Help with a horse that hollows when jumping

S

Super_Kat

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As some may know Olympic had a bad back back at the beginning of Nov. He has 5 weeks off and the spoilt boy got a new saddle on saturday so theres no pain. So all I can think of thats causing the hollow shape is the fact that he thinks he's going to hurt, bear in mind that he jumped upto fence 10 on a decent sized 1.10m aff track with a horribly soe back so he obviously changed his technique to compensate for it, but now he just hollows.
Are there any jumping exercises I can try (ideally that I can incorporate into a grid) or loose jumping him for a bit? Or do I just give him time?

I've nver had aything to do with sorting a horse that does so I have no idea where to start.

Thanks
Kat
 
well this is obiously building up to but suggestions; bounce of large crosses or spooky looking things under the fences to make horse really look down and hopefully bascule!! (as long as horsey ok with scary things!!)
 
eru - am I right in thinking that a low wde spread will also encourage a horse to bascule or am i making things up
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Ah - We did a pretty sadistic jumping exercise with 3 low bounce fences on a tight circle, is that the sort of thing you mean?
 
Build up grids (dont have to be high) but with placing poles and poles on the ground between fences. I would also try setting the distances slighty shorter (but nothing to trap him) to encourage him to lift his shoulders and round over the fences. Oxers should help too. good luck!
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Scary fillers won't work - he doesn't give a monkeys about that sort of thing.

What I used to have in my lessons were:

Canter poles, but have the last one 2 strides away from an upright (miss one out), he'll then keep moving forward. We found with the last pole it used to slow him down a bit, probably the way I rode.

And then 1 stride to a spread as the second part, but build it slightly shorter than normal. You'll feel him jump out really round.
 
l personally wouldnt jump on a tight circle. Yes low wide parallel good you could also place a diagonal pole on the top of the front and back rail,if you see what l mean!?(horizontally)
 
I need to design 2 grids *I think* for my jumping assignments and one I was thinking of (that I could use for his lordship) was 3/4 x-poles, 1 short stride, square oxer (that I can make wider if need be).
Will that sortof thing be any good?

gg2 - he has a habit of trying to run on through combinations with me...........This is why I hate doubles of uprights, we usually seem to take off the top rail of the second element because of this so I have a feeling he'll get himself deep without any help from me
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if your struggling regulating the stride for a second element and he is chipping in strides or coming in really short then thats when you need the poles in between too. ie in a one strided double put a pole on the floor half way. He will have to pick up a canter stride over it and then take off - and if its doubles of uprights you hate then having a pole in the middle will help you too!

I also agree with the advice on spreads helping him. But if he does tend to get in deep, again, use placing poles to help regulate his take off - with it being a spread he'll find it hard to hollow over it as he will have to round and make an effort over a pole to a spread.

I'm really getting into gridwork at the moment as I have a young tb who is learning the job and as I havent been able to jump competitively for a couple of years due to my older horses injury its been great for getting my eye back in as well as feel and confidence
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Ascending bounce grids. Keep the distance the same between fences but have each fence 9" or so higher than the previous one (uprights only). This has the effect of grogessively shortening the space available between the fences making the horse sit back on its hocks more for take off and comming up more infront. In order to come down in an appropriate place for the next fence they have to bascule.
Just make sure the horse has complete freedom once in the grid
 
Placing pole a short "bounce" from an oxer with /\ poles on. The gound rail and V poles create a "box" that they canter into, and then have to use their shoulders to get out of!! Does work
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How is he on the flat? Is he soft in his back and easily adjustable, both in his shape and length of stride? Can you let go in the canter and have him stay in basic self carriage?

I find the most useful exercise is to get the horse very loose in the canter then work over a fence with placing poles, trying to get to a deep-ish distance and let go, keeping my body open and my hand soft. Then move on to some grid work with tight-ish distances, using a decent sized x coming in and incorporating wide, relatively low oxers. Come in very relaxed with and stay off the horse as much as possible to encourage him to use his muscles to make a good shape rather than speed across.

On exercise that's helpful but takes a surprising amount of patience (or bravery!) is to trot oxers. Trotting fences is not the world's most useful exercise in training but can be very useful when retraining and oxers really make the horse work to get across. Even walking fences (Lucinda is famous for making people do this) can be helpful for a horse that gets quick and hollow.

It will take time to build his "good" jumping muscles back up. Lots of correct work on the flat, hill work if you can get it, pole work etc. and building up gradually with the grid work, going for quality before quantity. If possible I'd jump a couple times a week in limited schools rather than once a week a whole lot. He's probably quite tense about his jumping (understandably) and fostering a relaxed attitude will go along way to rebuilding his confidence and allowing him to think calmly about what he's supposed to be doing until it's habit again.

Good luck.
 
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