Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Jump!

...Yeah - I won't be doing this...

...at least NEVER on purpose!



1 comment:

sunvalleysally said...

Well just in case you ever want to try jumping sidesaddle over a (very) low pole, first get the Doreen Archer Houblon book(s) long out of print, which give complete details of how to do it. One thing Mrs. Houblon leaves out though and that is you simply cannot have a tummy. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Not just a merely flat tummy, either. Concave! Because for a modern jumping position sidesaddle you would have to fold absolutely flat against the top of your right thigh (left if riding an offside saddle).

Many years ago I coached an eventer on a Standardbred who evented sidesaddle. After her first time out low novice and actually doing a pretty good job as she had also hunted sidesaddle, she saved the sidesaddle for the dressage phase and reverted to a cross saddle for the more challenging phases - it really is a difficult thing to do. If you want to see a very dramatic shot see if you can still find online the photo of Patience Prine-Carr jumping sidesaddle over a 4-plus-foot fence at the Scottsdale All-Arabian show on her big chestnut - the straight-on shot made all the horse magazines that year and it was pretty impressive!