Masterclass with Joe Stockdale

Sharpen your horse's straightness and balance with Joe Stockdale's go-to exercises – simple set-ups to help build accuracy, connection and confidence

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An elite showjumper's life is lived largely on the road, travelling from one country to another for weekend shows. But on Mondays and Tuesdays, it's often back to the yard for the hard grind that lays the foundations for successful competitions in the future.

H&H pays a visit to Joe Stockdale's Northamptonshire yard to find out how he keeps his horses ticking over between shows – and he shares some of his favourite exercises that he practises with his horses of all levels.

Exercise one: angling single fences

Aim: to jump fences on an angle and dictate which lead to land on.

Level: any. You can set the height as appropriate, and tweak the distance to make it easier.

What you need: three sets of jump wings and poles for an upright and square oxer. Joe is riding: Cacharel (Cash), a 14-year-old mare by Cachas x Quinar Z who is competing at five-star grand prix and was on the British team that won world bronze in Herning 2022.

JOE has set up a one-stride double (7m approximately) of an oxer and an upright on the diagonal across the school. Both fences can be jumped in either direction. For younger or less experienced combinations, you can tweak it to make it less demanding: Joe suggests.

Cash is Joe's top horse, and although she may tackle up to 1.60m at shows, Joe rarely jumps more than 1.10m at home.

"She can do it all, so it's just about keeping the muscles active and moving," he says. "She has had some time off, and it's like us if we haven't been to the gym for a while: when we go back, our muscles ache.

"This is a very simple exercise that I use a lot, often as a warm-up."