05/20/2026
Chapter Five: Riding on the Flat
Why is flat work important to the jumper? Because in large measure, the art of jumping is the art of riding good approaches: approaches that put the horse on the right spot, at the right speed and in the right physical and temperamental balance. Bad approaches make faults probable or even unavoidable; good approaches make good jumps practically the course of least resistance for the horse (at least within the limits of its ability). And approaches take place entirely on the flat. If a horse can’t lengthen and shorten and turn obediently and in balance on the flat, how can you expect it to do so in its approach to the fence? (The only answer is a pretty weak one: thanks to its instincts of self-preservation, without which we’d undoubtedly see even more jumping faults than we do now.)
Flat work, then, is the principal end to which we put the means of our position and our body language of aids. Some riders may still harbor the delusion that the horse is merely a vehicle to carry them when they “go riding.” But for the horse, riding is indistinguishable from training: you’re training your horse every time you ride it, like it or not; and after every ride, your horse will have changed in some way, for better or for worse.
