Show jumping courses for small arenas
Show jumping courses for small arenas are usually difficult to come up with. So if you have a small arena and you find one that works, you usually hang onto it. Well, the good news is this one works beautifully. And the good news is there’s a gymnastic, a couple of related distances AND a double combination. So you get to practice all the important stuff, in your small arena.
The arena that I use to demonstrate this exercise is a dressage arena. I know some of you may have smaller arenas, but you can easily knock a stride off the related distances to get the exercise to fit a bit better.
How to setup this show jumping courses for small arenas
Ok so this is a nice easy setup but you obviously need to know the distances, so here goes.
Jump 1 (Gymnatic)
You start with the little gymnastic down the long side of your arena. Try to get it closer to the bottom of the arena. You want to try to leave a bit of open space near the top. So these are the measurements for the gymnastic. It’s 3 paces for the two bounce strides. Then seven paces from the last bounce to the vertical. And then another seven paces from the vertical to the oxer.
Jump 2, 4 and 5
Then down the other long side of your arena, you set up another line. A one stride double combination. Vertical to oxer. 8 paces apart. Then four strides from the double combination you set up a vertical. The distance walks 20 paces so it’s a nice level four strides.
Jump 3
Then you set up an oxer 28 paces away on a curve from the vertical (jump 2 and 5). For a six stride related distance on a curve. Don’t go too big on the angle to this oxer. Take into account that you don’t want to be jumping into the gymnastic and that you need to ride past the gymnastic.
Jump 6
And then finally you set up a vertical in the open space at the top of the arena. Roughly down the centerline at a slight angle. And that’s it, folks, you’re all set up and ready to go.