Help with gaining control approaching a fence?

[horseloverr]

I am a 18yo girl and have a 17hh warmblood.(I have been riding for 9 years) He is a fairly simple ride, schools very well on the flat. He is a very eager jumper and we compete up to 1m20 level.

However, at home, our jump schooling is turning into a disaster. He is just locking his jaw the minute he sees the fence, and since I am a young girl I am not the strongest lol! Whereas, at shows he backs himself off and allows me to take control and get his hocks underneath him.

I do not want to put in a stronger bit, as I believe that is a bit of an easy way out and usually creates more problems. He is currently ridden in a full cheek eggbutt snaffle.

I have tried putting fillers, jackets, plastic bags etc underneath and over the fences but he is as brave as a lion and that doesn't back him off at all.

Any other advice on what I could do with him?
Thanks!

 

[I*HM]

I'll put my hands up and say that I'm probably no help.
But my first thought was how's his flat work and how often is he jumped at home?

 

[horseloverr]

His flatwork is very good, he works really well from behind. I tend to jump him once at home and then the weekend show, and if there is no show, twice a week.

 

[kerilli]

i had a similar problem with a horse and Lionel Dunning (who was a top sjer way before you were born!) helped me with the following exercise:
canter round the school, halt from canter at B, canter on, and again E. keep doing it. get the horse used to the halt, until he is anticipating it and responding to you sitting up and back before you even touch the reins. use your body to give the aid, not your hands.
then approach a small fence. the moment he quickens, halt. whatever it takes, don't let him grab control and race over the fence. halt, rein back. or halt, v small circle one way then the other way. stand. if he stays calm let him go forward and pop the fence. if not, halt again, rein back, ride away from fence. do the B, E halts again, then come to the fence again. halt if he starts accelerating. it has to be very black/white, he MUST not rush and ignore you. halt him right in front of the fence if necessary... this isn't about jumping, it's about him listening to you and accepting your input...
tbh i wouldn't be too much of a purist about the bitting situation, i'd probably put him in a waterford a couple of times or something else that he'd respect, get him listening and being respectful. often you can then go back to the snaffle and things are much better... it's not always the start of a slippery slope..!

 

[horseloverr]

kerilli, thank you! I will definitely use those techniques!
Will wait and see how he responds to that training and if the lack of control continues, I will try a waterford a few times
Thanks again

 

[oldvic]

It slightly depends on your facilities and also why he is rushing. If you have a large enough arena then work him in amongst fences on the days you are doing flat work so the fences don't mean jumping. Have some poles scattered on the ground so you can just canter over them if they are in the way without changing rhythm. If he continues to quicken circle (fairly small) over the pole until he settles. Cantering in amongst the jumps concentrating on relaxation, power, rhythm and balance and just pop over a fence at random then continue cantering and repeat. Keep the fences small so you can just canter over them without changing anything. Canter on a circle round a fence going close to the wing, sometimes go inside the fence sometimes outside then, when the horse is settled, go over the fence and back onto the circle and keep repeating. Sometimes turn the other way so you do it on both reins. If he gets away from you on the approach then halt as soon as possible after landing (within 4/5 strides) in a straight line. Turn round and quietly pop back over the fence and repeat. There are many other exercises including Kerilli's but these will help for starters if done properly. If you can do this nicely over small fences then that is half the battle.

 

[horseloverr]

Thank you oldvic! Will definitely do that too!

 

[georgiegirl]

autumn was very simiar so I feel your pain!

I echo kerillis advice will work wonders if you make a concious effort to keep practising.

Try using some grids etc to make him think as well as groundpoles before and after a fence.

In between jumping sessions as well to save his legs its well worth setting up two ground poles at say 5 strides apart and cantering through them - first few times we did them in 4 strides (!) and then worked all the way up to doing 7 calm strides between the two (this excercise was given to me by a very shouty tim stockdale - felt crap at the time but it really did work miracles!)