Encouraging more shape over a fence - ex racer - HELP!

Cazzah

Cazzah

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Have a 7 yo TB who raced on the flat from age 4 up until February and ran once over hurdles. I bought him in August with a view to eventing this year and have done a few local shows and hunter trials - which he was brilliant at!!
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I've been concentrating on his flat work the past month as he has been really poorly with peritonitis and just wanted to ease him back gently. Flatwork is coming along nicely - he works in a natural outline and is very responsive. Not in a massive panic about this (for now!), however, am taking him to his first indoor show to do some trailblazer jumping on Sunday so have started working him over fences again and its reminded me of how much work is required on his technique!!

He's certainly not short of jump and happily pops 1.20 and gives it respect and makes a nice shape but my problem is over smaller fences (e.g. today I've been schooling over 80cm). He is tending to hollow a little before the fence and get his head up. Often he jumps but not in a nice shape but other times he literally sends the poles flying with his cannon bones! Its almost as though he is trying to 'ping' it like a hurdle, if that makes sense? I've been doing a little bit of grid work with him - with a canter pole after the fence to try to encourage his head down but am wondering if any of you lovely people have encountered this problem and how you've overcome it - please help!!

Thanks for reading
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Not sure how much help I am, but a pony I had didnt bascule v well when we bought him (he wasnt an ex racer
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We used to do a lot of exercises... cross pole spreads quite wide but not v high... a line of raised canter poles then a few strides without poles to a small wide parallel... stuff like that really!
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What about a place pole in front - the only negative is that he might try and take the whole lot on! I think i would carry on what you are doing and maybe some grids on a short 2 strides on he has to try and jump off his hocks. I had the opposite prob with my ex racer he was to careful and up and over if that can be a prob!!
 
There's so many different exercises you can use. One idea to try is to use a 'V' of 2 ploes in front/on the fence. Hope that makes sense - it doesn't read great. So, you have a jump (can be as small as you like) and you rest 2 poles on the jump so they make the shape of a 'V'. Really encourages them to snap their legs up and bascule.
 
I have a similar problem in that my horse tends to flatten over fences. We have been doing grids with her and it has really helped her to 'make a shape' over fences.
Trot approach, large x-pole (with placing pole) to start, then either a bounce to low spread or single stride to spread, then one stride to upright. Always trot approach for the gridwork. This really gets her jumping nicely, then we move on to a couple of single fences from canter which she always jumps with more of a bascule than without the gridwork first.
HTH
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For mine we used a spread made up of two cross poles which were both at the top of the wings and reasonably wide. . . really made him think! and the v poles normally and higher than the actual jump so two sets of cups on the wings with a narrow pole for the jump and then two v poles a foot higher. . . if u get what I mean!
 
Basically, set up an upright fence - any height that you want.

Then, lie a pole from the centre of the top pole to the floor, by the wings. Repeat to the other side, so you create a 'V' of poles meeting at the centre of the top pole of the original fence.

Make sure that the edges of the poles (on the floor) leave the horse enough room to get to the fence!
 
I'm never very good at explaining things, sorry in advance if I just confuse you even more!

You put up a straight bar at say 80 cm then add another cup higher up your wings. Then put two more poles and rest the middleish bit of them on the cups to make a v. The advantage is that the horse jumps the height of the v poles so clears the fence and gets used to jumping that bit higher. But I'd start with the normal v poles as they often back off quite a bit to start with.
 
agree with jumping from walk - my horse went from this:

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to this in the space of a month
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sorry if they are huge
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but also jumping small fences from walk on a turn - makes them use their backs and encourages them to round
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