WhereTheWeight Is.

Finally have an answer to a great question by Dena. Where does your weight go, over fences?

I answered regarding where your weight goes, on the way up and the way down. I couldn't type-alize where it is in the air.
On the way to the jump and going up, your weight is in your heels, and the thrust of the horse's jump catapults you into the air. That power off the ground, from the horse's jump, will lift your weight up and off his back. While you're in the air, you are weightless, and your heel can and does slip up or back. Look hard at this picture. There is nothing wrong with it.

That's why you'll see many jumper riders with their lower legs swinging every which way, some more than others. These are the GreaT riders. They have the feel, they can let the horse's spring determine what their heel does. It's not enough of a form fault to be marked "down". If this rider's leg was out in front of him? This horse would have stopped. This horse was quite a stopper, and not the most enthusiastic about life and work and jumping. This is the "Eeyore" horse I got to ride, the same horse that was cheered up by chasing Ami around.

Peter, the rider, has a very slight roach in his back, a reminder that this horse could stop in a blink. This horse never gave you a tremendous "boot up the arse". This horse was ground-bound.

Well, duh. There ya go. Your weight, when you jump? It's in the air. I knew that. Jeeepers.

When you watch the great jumper riders, you will never see a lower leg jammed out in front of them. Never. Three-Day Riders will absolutely have to, when they are descending from large drops. But they will never have their lower legs ahead of them for an ascent, or an in-the-air. That equals weight, on the horses back, in the air. Not a good thing, for the horse.

Clear??


It just takes me awhile, as you know, by NoW.

Sorry it took so long Dena! I love thinking about questions, and building the answer in my mind. It just takes 4ever, it seems.

There's more, and there is a tie-in to pickles and butts, but it'll have to wait, until I've percolated some more. Without coffee. Hah!
Something to do with sticking a buck, even in two-point.
I learned, the hard way (as usual), how to do it. How not to do it, too.

OH, and my family went through some of dad's old pictures and stuff, found some reallY cool old pics! Yet another copy of my one claim to fame, but the whole page, and I can't believe I was on the same page as Kimmy Kirton & Minnie Mouse!

Thanks Dad!