Having fences down

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southdowns

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I have a 5yr old ISH who i have owned for 2 months. I hope to do a few intro's/PN's with him next year but am going to do some BSJA over the winter.

I had my second jumping lesson with him yesterday and as per the first lesson he had quite a few fences down. He is quite green and therefore the spreads he jumps very well but if he is slightly wrong to an upright he doesn't know yet how to shorten himself up or get himself out of trouble.

So obviously i plan to do a lot of flatwork to improve this by teaching him to lengthen and shorten his stride and also hope to get to some good grid sessions. I just wondered whether anyone had any other useful tips?? I've got my first BN in 10 days or so and don't want to have a cricket score!!

And if anyone wants to tell me that their horse was like this as a baby but now jumps cleanly i'd be grateful!!
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Lots of pole work lengthing and shortening and lots of grid work. Incorporate bounce if you are able to. Make sure if you are wrong to a fence you are still allowing with your hand to give him the opputunity to get his font end up and out the way.
 
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And if anyone wants to tell me that their horse was like this as a baby but now jumps cleanly i'd be grateful!!
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Yes, I can tell you that! I have a 15.2hh Welsh D who's not the best with his legs. I've had him since a 3yo and no matter how much gridwork Ive done, nothing helped etc. basically its simply maturity which has made the difference. He's 6 now and only finally beginning to jump consistent clear rounds. Before that he'd often have 8 or even 12 faults a lot of the time which drove me crazy! But he did jump very greenly, even though I've taken him out most weekends jumping. It just seemed to take him a hell of a long time to get the hang of it! Within the last 2 months Id say, he's suddenly NICE to ride round a course! No more pinging etc.!

By all means, do the usual things in the way of lots of gridwork and taking him out to lots of things to gain experience. But its quite possible that given time, he'll suddenly click.
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I hope you are right. He has grown over an inch in the 2 months i've had him so he really is still maturing. I think he'll come good in the end (fingers crossed)
 
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And if anyone wants to tell me that their horse was like this as a baby but now jumps cleanly i'd be grateful!!

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I got my horse as a just broken 7 year old so although he was more mature he was very green. For the first and second summers he just couldn't seem to pick his feet up and was forever knocking poles down. Then last year after having the winter off when I was at uni he suddenly had so much more balance and collection and was jumping clear rounds for the first time
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He hardly touched a pole in the short summer I had before he struck into his tendon. So he had another year off and yet again he's come back so much stronger and collected and will now take more weight on his hindquarters which is helping his jumping and he's now jumping better than ever
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With your horse it may just be that he needs more time to develop and once he's got more balance and self carriage he'll find it a lot easier to jump clear.

You must soften your hand in the last stride before take off to enable him to lift his shoulders without restriction. I'm guilty of holding on to my horse's head if I get in too close but this just keeps their head and neck up and prevents the shoulders from lifting as they should which leads to poles down with the front feet.

I'm sure in time you and your horse will improve and you'll be jumping clears very soon.
 
If your horse is still growing be very wary of doing too much.
Not worth pushing it and knackering joints or blowing his confidence.

Do lots of work with poles on the ground - set up poles so that you can practise putting 4, 6 & 7 canter strides in a set distance (think 18m but cannot remember)

Also remember that most poles down are caused by rider error, though everyone likes to blame the neddy!
 
try cantering in the school and ask horse to lengthen and shorten strides down the long side. its good practice to get him to respond to your controlling aids, and become more collected, before he worries about the poles.
Also try the same exercise in a circle.
Most fences down are also caused by the rider not being with the horse, either getting weight forward too quickly (sometimes causes them to put in short stride) and taking out a pole with a front leg...or getting behind the movement and sitting back on the hinds before he has cleared the pole. so think about sitting as quitely as possible. No need to launch yourself forward into a jumping position unless the fences are a way over 3ft
 
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