Horse rushing, too buzzy in SJ - help!

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Royal Pavilion

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We are jumping around one metre. Horse fairly inexperienced but is way too forward going resulting in too many poles coming down. Specifically it is after we land and she rushes away from the jump on to the next one (going too fast!) If I have a lot of space I can just about manage to get her back in to a nice canter. But that is not normally the case. I end up interfering too much with my hands as I try to get a decent canter back.
She has so much scope but we can’t move forward until we cam sort this.
I would be grateful for any help, ideas.....thanks
 
You need to stop competing her and concentrate on her schooling, I'd really focus on the flat work first and get her used to your seat aids, then grid work. The height isn't the important thing, and she may well have scope but until you've got her schooling right, she won't be moving up the ladder.
 
Rushing is often a sign they lack real confidence, a scopey horse can sometimes give the feeling it has learned what it is doing when in reality it is just getting away with it and has not really gained confidence at the first levels.

I would go down at least one step and aim for steady confident clears, aim to go HC for a second round if you can and do a circle or two on the way round to get the canter well established and ensure you are remaining in control while giving her the confidence to relax and jump cleanly.
Keep the schooling at home to within her height comfort zone but make grids and combinations more challenging mentally so she is waiting, listening and gaining trust in herself, her ability and using her body in a relaxed way, you really need someone good on the ground to help with this.
 
When schooling, if she rushes in to the jump, circle her away from it and don't let her jump it until you have good control. When you have more control, you can also insist she jump from trot.

Another one is to stop her after the jump. Say 5 strides after it at first, then work your way down to two strides. The abrupt transitions get them listening and will have her take notice of your half halts. Sometimes they just take over and stop listening to the rider. It's not ideal sj but it's a disaster on xc (I've been there).

A big help for slowing them is to squeeze them with your thighs. It tightens your core and you don't need to use as much rein. Do it in rythym with your half halt on the rein. If she throws up her head, you could add a martingale.
 
Schooling on the flat with poles on the ground or small jumps in the school so that she learns she only jumps when calm and sensible. Totally ignore the jumps to begin with.
 
The earlier posters are right - she's not confident at the height you are working at. You need to step down massively - and ideally stop altogether whilst you work on her schooling. I'm not a fan of circling in front of jumps - it teaches them to refuse. Work on a steady balanced canter, use grids and pole work to keep her mentally engaged and to boost her confidence. If you back right off now and put in the proper schooling it sounds like you will have an absolute star in a year or so!
 
You need to stop competing her and concentrate on her schooling, I'd really focus on the flat work first and get her used to your seat aids, then grid work. The height isn't the important thing, and she may well have scope but until you've got her schooling right, she won't be moving up the ladder.[/QUOTE]
THIS...And find a good instructor..eyes on the ground and helpful tutoring..
 
Assuming it is the horse that has the problem then go back to schooling. However, a lot of the time it's the rider causing the rush rather than the horse rushing. Legs saying go, hands saying no, horse confused, head in air and run. I can't count the number of riders that have said their horse rushes and a simple exercise proves where the problem lies. I tell the rider to approach the jump in a good balanced canter and if i remain quiet then jump the fence. If I don't like what I see I will shout HALT at any point on the approach and the rider has to halt before the jump. In every case the rider fails to stop the first time I shout, after that they start to focus to riding the horse not the fence and find they can control the approach without problems and halt on command every time. Quality of jump improves massively simply because they are now ignoring the fence and focusing on the feel of every stride on the turn in and approach.
 
Are you landing in balance? Rushing away from a fence can often be related to the rider being out of balance. Do you have regular lessons? If not then I would be putting the money you are spending on competing towards some lessons.
If you are happy with yourself then landing poles can be a useful tool to stop them running on landing.
 
My horse used to do this and it was due to confidence in the canter , you need to be doing at least 70% of schooling in canter also when u land after a jump , flex right and left to calm the horse back down cycle in canter After the jump then continue to the next , repeat . This is from my instructor and it worked for me loads
 
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