The Jump-off: Find the★
Magic Step M
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The author attends a clinic featuring KYLE KING, a master at saving precious seconds on course.
agic? Of course not! But it can certainly feel that way. A talented jumper can grab the options on the Grand Prix field. He can stretch a stride or
magically transform a stride and a half into one stride—and that’s what wins money in jump-offs.
Prize money makes jumping a very competitive sport. A horse with speed and agility can earn those big wins. Even though equine athletes may be born with the talent for jumping, to succeed in speed classes and jump-offs, the horse benefits from the rider’s strategy. The thinking rider matches the horse to the demands of the course: the jumps, the strides and the turns. Well-known jumper rider Kyle King has won 50 Grands
Prix and excels as a catch rider. He shares his strategy and tactics for employing that magic step, which can be the winning advantage.
Analyzing the Course—And the Horse Strategy begins with the rider’s knowing the horse’s abili- ties. Kyle describes how he works with his top horse, Quigley (Quidam’s Rubin x Argentinus). “He is 17.2. He’s hot. I have taught him to go fast. He’s so scopey—I can turn tight on the jump. He jumps well from the gallop.” Speed is important on today’s jump-offs. The horse with
more blood (Thoroughbred) can have an advantage in the gallops. “With the courses, these days we need a horse with blood,” says Kyle. “If you’re too slow you can even go double clean and not place, except maybe sixth or seventh.” He says that Quigley does have blood. “If he didn’t, he
wouldn’t be the horse he is. And a horse with blood is faster, although it depends on the rider’s abilities.” When walking the course, the rider looks for the fastest
way the horse can travel. “Think about the shortest track, which is the fastest,” Kyle advises. Riding fewer strides over- all saves time. A jumper needs to be able to extend his
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By Charlene Strickland
stride between fences, and then collect quickly for a turn after a fence. Over a fence, Kyle says, “You don’t want to be too fast at
the front side, because then maybe you can’t turn on the back side.” By that, he means making a wider turn which will add strides and cost the rider time. When planning a trip, the turn, approach, jump, and landing require a horse that’s adjustable at every stride. “On the right course he’s great,” says Kyle about Quigley.
“On courses with half steps, he can leave strides out. He is a ‘leaver-outer.’ He’s 13 feet from nose to tail, and he jumps really round.” He adds, “On the big money courses at Spruce Meadows,
your horse has to be adjustable these days.” The speed of the turn depends on the horse’s agility. The horse must make a fast turn after the fence, without “cheat- ing,” or slowing. Think about a rollback, with the horse pivoting on the inside hind leg for a 180 turn, which Kyle calls a “wheelie rollback.” He mentions that another factor is the appearance of the jumps. “They have come up with some creative designs.
ABOVE: Kyle King and the stallion Capone I win a $25,000 Smart- Pak Grand Prix in early 2011 at the HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, California.
Warmbloods Today 23
© Flying Horse Photography
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