross bars to Grand Prix fences, you need your horse to want to jump for you. Your horse needs to enjoy it. No horse if going to jump if they lack confidence. ...
Strides Exercises update available
There has been a little issue with Strides Exercises, following an update with the strides.co.nz website. This bug has been fixed, but all current users will need to go to the Apple App Store and Goog...
Strides Lite update
Strides Lite has a couple of updates made to it. The jump stands now have feet so they now look the same as the fences on Strides21. I have also introduced the turning dial for turning each fence. Cli...
A demonstration of Strides Exercises App.
Strides Exercises contains a library of jumping exercises for training Showjumpers, eventers, hunters and all other jumping disciplines. For full access a monthly or annual subscription is required...
Purchasing a Strides Exercises subscription on Android
If you are looking for the best schooling exercises to do at home on your horse, Strides Exercises is a great tool to show you multiple exercises you...
Strides Exercises is now available on the Apple App Store
It is with great excitement that I can announce that the Strides Exercises App for iPhones and iPads is now available on the App Store. This App contains a full list of jumping exercises you can do on...
New pricing plan for Strides Exercises
Strides Exercises now has new prices. It is now $2.99USD ($4.99NZD in NZ) for a monthly subscription and $29.95USD ($49.95 NZD in NZ) for an annua...
Tutorial 6 First Fence in a Course
The first fence in a course is one that should be the least influential fence in the course and the one a course designer must get right. Jump 1 should set horse and rider combinations up for the chal...
Line distances vs Imperial vs Metric
Over years in the sport of jumping, I have used both Imperial and Metric measurements for measuring distances between jumps. As a rider when pacing out distances, I had always used Imperial. It was ea...
