Horse's mouth open over jumps

[huskydamage]

Just noticed the majority of pictures of me in the air over jumps my horse has her mouth open, I guess I am not releasing enough or something, but I am worried she will get annoyed with me if I dont fix it quickly! Going to ask when I next have a lesson for help with it but does anyone have any tips?

 

[Branna]

Are you losing balance/getting left behind and balancing on the rein? If so lots of work with short stirrups out of the saddle, eg hacking in walk will help. A neck strap can be useful, practice using it and just have one hand hooked on there.
If its less balance and you just being tight with your arm, think of pushing your hand forward and low towards the horses mouth in the last couple of strides before the fence. Habits while jumping are hard to break because jumping a fence is all over so quickly - I find someone shouting 'soft hands', 'hands forward' or whatever works for you helps on the approach to a fence! Even if it isn't your instructor, if you have anyone watching tell them the things you know you need to be reminded of