Fast Jumping - how to slow down?

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MGG

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Pony is fantastic hacking goes in front, in the middle, behind, on his own - whatever. Dressage - really coming along. But jumping, he's a different chap. Just races at the jumps at a million miles an hour - lands and looks desperately for the next one to race at. He's usually in a french link snaffle, but wears a pelham for jumping which at the moment is making zero difference. He just sticks his head up an he's off. If daughter is lucky she can steer him round and they usually go clear, but sometimes, she just can't steer him and he will even sometimes just jump what he sees next regardless of whether or not it is the next fence and she can't stop him. He varies as they all do and some days he is more manageble than others. Some days he is relatively sedate, but when he is in one of his whizzy moods it's just no fun for her.

My ideas so far.
- Martingale to keep his head down
- Three ring gag - see if it is more effective than rubber jointed pelham
- Lessons - specicfic jumping lessons at aother site so it is like a show, but with time to practise

Anything else anyone can think of? Have done grids and sometimes that works and sometimes he just goes through as fast as he can possibly manage.

He has zero hard food - hay and a token handful of chaff with the others. But tbh it is only the jumping where is so wound up. He has hunted a lot, so I think it is his belief that you need to go fast to jump. How do we re-educate him?
 
I definitely think having a couple of decent lessons away from home would be a good idea before switching to a stronger bit
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All I did with my horse was keep him in his snaffle and go back to basics. Lots of work over poles, walk, trot and canter over, then elevated poles and grid work. Then we put the poles back on the floor but put wings next to them and started again, walk and trot etc. All I was told to do was sit deep and lift my hands so he couldn't put his head down and lean. It stopped him cat leaping over jumps as well.

I wouldn't put a martingale on unless you have to - it may make him fight against it. Lessons would be a good idea, Nelson went from martingale and grakle to no martingale and a flash to a normal cavesson.

Not bad for an ex racer
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Hope that helps
 
poles, poles, poles in front and behind the jumps at the correct distance, lots of grid work and ground pole work, in trot, to begin with.... give the horse some thing to think about rather then speed off...
 
Grid work is working with my mare, however she doesn't sound as bad as your pony.

There was one particular day when is was being a handful so my instructor put a grid up of a cross pole, one stride then 1m5 vertical, bounce 1m5 vertical, bounce 1m5 vertical. She had previously gone through a smaller grid so she wasn't justy thrown staright into this. Only when the fences went up and she had to start using her brain more did she slow down, i had to actually use my legs in front of the fences which is something i have never had to do before. So basically what im tyring to say is make what ever your asking him to do difficult for him so he has to use his brain and he should then slow down.
I also think the martingale and lessons should help.
 
I agree with making things difficult, but really dont agree about the martingale, they can cause more problems with whizzy ponies. Also I get the impression that the OP is perhaps not experienced enough to be confident in challenging the pony with mental agility, there is a fine line between asking a question and asking the impossible.
 
Thanks. Am not keen on gadgets and agree with you about out of control kids which is why we are trying to sort it out now and she isn't really competing jumping away from home. Currently she has at least one lesson a week and sometimes two, but he is generally pretty good at home - its when we get out that it all can get a bit exciting, which is why I was thinking lessons at another venue might help.
 
Thats where the lessons with a good instructor come in!

I would never have done what i did with my mare if my instructor wasn't with me.

I have had my fair share of whizzy ponies when i was younger and never had a problem with martingales on them however as with all things what works on one doesn't work on another!
 
Definately lessons at different venues. Also, try a few different SJ trainers until you find one who suits both pony and rider. They all differ greatly! Ones methods may not do for the problem, others could solve it! Have you also had his back & saddle checked just in case this is the reason?
 
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