Prep Talk for the Show Ring: English with Lou Moore-Jacobsen

By Lisa Fergason

Lou Moore-Jacobsen jumping at Bishop Mule Days 1999

Oringinally published in the August and September 1999 issues

If you've been out to Bishop Mule Days, then you know that in the Jumping Class, you will see one rider's name in the program riding most of the mules ... and if you look at the show results, the same name appears on a good percentage of the top placings in the English Division classes.

Most of you know who I'm talking about ... Lou Moore-Jacobsen of Templeton, CA. If you want to learn how to do something, go to the best! And in my opinion, Lou Moore is the best English exhibitor in the mule world today! Working on my English seat and jumping, I found that I learned more from her in a few trips out to the West Coast than I did from weekly lessons here locally. Because she knows mules and their different (mulish) styles and she is good at communicating to her students (both equine and human). Lou stays at our house when she is brought in by clients to ride their hunter/jumpers at the American Paint Horse Association World Show in Fort Worth every July, and I asked her to give us some advice on training and showing in the English classes for our "Prep Talk" column.

Starting with the Hunter Under Saddle classes, from a judge's point of view, Lou is looking for a mule that has a long, low relaxed trot.. . .in other words, ground covering. This gait comes from the tradition on the foxhunt, riders need to be able to cover a lot of ground during the hunt in a short amount of time without tiring. A speeded-up western jog is not going to cut it. And the canter should also look like you are going somewhere .... definitely no four-beating.... because when you go on to the jumping classes, you will need that momentum. Lou likes to see a level neck with the mule using their shoulder, and not a lot of hock and knee action. The style in the breed shows lately has been with the reins thrown away but Lou likes to see light contact. Starting with preparing a mule for the hunter hack, hunter or jumping classes, Lou feels strongly that you should not overwhelm the mule by trying to jump over fences that it's not ready for yet and especially with mules, it's important to vary the work (flatwork, jumping and even varying the jumps) to keep the mule from getting bored.

This system is obviously effective because both her horses and mules are known for their pleasant expression over the fences. 

She starts by walking over a single pole lying flat on the ground, then moving on to trotting over four or five poles. She then graduates the mule to jumping over a low cross pole jump. Lou uses a ground pole at the base of the fence because she says· it helps the mule judge the distance to the jump. As schooling progresses, Lou builds what she calls a "grid", a series of gymnastic exercises with different types of fences set at varying distances. As they learn more jumping, the mules tend to get bored. And she thinks that schooling over fences two to three times a week is plenty, and it's important to change the jumps periodically.

To start green animals, Lou likes the crosss poles because it teaches them to in the center and builds confidence.  But she advises that as the animal progresses, the crosspole jump can teach them to be lazy about jumping, she moves on to jumping them over more solid type jumps, with flower boxes, oxers, and walls. Also Lou pointed out that if you make the cross poles too steep, the animal may be intimidated because it sees the height on the side, even though the center is low. She prefers the winged standards over the upright posts because it blocks them in more to the jump .... the posts might invite the mule to run around the outside to avoid the jump. If you don't have winged standards, she says that standing barrels on each side will have the same effect.

I know from riding with Lou, that she pushes the mule a little more forward in the canter when going to the jumps. My inclination was to go to the jump more carefully thinking the slower I got there the more time I would have to get ready for the jump .... but Lou showed me that the animal needs to be going at a strong canter so that they will not have to make such an effort at the jump.

Lou said the biggest mistake that people make in riding their horse or mule English is "they have their stirrups too long" (see the photo below on where she has adjusted my stirrups to the correct length). And she said, "A lot of riders, especially from the western riding background and with the breed shows, influence, want to sit too straight. They need to close the hip angle a little bit ...... especially to go jump."

Lou gave a good analogy on the correct way to post: "You don't post straight up like a piston, you post from front to back as opposed to up and down."

If you've ever taken English riding lessons before, you know one of the most effective ways to learn and strengthen the correct leg position is posting without stirrups ..... after which your legs feel like jelly. I always dreaded that part of the lesson and it never seemed to get any easier. Well, Lou had me use a different technique that is very effective, trotting in two point ( see photo for two-point position). She said that it accomplishes several things: it makes you get your legs in the right position, strengthens the muscles and teaches you the position for jumping.

Trotting in this position, without having to brace on the neck of the mule will teach you correct leg position and strengthen your legs, it also puts you in the right position for jumping.

Judging the rider's position, Lou's pet peeves are "flat hands ... when you hold them flat, then you usually start spreading them out...and lose your position" and "not utilizing the whole arena for the hunters course". She explained that you should try to use the whole arena, get deep in your comers, it shows the animal off better, keeps the pace and looks more flowing."

And she went on to explain the difference between the hunters and the jumpers class. "The hunter class is judged like the pleasure class, but over fences. All jumpers have to do is get from point A to point B ( over the prescribed order of jumps) any way they can, they are not judged on style, they are judged on faults."

Especially for jumping, Lou suggests that you "consider lessons on a school animal, to get a feel for jumping." And she brought up again the point I told you about last month, she said that you should "canter with momentum (toward the fence), this will give you the impulsion to jump smoothly, that you should canter strong but not fast to the jump."

When asked about how to get the mule to jump new or strange jumps, she said to “expose them to as many different jumps as you can at home and at schooling shows. Use different things to construct your jump from, without being dangerous, don’t make the jump a trap where you will get the mule where it doesn’t trust you.” 

She gave the example of using barrels turned on their side but blocking them so they wouldn’t roll, making them stationary. Also, using a lot of different things for a jump, such as putting cones under the top rail. And another example, I’ve seen her hang a saddle blanket across the top rail. 

With her tremendous accomplishments in the horse industry, especially in the hunter/jumper and three-day events, we're fortunate to have someone of Lou Moore's caliber in the mule world!

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I found two photos taken several years ago when I had gone out to California to ride with Lou, I was fortunate to be able to take lessons on her many time World Champion English mule 'Empress Josephine' who has since been retired.