Deshi on the difference between a rider who counts and a rider who feels, and the six weeks in between.
Every rider in the jumping ladder counts out loud for their first term. It is not because counting is the goal — it is because counting forces you to look up and commit to a line five strides out instead of two.
The moment to stop is usually obvious from the ground: the count gets late, then ragged, then the horse arrives right anyway. That is the rider’s eye finally working. We take the counting away for one lesson to prove it, and almost nobody asks for it back.