Image
  • Home
  • AJ’s Blog
  • New Book
    • Front Cover
    • Back Cover
  • Horse Articles
  • Horse Videos
  • How-to Videos
  • About
  • Horse Links
  • Music
  • Art
  • Art Videos

My Latest Book

Judging Hunters by Anna Mullin, 4th Edition

My newest book, Judging Hunters & Hunter Seat Equitation, Fourth Edition is available here at Horse and Rider Books.

Looking for something? Search here!

Recent Posts

  • The Horse’s Ideal Flight Pattern over Fences
  • Troubleshooting Bending Problems
  • Lateral Aids and Lateral Movements
  • Two Basic Leg Positions
  • The Figure Eight

Archives

  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010

The Horse’s Ideal Flight Pattern over Fences

By Anna Jane White-Mullin
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Sometimes a horse’s form—that is, its use of its legs, back, and neck—may be attractive, but the animal commits other errors over the fence by wavering from the ideal flight pattern. The flight pattern of a horse begins as the animal leaves the ground on the near side of the obstacle and ends as the horse’s feet touch the ground on the far side. Ideally, the horse’s landing spot and its takeoff spot should be equidistant from the center of the fence. To simplify the explanation, if a horse leaves the ground 6 feet from the center of the fence, it should land on the far side 6 feet from the center of the fence.

In addition, the horse should approach the middle of a fence without wandering off of a straight line, jump the fence without drifting off that line in the air, and land on the same line. On hunter courses, a horse that deviates from this ideal path commits a flight pattern fault. The excep­tion is usually a handy hunter class, in which the placement of a previous or upcoming fence may require the horse to jump the current fence at an angle or at some place other than the middle of the fence.

This horse has a good flight pattern as it jumps across the middle of the fence.

This horse has moved away from the center of the fence in a flight-pattern fault known as "drifting."

Categories : Horse Articles
Anna Mullin
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
iThemes Builder by iThemes
Powered by WordPress