Question # 342: Kayla has a question about how to set distances for jumping training, with a horse that has a shorter than average stride.

My horse's natural stride length is ten feet, so for all our courses I've been setting distances to his stride, not a twelve foot stride. But I know that all the courses we ride in competition are based off a twelve foot stride. So should we work on developing a stride length to match, and should we ride in that all the time? (Kayla)

Hi Kayla!

This is a great question! As MANY riders have horses that don't have a natural 12 foot stride! Some riders are on huge horses with a natural 14 foot stride. And many others are on smaller horses or ponies who have a natural 10 foot stride, or even smaller! So do all of these riders have to make their horses conform to the normal 12 foot striding to make the distances happen smoothly on course? And do you have to school over 12 foot distances at home if that isn't the length of your horse's stride? Well, yes and no... (Click on Question Title above to read full answer)