HELP Rushing horse - shall I just let her run....

C

Chuckieee

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 January 2010
Messages
116
Visit site
I have the most amazing mare who just loves her job....jumping.

She is an older mare in her later teens and she knows her job. However she is super keen and quite literally runs to her fences. Most of the time, she is so athletic that she can get herself out of trouble and as quick as a cat, she can pick up if she has gone in too deep or her favourite is to take a super long one and she goes off a long one.

It makes jumping a whole course pretty hair raising.

I have had training over the years and everyone including my current trainer say to bring her back under control and get her on her hocks so that she can be set up properly. She hates it - pulling me all over the place - throwing her head and plunging all over the place. On some occasions, she has stopped due to ending up in completely the wrong place.

My question to the forum is - shall I just leave her to it especially given her age and the fact that she is unlikely to ever jump beyond 1-1.10m - she is currently jumping up to Disco?

OR is this just downright dangerous for both her and I?

I would welcome your feedback.
 
It’s a recipie for disaster imo, you will both end up on the floor at some point.

I agree with what your current trainer says, you need to work on your control and really go back to basics. she will retaliate but you need to persevere.

Given the fact she’s older are you sure she’s not in pain somewhere as rushing is often a sign of pain. I’d be getting her back/teeth/saddle check and a general MOT with the vet and then provided all is clear I’d then be going back to basics with plenty of training sessions.
 
I would take it back even further than your trainer and would quit trying to do courses altogether for now.

To me being on her hocks is not enough by itself, she has to be on her hocks with relaxation, as in when you balance her it feels like you are helping her balance not "She hates it - pulling me all over the place - throwing her head and plunging all over the place."

Until she responds to being helped to balance I would go back to poles if her flat work is generally OK, or back to flat work if she is not relaxed when adjusting her canter on the flat.

You go back far enough that you can get the feel of helping her and explaining things rather than pulling at her. That may even mean going back to in hand work.
 
The most important part of jumping is the work on the flat between the jumps. Put some teeny tiny jumps and then circle her around, between, in and out, serpentines etc, all at trot, or even at walk if trot is too much for her. When she does that calmly pop the odd jump, if she rushes put her to work between the jumps again. She is probably rushing because she is scared of not being able to jump from a slower speed, so show her she can. The only way she knows is to hurl herself over.
All at trot until she can do it then a calm balanced canter between them with popping the odd one when she is balanced. She will regress now and again but keep at it, she will learn it is much less effort and much more pleasant to do it in a controlled way.
 
You are all right and deep down I knew it. I know at some point we will both end up on the floor as she is quite literally a maniac when she takes a hold.

I must be patient and put the work in to get to where I want.

Thanks for being very honest with me.
 
Ps A full mot revealed no health issues and i think it is just a case of sheer lack of skill on my part. I’ve got a busy summer ahead!
 
How long have you had her? If this is recent or getting worse or you haven't had her long, then I would be getting her hocks checked out, because of her age. It's fairly typical behaviour of a horse whose hocks hurt, and she is the right age.


ETA cross posted with above, but I will leave it in case it helps anyone else.
 
I’ve had her a few years now and she has always been like this. So no sudden changes. She was fully vetted with x rays on purchase and all clear. And since then she has had full mot annually but no scans or X-rays since then.
 
Thanks Tallyho. I do grids with my trainer and you’re right. I think I must practice between my lessons because I’m not getting the full benefit of my lessons.

So not just leaving the grids for my lessons but doing them in between too.

I wonder how much is reasonable to practice each week? Twice or three times or is that too much jumping?
 
Chuckieee said:
Thanks Tallyho. I do grids with my trainer and you’re right. I think I must practice between my lessons because I’m not getting the full benefit of my lessons.

So not just leaving the grids for my lessons but doing them in between too.

I wonder how much is reasonable to practice each week? Twice or three times or is that too much jumping?
Click to expand...

With a horse like this I would work on the jumping 2 or 3 times a week for a while, it doesn't all have to be jumping but flatwork with jumping at the front of your mind,so lots of cantering, then using poles, grids to help with control, adjusting the stride, a few weeks intensively working towards her jumping in a more controlled way will either get you on the way to sorting it or worst case will show up an issue that requires the vet, you need to do something before she misses completely and buries you both which will happen eventually if she takes off too soon too often.
 
be positive said:
With a horse like this I would work on the jumping 2 or 3 times a week for a while, it doesn't all have to be jumping but flatwork with jumping at the front of your mind,so lots of cantering, then using poles, grids to help with control, adjusting the stride, a few weeks intensively working towards her jumping in a more controlled way will either get you on the way to sorting it or worst case will show up an issue that requires the vet, you need to do something before she misses completely and buries you both which will happen eventually if she takes off too soon too often.
Click to expand...

Good advice bp... mix it up a bit and use one of the days to do a bit of stressage...

Get some shoulders in and turns (no bend) on the quarters making a clover pattern in the school or something - this will help lift her whithers and slow her rhythm down a bit make her think.

Use diamond shapes and use the straight sides to ask for bend and counter bend in straight lines. Really helps a horse at my yard to stop rushing.

Remember to give the reins when she's got a nice slow rhythm going and let her neck reach out and down - it'll stretch her back/topline and relax her even more.
 
Chuckieee said:
I wonder how much is reasonable to practice each week? Twice or three times or is that too much jumping?
Click to expand...
With horses like this I don't do jumping sessions as such.
I school (flatwork) 4+ times a week but with 2 or 3 fences in the school. If during the flatwork a fence happens to be in the way then it gets jumped. This could be anything from off a 10mtr circle, change of rein, leg yield etc. You may jump once in a session, you may jump 30 times in a session. The important part is you don't aim at fences on purpose. Just let them get in the way.
This has several benefits 1) it teaches the horse that jumping is just part of normal work, 2) the horse should always be going nicely, 3) stops anticipation and most importantly 4) it gets the rider out of the mindset of jumping sessions and in to a much more focused frame of mind with the emphasis on way of going. The jump becomes secondary
 
This sounds EXACTLY like Amber. I stopped jumping completely Sept-December as I was constantly on the edge of control and spent 4 months on canter & polework. She is still a little exuberant but 1000% better than she was.

When we started jumping again we kept them small and calm - cantering 15m circles, popping small jumps on the circle. Like Paddymonty says - the attitude was the jumps are just in the way so pop them. The focus was on the canter.

Then when we started courses it was a set of canter poles on a fan, turn to 3-5 twisty fences and back over the canter pole fan to finish etc;

I really want my horse's brain in her head and her attention on me all the time - but especially when jumping - so for me I would totally focus on rhythm and control between the fences and not worry about jumping much - and certainly nothing big.
 
ETA I made the mistake of having a free lesson with someone wanting to become a BS coach. She saw me jump a few and said Amber's canter was too fast and flat and long. So she put up a line of canter poles set fairly close together which I was sure would blow Amber's mind. But I was aware she was being assessed and I didn't know her so I felt inhibited about questioning her and just went with it. Amber saw the line, accelerated, tried to jump them in one, landing in the middle of them and then careered round the arena at a flat out gallop about 4 times. Not sure the coach enjoyed that much! I certainly didn't!! And nor did poor Amber.

It was at that point that I stopped jumping for 4 months recognising that we were an accident waiting to happen.
 
Hi that is so interesting to read because when I first got my mare, I was taking her out everywhere having fun. I was offered a free lesson with a UKCC coach so I went along.

Admittedly I didn’t know that I had a problem with this mare so when we worked on related distances, I got the fright of my life.

The coach set me up for a four stride which my mare did not like and would happily do in three. So the coach spent the rest of session trying to force me into four strides which just wasn’t going to work in one session.

I felt awful as I had no idea there was a problem and I think she felt she had to fix me in one sitting. Either way it was not fun at all and what I learnt was that it is not sensible to go to these free sessions if you’re working on an issue.

As you guys have said, it’s about taking it back to basics and putting the work in.

With winter being so awful, I’ve become lazy and have looked to just leave her to run but as you say, that is just suicide. I’m actually now looking forward to getting her back on track with some of these suggestions and obviously with my trainer who I should listen to more......
 
I've had two fence rushers to ride and they DO get out of it with the correct work and exercises. You need to find your correct jumping-canter and balance. I'd knock off the jumping for a while and just work on getting the correct canter, and being able to go up and down gears when you need to. And get the horse to respect your aids and understand that when you ask to slow down you mean it.
At the moment the horse is completely ignoring you before the fence. Once you understand each other a lot of the issues will go automatically. But it comes down to correct flatwork and pole work.
A few sessions with a good dressage instructor could really help you understand how to find her balance on turns and in the canter.
 
I had one that rushed and the problem came back to me. I over held her and de life tough so she got into the habit of leaning and rushing through the jumps.

We had to use a combined approach of pole work to improve the length of canter stride and so I could learn to feel the pace we should be at then lots of grids some offset so she learnt not to lock and rush.

I was told to jump her everyday of some sort so it became routine so I used to leave a jump up in school and work it into my flatwork schooling sometimes only jumping it twice. She did massively improve with all this but it took time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top