This post is about teaching the Phalene to jump for agility. Often we are asked, “How many jumps should I begin with?” You can never have enough solo jumps to teach agility. One suitable starting point is four jumps. This is the absolute minimum quantity of jumps that we recommend.
Teaching the Phalene to jump: Start with 4
You can teach your Phalene a number of drills, skills, and exercises with 4 jumps. 4 jumps will let you work on a short jump chute or jump grid. You can position a “box” with your jumps and work on collection, handling, and 270 degree jumps. You can teach your Phalene jumping right and left. You could be out of the box and send your Phalene or you can handle from the inside of the box. Your jumps can be positioned in a horizontal row, so you can practice threadles and serpentines.
Teach the Phalene 8 Jumps
Go to the next logical step and work on eight jumps. Now you can setup 2 boxes with one introductory jump. Now you’ve increased your drills that you can work on with your Phalene. Your jump grids can be of typical size and number of jumps. You can even position the jumps in a circle with the jump bars normal to the circle or on the perimeter of the circle. This pattern also allows you to work on a variety of skills.
Teaching the Phalene Double and Triple Jumps
Your next step is a double jump and a triple jump. You can set 2 or three single jumps together to make your expanded jump, however having double and triple jumps in your course work is especially helpful to work on. We’ve seen several Phalenes run a clean course and the final obstacle is a triple and the Phalene is not prepared to do it, and bang, down comes the bar.
Don’t forget to check out these other articles about Phalenes.Was this post helpful? If so, please take a minute to Tweet and Share below on Facebook. I would also love to know your thoughts so leave me a comment 🙂
Follow