Advise with training my horse to 'take me to a fence'...

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abailey

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Please help me!!!! I have a five yo homebred TB mare, she's a total sweetie, we have done a bit of SJ and XC, she's very carefull and always clear but I have a frustrating problem that she doesn't seem to look at the fence! So we often get too deep, bless her she goes ahead and jumps it anyway but it can be a bit disconcerting. I train her with grids/bounces etc. Would really like her to look at the fence and lock on (be nice to feel that 'push' 4-5 strides out).

A bit about me.....I have competed up to 1.20m in the past, I am not nervous or backing off the fence but I must be doing something wrong. Oh and I don't have a trainer at the moment so trying to do this on my own (I know....I need a trainer!)

Consequently we always seem to be a bit slow s not really competitive although we're jumping double clears.

Please help :confused:
 
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Thanks for your comment, I guess I was just hoping for some training tips. I have posted this in the Competition thread so hopefully may get some useful advice from trainers or experience competitors.
 
Is she coming in straight? If they kinda dither about and go a bit sideways on approach they can lose their impulsion doing that. Same applies to swinging out hindquarters (mine does both!).

He's a bit lazy sometimes so we did lots of work on adjusting canter etc, and making sure our turns were good so that we had ample time to put him on a forward stride (he jumps much better out of a strong canter). Also lots of flying changes, walk canters and gymnastics etc to get him pushing himself over the fence properly instead of sometimes trying to pull himself over with his front legs. Like you though, even before the grids etc he always went clear so was just a case of little changes.
 
I'm afraid I don't think it's up to your horse to 'see a stride'; that's up to you. Many horses are able to jump off poor strides; too far off, or too deep, but it is VERY rare, if not impossible, to find a horse that can find the proper take-off spot.
FTR, it is MUCH better for a horse from the training POV, to take off too close to a fence (makes them really work) than too far away.
 
Also, as Papa Frita said...you need to find the stride. If you know she doesn't push at it, then either you need to get her pushing earlier on, or you need to factor in what her canter is like and try and not get her too deep.

Also, try not to change the rhythm when you're close to the fence. You may not be doing this, but if you are, it can be very little things like pushing her forward then closing your hand too much and shortening up and essentially just screwing with the canter rhythm and they invariably end up on a very dodgy stride when that happens (personal experience!!)
 
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