coorr, advice would be lovely!

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Megibo

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I jumped my horse today, and also she hasnt been jumped for a year (either due to being on loan or too unfit). anyway, she absolutely loves jumping and she lit up the minute she got in the school. everytime we jumped she absolutely charged it and i was launched out the saddle (jump was like, 1 ft 6!) when we get some more rain i'd like to try it again because she certainly enjoyed herself but it wasnt a good experience for me! last time we jumped it was nice and steady. i was circling before the fence so that she couldnt just charge in but she wasnt going to go into them steady for love nor money! any ways to steady the madam a bit and therefore make the jumping a more pleasant experience...?
Thanks in advance.
 
I have had a few ex racers who have just charged at the jump!! I did a couple of exercises. Some worked better than others depending on the horse. One was to halt the horse 3-5 strides away then jump the fence then halt again after the fence. It concentrates the horse on slowing down. Another one is to use placing poles, or trotting poles before the fence it will make her slow down and she should't be able to run at the fence. The last option I can think of is placing poles before the jump then a grid of fences. Hope that helps a little bit am glad ur horse is enjoying jumoing. :)
 
native eventer said:
I have had a few ex racers who have just charged at the jump!! I did a couple of exercises. Some worked better than others depending on the horse. One was to halt the horse 3-5 strides away then jump the fence then halt again after the fence. It concentrates the horse on slowing down. Another one is to use placing poles, or trotting poles before the fence it will make her slow down and she should't be able to run at the fence. The last option I can think of is placing poles before the jump then a grid of fences. Hope that helps a little bit am glad ur horse is enjoying jumoing. :)
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thankyou, thinking of walking her up to it then trotting the last few strides. i think the main issue was that she was extremely excited and eager to do jumping!
 
Put up a small jumping course in the arena. Include the odd pole on the ground. Then walk, trot, whatever, the horse round the course NOT jumping, just moving around where you ask her to move. Eventually, the excitment will evaporate in a cloud of boredom. Then surprise her by turning her into a jump in trot and immediately head in a direction that DOESN'T involve the next jump. It should reduce her excitement to an acceptable level and show her that YOU are still the one in charge!
 
My horse used to be pretty keen at his jumps, special thing was taking off after landing, as he's a big chap with long strides it made the arena feel pretty small and a course of jumps pretty hairy, things I found worked were, as already mentioned, trotting around the arena with jumps in until he's calm, popping over one in trot, then going back to trot and carrying on for a while.

Putting a small cross pole on a large circle and just circling over and over.

Gymnastic jumping, lots of tiny bounces, grid work, can't emphasis how much this helps.

Also my own unconventional method, which is doing a jump and then giving a treat straight after, as soon he stopped, worked really well for my horse, as when he was expecting his treat it meant I had to actually ride him forward to the next jump, rather than take his back teeth out trying to stop before we hit the wall.
 
If you have the facilities loose school over jumps. It helps them find their own balance and learn not to rush the fences. They also learn that jumping isn't a bad experience if they have had problems, it has helped various horses I've worked with get through their past issues (stemming from being rapped, jabbed in the mouth, jumped when unsound etc.) and enjoy their jumping.
 
Stacey6897 said:
My horse used to be pretty keen at his jumps, special thing was taking off after landing, as he's a big chap with long strides it made the arena feel pretty small and a course of jumps pretty hairy, things I found worked were, as already mentioned, trotting around the arena with jumps in until he's calm, popping over one in trot, then going back to trot and carrying on for a while.

Putting a small cross pole on a large circle and just circling over and over.

Gymnastic jumping, lots of tiny bounces, grid work, can't emphasis how much this helps.

Also my own unconventional method, which is doing a jump and then giving a treat straight after, as soon he stopped, worked really well for my horse, as when he was expecting his treat it meant I had to actually ride him forward to the next jump, rather than take his back teeth out trying to stop before we hit the wall.
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i was trotting round and round til she was steady and then walked her toward the jump and when she tried to go without being asked i turned her away. eventually she calmed but i only managed to jump it about 5 times because she just would not trot into it. and took off afterward! next time i'll put her noseband on walk into them, trotting the last few strides. i do find it hard to breathe as jumpings my grey area and my instructor spent a while helping me not to tense and shorten the reins going into a jump as that just makes her faster but unfortunately where we havent done it shes reverted back and my nice steady pony's now a bit mental!
 
Do you have some kind of routine that you do before showing that calms her down?

With my fizzy mare it used to be walk in a straight line with small walk circles either side, if she got pepped up I could start doing this drill until she was gentle again, might also try walk/trot/walk/trot over and over, anything that makes her concentrate
 
Stacey6897 said:
Do you have some kind of routine that you do before showing that calms her down?

With my fizzy mare it used to be walk in a straight line with small walk circles either side, if she got pepped up I could start doing this drill until she was gentle again, might also try walk/trot/walk/trot over and over, anything that makes her concentrate
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do you mean at a show ? normally its walk til shes calm and sensible, trot til shes calm and sensible and the pop a fence and walk til we are called in and she jumps so much better that way. however thats always been when shes jumped regularly and i think as she hasnt done it for a year shes way too excited. i think i may have to do it a lot lunging her over the jumps when the ground is better and then go back to ridden jumping :/
 
If you go back to your old routine, she'll quickly settle into hers, my mare used to, we did occasionally get most of the warm up arena all to ourselves when she was bucking and playing, generally it worked well
 
the best exercise i find is this one:
put a jump up at about 1ft, walk over jump then halt, turn horse/pony around and walk back over the jump and halt, keep doing this until they are completely settled and listening to you. next do the same in trot (put fence up to about 1ft6/2ft) so trot over fence and halt, turn around and go back over the fence and halt..keep doing this until they are trotting nicely to the jump. then do exactly the same thing in canter! this basically makes jumping boring for them, its no longer as exciting as your just going back and forth over the same jump.
 
moosey99 said:
the best exercise i find is this one:
put a jump up at about 1ft, walk over jump then halt, turn horse/pony around and walk back over the jump and halt, keep doing this until they are completely settled and listening to you. next do the same in trot (put fence up to about 1ft6/2ft) so trot over fence and halt, turn around and go back over the fence and halt..keep doing this until they are trotting nicely to the jump. then do exactly the same thing in canter! this basically makes jumping boring for them, its no longer as exciting as your just going back and forth over the same jump.
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i remember that one yeah-only works though if shes got brakes though!
 
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