'Dropping' horse at fences...

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Solo1

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Last year I bought a nice Novice mare in hope she'd get me up to Novice and introduce me to eventing. Her BE record was unblemished and she was a darling when I went to try her out, she gives jumps so much space!

I got her home and found her a little strong so changed her bit (Dr. Bristol) to a waterford which was when the stopping started. I thought she was just being a bugger as some horses are when they change hands (she was bred and broken and produced by previous owner - much stronger than me (I'm 15 y.o girl)). Recently changed her bit back to Dr. Bristol and she's now taking me into the jumps much better (getting to the ahhhhh noooooo) stage, but getting that under control. Stopping is less frequent now and is apparently according to me 'dropping' her at a fence. Does anyone know any good tips to help me stop this?

Oh, and she's still a tank XC and just takes me round (we're only doing BE90 due to stopping) and dressage is coming on a storm - we won best dressage at a PC qualifier (at Somerford) after doing a rather bad test for her. We went clear XC as well but had one stop SJing - would have won! So so so annoying :( Poor horse has no idea what's going on when mummy suddenly disappears!
 
I sometimes do this if I'm a bit worried about a fence. It's basically abandoning a horse in the crucial moment before take off.

Other than making sure that I'm confident at the level I'm jumping I've found the best way to stop myself doing it is to be very conscious of when I'm likely to do it (ditch palisades and Trakehners for me) and to think about keeping tall through my body and keeping my shoulders and chin up.

I find this means that I automatically keep a nice contact with the horse's mouth and stops me assuming my favourite "hunched over the withers" position that I seem to think will save me in some way :o:rolleyes:.

The brilliant chap that backed my mare for me told me that sitting up was safest as "how often do you see someone fall off the back of their horse?" :D Made me wonder why I always feel safest hunching forward and also helped stop doing it!
 
Can't offer any help but one thing that has stuck in my mind since I was about 10 (many moons ago) was my father telling me off for releasing the contact before the pony horse had actually left the ground and giving it the option to stop or at least affecting its confidence.

Sounds like you are doing very well so don't get too hung up about it.
 
In my opinion there's nothing wrong with loosening the contact in front of the fence- my horse jumps far far better if she feels total freedom on take off.
Dropping the horse can often mean leaning forward with the body and taking the leg off though, which is when a horse gets the green light to stop or run out!
 
I caused a previous horse to stop by 'dropping' him at fences. What worked for me was to concentrate really hard on 'shoulders back and hands high'.

Like Matafleur, I am happiest when crouched over the withers and found that the thing I do before hunching over is drop my hands low. If I keep them high then I am less inclined to tip forward.

Might help you too? If not, perhaps you could get someone to video you so you can see what it is that you physically do when dropping her, and will therefore be able to concentrate on not doing it?

Matafleur - love the quote about falling off backwards - I must remember that one!!
 
I used to do this or still occasionally do this about fences I am worried about. It used to result in my mare stopping, but now as she has got more confident in me and I only now 'drop' her occasionally she doesnt stop but will take absolute flyers instead.....

What works for me is my instructor shouting 'hold onto her head' right until the point of takeoff. And if my instructor isnt there I just have to keep saying to myself 'hold onto her head'.

This works for me :-) 90% of the time but occasionally I will lapse! I only ride her in a straightbar nathe snaffle though (very mild) so not sure what response you would get in your bit if you did hold her right to the point to take off.
 
I totally agree with TheMule. Horses don't need support off the ground to jump a fence (they usually jump amazingly well when loose, for instance), but they do need their balance to stay the same. if she's strong (leaning on the hand) then she might well be on the forehand coming to the fence, and when you let go, she feels she can't lift her front end, perhaps... hard to say without seeing it though. I agree that usually it is the lack of leg, rather than the softening of the hand, that makes the difference. It might help to think of giving her an extra push (or kick) to give her the power to get off the floor... as long as she's not the sort to accelerate forwards if you do this, as long as it makes her go upwards/forwards, if that makes sense...
a mantra that works for me is repeating "I can hold her, with my shoulders" to keep myself sitting up with shoulders up on the way to a fence. Also, keeping hands UP really helps stop rider tipping forward, more than anything else I think.
Lucinda Green asks riders to imagine a huge metal spike coming out of the horse's withers, that's the danger zone you don't want to collapse into, that might help.
hope one of those ideas makes sense, good luck with her, sounds promising but frustrating!
 
Thanks for all the tips guys, I'll try some when I go SJing on Sunday and get my mum to film it incase she stops again!

She really is a promising mare and we should be doing bigger than BE90 - the dressage tests put her to sleep and she often eyes up the Novice courses going round! I've XC schooled her over Novice but am reluctant to shove her up into BE100 until we get this cracked as although she jumps better bigger I'm not sure it's a height issue at BE90, if that makes sense.

Thank you all!
 
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