Flying_Form
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
Bit of advice needed! Got a racehorse off of a friend for retraining over a year ago (8 year old gelding, had been doing national hunt and did fairly well - good jumper and no falls).
He’s got a great attitude - took to ridden life like a duck to water HOWEVER - despite being so keen to jump he cannot pick up his front legs for the life of him!!
He has a lovely way of going and carries himself well, we even won a couple local shows in the summer for ROR and prelim dressage. He has muscled up fabulously and moves correct and well. He is a saint over cross country jumps and I would confidently have a novice point him to a metre solid fence on a terrible stride and have no doubts he would give it a good jump and then some while absolutely taking care of them… but when it comes to showjumps or knockables he would knock every pole plus the uprights in a spread if he could!
It is all his front end. If he gets a chippy stride he will knock it all down, if he gets a good stride and manages to knock it’s usually because he hasn’t sorted his front legs out in time or hasn’t bothered to lift them up high enough. When I get a long stride on him is when he tends to completely over jump and make a better shape (which I can’t understand because that’s usually when a horse jumps flat!!)
I’m not the worst pilot if I do say so myself!! I can generally see a stride, I stay out of his way and he hasn’t had a bad experience out jumping… but he has never had a clear round in his life and knocks at least 2-3 on a very good day and near enough the whole course all of the other times!
What hasn’t worked:
We have tried grids and bounces umpteen times - they work lovely in teaching him to sit on his hocks, wait and then lift, but this knowledge just does not transfer to a course for him and he wouldn’t clear a grid every time.
He respects a solid fence and wouldn’t ever tap off one or leave a leg behind so he’s not a “you need to bring him XC horse!”.
Bitting/saddle: He likes his bit so no issues here, saddle is fitted by a reputable independent saddler and he’s happy.
Vet: have had his back X rayed for kissing spines - he was not showing any indications it was just to get ahead of anything knowing he is an ex racehorse and the prevalence. He has very minor kissing spines that is not bothering him but will need monitoring and potentially treatment in a few years. No other issues to note related to medical side of things.
What works:
Trotting fences - for some reason he is brilliant at trotting a fence and rarely knocks them doing this. That being said the shape he makes is awkward! He does not have “tidy” tucked up legs when he does this.
A good pace/lots of space - he jumps better in a bigger arena because I can keep him in a strong canter that gives him the momentum to really push up and jump.
Lessons - yes I am getting lessons but as he is not my main competition horse unfortunately he does get put to the back burner often and would not be my main priority for a lesson
this may change after writing the above!!
Bigger is better - he absolutely respects a larger jump vs smaller jumps. I often find if he’s had a break and I bring him back in to jump 60/70 he will have nearly every rail down vs 80/90/1m where he may only have 3-4.
I know there are horses that you often have to accept that “they’re just not good enough for jumping” but what really makes it hard for me to give into this is that he will eat up a cross country course and jump around like he has wings, and the other part of it is he loves jumping, I love jumping, and he loves coming in the lorry with the other horses for a trip out at the weekend!
I am not expecting him to jump a clear Grand Prix, but any advice to help those front legs come up a bit quicker would be so helpful because the usual tricks aren’t working for me!
Bit of advice needed! Got a racehorse off of a friend for retraining over a year ago (8 year old gelding, had been doing national hunt and did fairly well - good jumper and no falls).
He’s got a great attitude - took to ridden life like a duck to water HOWEVER - despite being so keen to jump he cannot pick up his front legs for the life of him!!
He has a lovely way of going and carries himself well, we even won a couple local shows in the summer for ROR and prelim dressage. He has muscled up fabulously and moves correct and well. He is a saint over cross country jumps and I would confidently have a novice point him to a metre solid fence on a terrible stride and have no doubts he would give it a good jump and then some while absolutely taking care of them… but when it comes to showjumps or knockables he would knock every pole plus the uprights in a spread if he could!
It is all his front end. If he gets a chippy stride he will knock it all down, if he gets a good stride and manages to knock it’s usually because he hasn’t sorted his front legs out in time or hasn’t bothered to lift them up high enough. When I get a long stride on him is when he tends to completely over jump and make a better shape (which I can’t understand because that’s usually when a horse jumps flat!!)
I’m not the worst pilot if I do say so myself!! I can generally see a stride, I stay out of his way and he hasn’t had a bad experience out jumping… but he has never had a clear round in his life and knocks at least 2-3 on a very good day and near enough the whole course all of the other times!
What hasn’t worked:
We have tried grids and bounces umpteen times - they work lovely in teaching him to sit on his hocks, wait and then lift, but this knowledge just does not transfer to a course for him and he wouldn’t clear a grid every time.
He respects a solid fence and wouldn’t ever tap off one or leave a leg behind so he’s not a “you need to bring him XC horse!”.
Bitting/saddle: He likes his bit so no issues here, saddle is fitted by a reputable independent saddler and he’s happy.
Vet: have had his back X rayed for kissing spines - he was not showing any indications it was just to get ahead of anything knowing he is an ex racehorse and the prevalence. He has very minor kissing spines that is not bothering him but will need monitoring and potentially treatment in a few years. No other issues to note related to medical side of things.
What works:
Trotting fences - for some reason he is brilliant at trotting a fence and rarely knocks them doing this. That being said the shape he makes is awkward! He does not have “tidy” tucked up legs when he does this.
A good pace/lots of space - he jumps better in a bigger arena because I can keep him in a strong canter that gives him the momentum to really push up and jump.
Lessons - yes I am getting lessons but as he is not my main competition horse unfortunately he does get put to the back burner often and would not be my main priority for a lesson
this may change after writing the above!!Bigger is better - he absolutely respects a larger jump vs smaller jumps. I often find if he’s had a break and I bring him back in to jump 60/70 he will have nearly every rail down vs 80/90/1m where he may only have 3-4.
I know there are horses that you often have to accept that “they’re just not good enough for jumping” but what really makes it hard for me to give into this is that he will eat up a cross country course and jump around like he has wings, and the other part of it is he loves jumping, I love jumping, and he loves coming in the lorry with the other horses for a trip out at the weekend!
I am not expecting him to jump a clear Grand Prix, but any advice to help those front legs come up a bit quicker would be so helpful because the usual tricks aren’t working for me!
