Help with jumping..

[DeNiro]

Hey, guys.

I have an 11 year old Hanoverian gelding.. Owned him for roughly 2 months. We bought him as a horse that will happily XC massive fences but only show jump upto 1m... which is fine.

We tried jumping him slightly higher recently as he's been going beautifully. The jumps were 1m-1.05m and he started stopping... He would goto take off and then just drop his head, shoulder and stop. There's no hope in hell to sitting to it lol. Any ideas why? We've had his teeth checked and just to be sure I have booked him in with the back lady however if all comes back clear what would you guys be thinking?

It doesn't bother me loads... if he's unhappy jumping then I will be happy to start dressage with him. I have my instructor coming out in a few days so will chat with her as well but I just thought it would be interesting to see if anyone has had any experience of this or any ideas.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shay]

It sounds like he is willing to try - but at the last moment finds he can't. Couple of ideas born of personal experience....

Check the fit of the saddle. if it is too narrow it will pinch the shoulders when he rises to a higher jump. It doesn't affect them XC as much - partly because they tend to jump long and forward rather than upward from underneath (rotten explanation or the relative jump shape - hope that makes sense...) and partly because the adrenaline is greater. We had an ISH who magically gained 30 - 40cm on his max SJ height when his saddle was fitted correctly.

Second thought - might he have managed to catch himself with his front feet at some point? They tuck up more as the fences go up so he may have struck himself if he wasn't wearing a stud girth and now be wary of pain? Even if he wasn't wearing studs they can catch themselves a bit of a thump if they tuck up tight.

Oh.. final thought. Is the rider folding too soon? If the weight comes over his shoulders when he is about to rise it would have the affect of "squashing" him back into the jump. He could cope at a smaller height but not as the fences rise? This then becomes less of an issue XC as the rider takes a safe seat?

Oh... last thought. Do you know his history? Could he have been rapped at some point making him fearful when the height is at the top of his range? (No personal experience with rapping - but I have had horses I suspect were rapped.)

 

[DeNiro]

Shay - Thank you for your response! I have booked the saddle fitter in for Friday morning so going to get that checked over.

I know for a fact I have a habit of folding too soon and leaning forward before the jump. Any tips on how to stop this or improve it? It's annoying as I know I do it! Plus it just gives me no hope of staying on haha.

I think I am going to take him back to small jumps and build him up once I have had his saddle and back checked.

 

[smja]

What's his XC technique like? Some horses will gallop at them and use speed to get over, which doesn't work in an enclosed space - like an SJ arena.

Is his canter powerful and balanced, with his hocks underneath him? Does he speed up coming into the fences?

If there's nothing wrong with saddle, I'd do some gridwork. Gets them to keep a nice rhythm - start small and put fences up once he's happy.

As for folding too soon, I used to do this all the time. Tongue in cheek answer is ride a horse with no neck/shoulders to speak of, then you fall off if you're ahead of the movement but really, try not looking at the fence at all. Stare resolutely over the top of it and try to feel when the horse comes up. Does require a soft hand! Also, try not to over-fold. If you're jumping a small fence, there's no need to flatten yourself - again, gridwork would help you there.