Has anyone cured riding too defensively jumping?

[skewby]

I ride so defensively on the approach to a fence, I hamper my horse. It's sooo annoying. I know why I do it, crashed a horse through a solid XC fence about 20 years ago and have not forgotten!! So I still bury the horse into the fence and the poor honest lad has to climb it!!

How do I fix it? It's soooooo annoying and my poor saint of a lad will stop jumping soon

 

[miss_c]

Do what I do - close your eyes and kick?

 

[bex1984]

I've been having jumping lessons which have made me realise how much I hold my pony back. Instructor made me jump without reins and without stirrups (at the same time!) last week and it really helped, although I found jumping without reins really difficult psychologically. It was totally worth it tho

 

[Farma]

Canter poles! set them out and have a raised one at the end until you get the hang of riding forward enough without them.
Try them on their own 1st say 3 poles to get used to them and then slowly raise the back one then you can add more or raise the back up higher and just adjust them as you go - but this way you will have to ride an even canter all the way.

 

[aimeejay]

No reins on a really trustworthy horse I could probably count how many times Ive jumped on my hands because I hate it with a passion and stick to dressage and showing, but my friends horse is an absolute saint-the type where you could sit on it bareback, bridleless and hack out. Anyway, she had been doing jumping without reins and told me it had really helped her keep forward going-i suppose its harder to slow down So I jumped on and him and doing so seemed to really help me keep going forward.

 

[canteron]

A coupe of thoughts ... (1) read Lucinda Green's articles in the H&H (understand XC horses point of view & also some good exercies), (2) increase confidence in the security of your position poss by having your position analysed by a professional bio-mechanics teacher (3) have yourself videoed jumping as that really helps you understand where you are going wrong.

 

[Doncella]

Ride calmly and grab the neck strap. I started jumping again on my homebred boy last summer in the field, no lessons of course but the horse is honest. It demands a lot of nerve at first but jumping an unformed youngster again at age 52 really got my jumping mojo back (as a teen regularly jumping 4 ft plus).
Start low, ride forward but don't ride for a stride, let the fence come to you.

 

[Luci07]

I didn't ride defensively but I interfered too much trying to set my horse up incorrectly. My instructors way was to start off a lesson in twilight, finishing up over a very big grid which I couldn't see properly, blooming horrible but it taught me how to get the feel of my mare better and to stop dumping her at the bottom of her fences. Should point out that my beloved mare not only had the t'shirt, she'd written the lessons and sat on detention too!