bloody horse keeps knocking jumps down!

P

paintsplat05

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 July 2005
Messages
3,685
Visit site
i'm taking a horse to a show on Friday however i'm forseeing some problems. He rushes and can get quite strong into his jumps so is it best to approach in trot then ask for canter several strides before the jump? (bearing in mind it's a clear round class of about 2ft)
Also he has a tendency to knock jumps down whatever the height. I'm riding him on Wednesday so is there anything i can do to get him to pick his feet up?! I'm thinking some x pole bounces in a grid, anything else?

thanks!
 

You answered your own question - gridwork! Slows thewm down a treat.

With regards to bringing him in in trot, to be honest I would not let him then canter the last two strides. Decide what pace you will bring him in at well before the approach, if it's trot then fine but if it's canter, establish it and collect it if you can.

What sort of horse is he? It may be that the jumps aren't 'big' enough for him.

Good luck - I'm sure he'll be fine.
 
will gridwork help to slow him down in one session?
he's a 16.2 cob type but he's quite old so his owner doesn't want him jumping bigger jumps-he just knocks them all down anyway.
 
[ QUOTE ]

With regards to bringing him in in trot, to be honest I would not let him then canter the last two strides. Decide what pace you will bring him in at well before the approach, if it's trot then fine but if it's canter, establish it and collect it if you can.


[/ QUOTE ]
Couldn't agree with this more. If you allow him to canter the last part of a trot approach you are basically teaching him it is OK to rush. Gait should be established before horse is turned in to fence then maintained.
 
If he rushes then that'll be why he's knocking! Id work hard on doing lots of gridwork to collect him up and hopefully chill out his brain a little. Then Id keep the jumping small (which you're doing) and work purely on the rythm / speed and not move up a level until he's got the basics.
 
Grid work should help to slow him down, but a lot of horses won't back off a 2ft fence. A bit more long term, but when you school day to day having poles down in the school while you're working and just working as normal round and over tham can take away some of the exitment associated with them and stop the rushing.
 
you could do a bit of training, (it'll take a few days) maybe after the show.. the goal being to get him to trot over fences of all heights without rushing, and thus hopefully being a bit more balanced, and better able to jump over things, rather than through them.

Put 1 pole flat on the ground
Approach pole on the ground in nice easy trot, loose-ish rein
The second you feel horse start to rush, circle away from fence, and stay in trot.
When trot back to being nice, easy and relaxed, then approach fence in easy trot again
If horse starts to rush, circle away again
If horse keeps easy pace, let him go over pole

So if horses rushes, he's not allowed do what he wants (jump) but if horse stays nice and balanced and steady, he gets rewarded by being allowed to jump.

Start this with literally just a pole on the ground.
When perfect (at least 5 times in a row, no rushing, stays in trot before AND after fence) then make tiny cross pole
Repeat the whole thing again
When perfect (at least 5 times in a row, no rushing, stays in trot before AND after fence) then make slightly bigger cross pole

On the first day, maybe you never actually get to trot over pole, but you will definitely get your horse thinking and trying to figure out this *new* way of jumping. You'll find he'll soon twig what you're trying to teach him (clever animals
cool.gif
) from now on your horse will only be allowed to jump ANYTHING when he is balanced, listenign to you, and not rushing.

This whole process might take a few training sessions (the most important thing is not to allow horse to jump when he rushes, and to allow him to jump when he is not rushing and stays balanced)

You're retraining his mind, rather than each time having physically to pull him to slow him down. After a while you should find that he tends not to rush, and then should hopefully clear a few more fences!!

Hope thats some help
smile.gif

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top