Horse bouncing on spot in front of fences

C

celticdiamond

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 September 2012
Messages
116
Location
West Yorkshire
Visit site
I acquired a 6yo mare on loan in July when I sadly had to have my gelding PTS. She's spent the past 2 years hunting and hacking and is as bold as brass over fences. No fillers or XC fences bother her, which is good but she's not careful. Doesn't seem to care if she hits poles. I've spent the past 2 months on her flatwork which had been neglected and it seems she's been allowed to do her own thing SJ firing into fences. She's a wb x tb and very headstrong!

I've got her to the point of improving her canter with the help of a great dressage trainer, but in front of fences she now comes in balanced then about 4 strides out bounces on the spot before exploding the last 3 strides. Makes for a problem when seeing a stride! Does it no matter what the size of the fence. I've made sure my legs are on as much as possible and hands forward so she's not being blocked. All checks have been done.

Trying to get a jumping lesson round here is hard as very few trainers. Anyone got any suggestions on how to improve this stop/start in front of fences at home whilst I keep hunting for a trainer? I know polework will help its just difficult when training on my own and she kicks poles etc so have to keep getting on and off.
 
Does she do it around a course?
Mine gets like this when I jump single fences as he's quite excitable and just wants to go! But when I work on jumping combinations or courses, he stops doing it.
 
I would stop trying to see a stride and think about just maintaining the canter, the more you try and focus on strides the more likely you are to hold the front end and cause her to shorten up and bounce. Put some canter poles on one side of the arena and work through them, then put a fence up to replace the last pole and just keep coming as if it was not there, let the poles do the placing not you, then put one at either end so you can jump both ways, poles staying in between to keep those strides level.
4 small fences on a 20 m circle are useful to work over, you have to focus on the canter and keep moving forward at the same time as turning, makes it difficult for the horse to fire if it is constantly being asked to go forward and turn.
The better the canter the easier it should be for you to ride her on a level stride and it will be easier for her to take the time required in the air to tuck up rather than rush through and knock down the poles, carelessness is usually due to the horse rushing not because it is on a bad stride, unless they are jumping serious fences.
 
I once did an interesting exercise which really helped my mare's canter and rhythm between fences. My instructor put out a 'course' but instead of jumps, they were poles on the ground. After doing it a few times, my mare calmed right down and we were able to improve her canter. The benefit of this would also be that if your horse did kick a pole, you wouldn't need to get off and straighten it, just ride for the new angle.
 
If we're in a one or two strided combination she flows nicely, if its a related distance we have an issue. She's a very sharp horse and I've had to adapt my flat work to suit her, but have jumped others like her although she seems to be an extreme!
 
I'm no expert whatsoever, what happens if you trot in? Or do "jump off" type turns where the approach is far shorter?
Are you able to loose jump her at all and see what she does then?
 
Do you have a contact on her when she does it? If so drop it completely! She will probably crash & burn a good few times but i would come in trot on the buckle & see what she does. Don't just jump 1 fence on its own, do a grid with poles in between so it encourages her to regulate her rhythm :)
 
I would be inclined to loose jump her until she calms down and sees her own stride. Then ride down the same lines and use a neckstrap and leave her head completely and do not ride forward with your legs. It could be a couple of months before you are prepared to get on and just ride down with no reins, don't try it before you are happy to do it. A useful book would be Paarlman Training the showjumper, old but very good. I got mine from the BHS shop. Training out a bad habit is always more time consuming than starting a new horse from scratch, but she seems to be keen which is a good thing. Good luck.
 
i've one who used to do similar, turns out i was disrupting him with my seat and i had no idea i was doing it.If she doesn't do the bounce loose schooling, then you know its an issue with you.

We stopped doing courses and just worked on getting him relaxed into fences, me off his back with legs on, going forward over small fences and not worrying if he was slightly fast or on the wrong stride. Just getting him fluid and forward in a rhythm. Putting poles after the jump to stop him running on. And just grids, grids, grids, so he got a natural rhythm.
 
Also just a note to those whose horses kick poles, try using half poles so flat on the bottom, they don't move so much and if they accidently step on them they wont roll out. I use them all the time now, cheap from local merchants as they are just fencing rails.
 
You clearly have no understanding of why I said to loose jump this horse Wench. I am a qualified BS coach and have been schooling / reschooling showjumpers for 40 years. The reason I suggested this is that this type of bouncing is a manifestation of extreme stress in the horse concerned. If the horse is so stressed that it won't wait for a fence or bounces on the spot then it will show in loose jumping and can be corrected with the right exercises , but progress will be very slow with a rider as someone , in the past, most likely, has pulled at this horse and most probably fired it into its fences. On its own it will learn to slow down but will need bounces and shorter distances to settle it. It is very hard not to interfere from on top and the horse will be waiting for its previous cues anyway. Once it is enjoying and thinking about its jumping then a repeat of the same grids with a rider who is able to sit still will teach the horse to trust the rider. And , Yes, dressage, or rather, flat work training is essential. if the Op has a look on You Tube there is a fairly lengthy dvd of flat work for show jumping issued by British Show Jumping, once the horse is able to do all the exercises on this video it will be easier to ride anyway and in conjunction with loose schooling over proper grids and then the same ridden the problem should disappear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top