Help for rushing horse

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emilyR

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26 August 2009
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Hi there,

does anyone have any experiance with horses that rush jumping? im runnig out of ideas, and all experiance and guidance greatly appreciated.

drags you into fences
wont pull up, turns away by only me hawling him round.
If i do manage to pull up he does mini rears and continues to jump, leaping up and down before pulling once more to fence a few strides away.
gone back to polework and starts off well, did for many many weeks, seemed to help but after jumping tiny crosses etc still stayed calm. another week later and back to rushing.
Head is either up in air or on ground.
currently in snaffle again. tried a harsher bit but resistance and tension and evasion etc caught up with the slight improvement initially shown.
Done work on schooling, loose jumping, grids, back to basics, as well as more complex exercises requiring him to think a bit more. Some instructors encourage me to canter always into jumps anyway, some insist not to let him go any faster than trot.
Problem is i cant stop him, slow him, do ANYTHING when he does it. Have tried turning into circles etc when he does rush and i have to use all my strength and it doesnt help anything.

Run out of things to try and would love some info on your own experiances, more things to try as well as opinions as how to deal with the rushing - ie once he takes off what should i do?

i should also mention it is not a physical thing - vet and dentist and saddle fitter all been up. Behaviour has been on and off for last two years, however pretty much constant since the summer.

Thanks all, sorry long post, really desperate
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My horse is the same to jump. I find that working him in the school with fences up and just working in circles in front of the fence in both directions where you have to come past it as though you are heading for it but turning away and not jumping is the only way to get him thinking calmly and only when he is thinking he is not going to jump it will I allow him to jump. Another exercise is to walk up to the fence and only allow a couple of strides of trot or canter just before the fence and again if he tries to take off then turn him away and work around it again until it's boring. I haven't jumped my horse over a course of jumps as of yet and I won't until I know he is listening to me and obeying me rather than just going 'look its a jump let me at it' and then having a flat fast horse who thinks he knows best.Mind you my horse is only 7 and only really started jumping last year.
 
My horse sounds exactly like yours, he takes you 100mph into everything with his head either up in the air or between his legs and if you try to slow him down he starts spinning around and leaping into the air! We had everything checked on him but all was ok.
Back in the summer we put loads of poles dotted around our field and kept troting and cantering over them until he was that bored he didnt bother to rush then we kept slowly raising them and kept going round till he thought nothing of of it. However we then hit winter and mud so we havnt jumped him since so I dont know if he will be sane or not next time we jump him!!
 
Doing slow, slow, slow deep seat trot work, on the flat. That worked for mine, who had been sold as practically un-jumpable as he used to almost bolt through the jumps.

I also found that if I only focused on big jumps (3'6''+) in combinations he slowed himself as he couldn't maintain the speed.

Sitting back, trying not to have a strong, if at all any, mouth contact and riding from the thighs and seat.
 
can you school on the flat around the fences?

i would do that for however long it takes until you have 100% control even when lined up to the fences.
 
All of the above and one thing i also find helpful is that if you (as the rider) look completely away from the fence when you're approaching it the horse will sense that your head is turned somewhere else- so should in theory wait for the jump! worked a treat for my horse. also schooling round jumps helps them relax with jumps in the arena/field!!!
 
Hi , you sound like you have done a lot to try and help your horse.The main thing that leaps out to me in your post is that he isn't coping with what he is being asked to do.
One test you could try that I have found really helps.Do you have an enclosed area such as the menage that you can have solely to yourself.If so try taking your horse in there , take off all his tack so he is ' nude' put a pole down in the middle of the school and after walking around the school with him for a minute or so see if he will follow you over the pole.Does he walk straight over , hestitate or go around the ends.Try it a few times and see if he can be persuaded to go over it ,without touching him.
If he can't I would highly suspect that he is afraid of the poles if he chooses not to go over when he has a choice.If this is so , you then need to decide how to work with this problem.There are lots of solutions but they are very different to the usual advice .
wink.gif


Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi , you sound like you have done a lot to try and help your horse.The main thing that leaps out to me in your post is that he isn't coping with what he is being asked to do.
One test you could try that I have found really helps.Do you have an enclosed area such as the menage that you can have solely to yourself.If so try taking your horse in there , take off all his tack so he is ' nude' put a pole down in the middle of the school and after walking around the school with him for a minute or so see if he will follow you over the pole.Does he walk straight over , hestitate or go around the ends.Try it a few times and see if he can be persuaded to go over it ,without touching him.
If he can't I would highly suspect that he is afraid of the poles if he chooses not to go over when he has a choice.If this is so , you then need to decide how to work with this problem.There are lots of solutions but they are very different to the usual advice .
wink.gif


Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

[/ QUOTE ]

My horse rushes so i will be trying this advice sounds intriguing. I think he will follow me, watch this space.
 
excellent , will look forward to hearing what happens , if nothing more you'll have some fun.Its also a great way to start to getting a deeper bond with your horse.Just try following his lead if you want to do some play stuff , rather than him following you , which is usually how horses have been taught to behave...see how brave he is and how many decisions he dares make for himself ...let me know how you get on......
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[ QUOTE ]
excellent , will look forward to hearing what happens , if nothing more you'll have some fun.Its also a great way to start to getting a deeper bond with your horse.Just try following his lead if you want to do some play stuff , rather than him following you , which is usually how horses have been taught to behave...see how brave he is and how many decisions he dares make for himself ...let me know how you get on......
laugh.gif


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Dont want to hijack the post so will PM you.
 
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