ex racers jumping fast and flat..... any tips??

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Arniebear

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my lad is an 8 yr old ex racer, he ran 10 times and came last 10 times hence EX racer! bless him! :D
he ran over hurdles so boy can he jump, problem is he jumps very fast and very flat, ive been told he jumps very down hill. so when we sj poles go flying in all directions!!

does anyone have similar issues??

i struggle to hold him in a snaffle (i can but i feel like im pulling his back teeth out - and i dont want to do this so i upgraded to a waterford 2 ring gag as he leans too, hes also jumped in a grackle seems to go well in this combination)

does anyone have any exercises or tips i can do at home to help slow him down and get him jumping off his hocks and not so flat.

he seems to get very excited with jumping so even doing trotting poles he thinks he must canter and jump them!! i love his enthusiam :)

would free schooling and jumping on the lunge help?? i know grids will and already doing these with him, just wandering if making a small course of jumps on circles or something like that would help to??

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...1713345230494.852838.652960493&type=3&theater

heres a pic of him sj yesterday at his first ode (yes i know i need to look up!!) just so u guys can see how he jumps!!

if anyone has any exercises or tips that would be very helpful :) crumpets for all who got this far!!
 
hi hes a lovley looking lad!! very striking! :)

my TB was a very fast and flat jumper too but he had never jumped in his racing career but i mainly did grids alot of doubles and bounce jumps. jumps on circles small jumps not large ones ussually put one large jump up at the end of the grid or bounce jumps so hes got his hock already engaged ready to jump the lrager height at the end...worked really well.... i also worked alot on his schooling in canter once i got him engaging some of the time in canter i put a jump up on the long side and got him listening right up to the jump at the end of the school just before the corner half halting the outside rein every now and then to keep his listening and keeping him collected with my legs on then a few strides out i let him go and after doing this a few times he got the idea to use him self properly! took around 4 months to get improvement :) he can now jump nicley :)

hope this helps...

oh i also lunged and loose schooled over jumps he did bomb round and avoid the jumps at first but with carful schooling on the lunge and off he got the hang of it and this really helped!
 
Have the exact same problem with my loaner, we did the flower exercise to help us, worked a treat. If you haven't heard of it let me know and I'll explain it.

Also make sure you sit back properly when doing the poles and don't fuss with his head too much. My instructor is fab with this, I'd highly recommend getting a trainer to help as it is hard to pin down the problems when you are on top.
 
Ohh, definatley grid work too, I went to a clinic and we did a 4 jump line, starting small and getting bigger and we approached it in walk to stop rushing and took trot about a stride out, worked really nicely.
 
thanks for the comments guys! great help, will be trying the canter exercise for sure :) and yes im assuming my lad is guna bomb around first time free schooling too :D be fun to watch him first time!!

Batgirl : please do explain the flower exercise :D
 
Take him back to basics...he will have been taught to jump like this and not waste time I the air. It's a good idea to have a safety stop command so he will pull up without having a fight, plus of course that to most off the track racehorses, picking up the reins and taking a hold often means go faster.
 
Hope it makes sense!

You set up 4 poles in a cross where you have ample room to trot/canter around them. At the end of each pole you need a block or jump wing in order to raise the poles as it moves on.

Basically start trotting towards one of the poles square and straight on (when you look at it the pole must stick out to the right), once over the pole start a circle right with the aim of circling round to come over the pole that was on your left as you went over the first pole. Go over the next pole, circle right and repeat, it basically make a 4 leaf clover/flower shape.

To do it on the left rein you need to start with a pole stuck out to the left as you look at it. You can raise the poles to get him to start picking up and you can make them into fully fledged jumps as it is all on one rein so you can canter it too.
 
thanks batgirl will deffo be trying that :) and yes yet more grid work :D

thanks for all the comments guys i will keep everyone updated with his progress in the future :D
 
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