Getting strong when jumping

[ownedbyaconnie]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice re jumping.

My mare has a fab jump and apart from occasionally half heartedly trying to run out on a double she will take you to the jump and is very honest.

However, she can get a little strong and excitable so wondering if anyone has any good exercises for slowing her down on the approach and immediately after. She does settle after a few jumps so I think it is a schooling issue. She does have brakes but I'd rather not be hanging on her mouth round a course.

She's in a snaffle and no martingale. She doesn't throw her head up so I'm not overly interested in tacking her up.

 

[sportsmansB]

Keep surprising her
She can only be strong if she thinks she knows where she is going
So mix it up between trot and canter, turn into fences on a circle, stop after the fence a few times, just mix it up until she has to wait for you to tell her what to do next rather than charging on

 

[be positive]

I nearly always start a jumping session by trotting over a few simple x poles and do not move on into canter or bigger fences until they are listening to the rider and have settled if they are keen, it is very rare they do not settle and even if it seems a little boring that is in part the aim, unless we have one that needs winding up, they do exactly the same in a competition warm up, 2, 3 or 4 jumps over the x pole out of trot to ensure they are waiting and not taking over.
We rarely have anything that gets strong or silly because this is instilled in every horse from the start, even older ones soon learn and listen, the most recent project pony has now changed completely and is also now in a snaffle with no martingale dropping down from the universal she came with.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

I nearly always start a jumping session by trotting over a few simple x poles and do not move on into canter or bigger fences until they are listening to the rider and have settled if they are keen,

I do try and start in trot but she tends to make a horrid shape and really over jump from trot which unseats me and starts the circle of no confidence! Any tips for this?

 

[be positive]

Without seeing you it could be many things, possibly the trot lacks power or she gets in too deep, go back to trot and canter poles before the x pole and see if that opens her up in the trot allowing her to jump more smoothly, do a couple of sessions using just x poles, have them singly with a ground pole, a double, treble and maybe bounces until she is taking the first out of trot then cantering through everything without altering the way she is going.
We do loads of small grids out of a trot approach so it becomes second nature to jump properly out of it, very useful if things go pear shaped at any time, we will also jump a couple of days, sometimes more, in a row so jumping is not such a big deal and less of an event, they may only do literally a handful of pops so it is not too much physically but tends to help them focus without every jump session being too full on, I think we don't always jump often enough and when we do we do too much in one go in an effort to make improvements when doing little and more often works well for some.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Without seeing you it could be many things, possibly the trot lacks power or she gets in too deep, go back to trot and canter poles before the x pole and see if that opens her up in the trot allowing her to jump more smoothly, do a couple of sessions using just x poles, have them singly with a ground pole, a double, treble and maybe bounces until she is taking the first out of trot then cantering through everything without altering the way she is going.
We do loads of small grids out of a trot approach so it becomes second nature to jump properly out of it, very useful if things go pear shaped at any time, we will also jump a couple of days, sometimes more, in a row so jumping is not such a big deal and less of an event, they may only do literally a handful of pops so it is not too much physically but tends to help them focus without every jump session being too full on, I think we don't always jump often enough and when we do we do too much in one go in an effort to make improvements when doing little and more often works well for some.

Thanks be positive that is really helpful! Will try it over the weekend and see how we go