Getting horse to stop "looking" at jumps

Dizzyblonde99

Dizzyblonde99

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Hi, I'm riding a friends "happy-hacker" at the moment and after jumping him a little have realised though very green and unschooled he has a lot of potential. We have free schooled him up to a 3"8 oxer, wich he cleared by a good foot, showing his amazing scope (:

Any way the problem I am having is that he wants to stop and look at every jump before jumping it. Odviously I don't want him to get into this habit. Any advise is very welcome!!!

Btw sometimes he just plain refuses and other times he sort of pauses before the jump. And a little back ground imformation for anyone intrested: He is a 15.3, tb x, 6(ish)yr, gelding mainly used for the odd hack by his owner. Also any advise on building muscle much appreciated (:

O and yes normally I would take him to see my instructor but our car is on it's last legs and I really wouldn't want to tow! Thank you very much xx
 
He is probably having a look because he is green and hasn't done much jumping and so hasn't built up his confidence to approach a fence more boldly yet. I would keep my leg on and ride him positively into the fences, use your voice to encourage and reassure him if necessary. Grid work will help - try trotting him over a line of trot poles and then try a line of canter poles (with 3 human strides between each pole) to get him moving forwards and help to improve his rhythm. Then you can make every other pole into a small jump and ride the grid the same as you did when it was poles. Remember to praise him when he gets it right, and keep sessions short (30 mins at the most) and always finish on a good note. You should find he is more willing to move forwards and stops looking at the jumps as much as his confidence grows.

Hope this helps. :)
 
time and patience if hes only six and not done much jumping its a new experience for him. I would take him back to a place where he doesn't look, poles for example and work up from there making sure he is comfortable with each stage. Sounds like he needs his confidence building a bit.
 
Definitely start small and build the confidence and height gradually over several weeks. When you get to bigger more scarey stuff, you could school him around the jumps before going to jump them - we did this with the chicken house, daughter had a jump lesson and OH and I were moving the chicken house so took it in the field, daughter was saying no way far too high (it was only 2ft 6) so instructor made them go round and round past it quite a few times so he had a good look in passing, and then when they did jump it, they soared over it.
 
6 is still fairly young, you have lots of time!
I'd stick with small jumps at the moment, small enough that you don't need lots of power so if he does look if you sit up, keep your leg on and don't be afraid to use your voice as encouragement, if they're small enough he can even step over them if he wants to. Don't turn him away, just keep him forwards and if needs be, get someone on the ground to make the jump into a pole so he can just walk over that.
You know he has scope, so I'd be sticking small and getting him working carefully over small fences and then only moving up to bigger one you're 100% happy.
Good luck :)
 
Thanks so much everyone (: I will deffinatly try these methos thanks, by the way thought I should mention he does have a fairly spooky personality any way this is why he is moving away from being a "happy hacker" thanks again (:
 
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