Caroline Moore FBHS responds to a PN/Novice reader’s question:

“I would like to know the best way to ride an airy trakhener which has a downhill approach… it’s a personal gremlin that I have.”

Gosh, quite a scary fence for a pre novice. I tend to think of canter approaches in different gears (first gear to fifth gear) for different fences. For example a brush fence on the flat could be jumped almost in fifth gear (not quite, always remember to balance) whereas an upright coffin would need more like second gear (shorter steps with lots of revs).

A trakhener needs to be ridden according to your horse. A horse that doesn’t spook at ditches can be ridden in the top end of third/fourth gear range, especially if the fence has a good ground line.

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