How to Stop a Horse cantering really fast in a school whilst jumping.

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Angela_1987

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Hi Everyone,

Im new and after some advise really!!

Any ideas or has anyone any experience with having to stop horses cantering really fast in a school? Ive had my horse 2 months and are getting on very well with his flat work and so decided to have a go at jumping now. His done BSJA and is a good jumper. He wasn't nasty at all. Didn't buck or try to unseat me, just running round really fast and couldn't stop him until i did a tight circle. Think me being in a xc position didn't help either!! lol But any advise would be appreciated :-) O and after this little fast cantering around the school, i made him jump a small x-pole and stop after, which he did but then went on to do the same with the next jump and he went to run again, so stopped him by turning him on a tight circle. Any advice would be great though. Love this horse. Think its more me then him!! lol
 
get some lessons with a good instructor to get the pair of you going! though that said being in a forward xc position will encourage the horse to go faster, sit up tall between your fences to hold him better.
 
I think it might be an idea to have a lesson, because an instructor will be able to see what's happening and we can't. It could be your position telling him to go, or it could just be that's he's excited to see jumps again, or conversely he may even be a bit nervous and be rushing his fences because of that. Once you know what the cause is, you can then work on that, but I'm not sure anyone can tell you that online without actually seeing the behaviour first-hand.:)
 
Lean back, sit deep into the saddle, think about burying your butt into his back. Calm 'wooaaahh'. Deep breath!
 
first thing be prepared for some uncomfy riding ;)

ive had my horse three weeks and ive gone from galloping to a fence to going in at a collected canter and shes a novice horse to...

do some more flatwork working on canter work. its sounds more difficult than it is but when you come down the long side shorten and slow the canter(dont haul on the outside rein with no leg, just a decent squeeze on the outisde when ever stride which can get a little firmer while holding with your legs) and lots of circles.

once that starts to work( should only take two or three day really) you should start putting just some poles out and trotting through them to teach your horse thres no need to rush as rushing comes from being anxious...graduly increase the poles put some poles ona circle to and canter over them(youll have to research the distances i cant quite remember them). after that you can put up a small cross with two or three trot poles in front and only jump from trot for abit to get him more relaxed you an put the jump up abit too in trot.....try taking the poles away slowly and stay in trot if that works put one pole back and work over that small cross in canter....

its worked on all my three horses for me :)
 
If he's an experienced jumper could it be the fences aren't big or complicated enough for him to pay attention to? Unless you're a nervous kid or teen & she's nannying you, anything small & simple mine just takes the mick, races round like its a point to point, jumps bigger & wider than needed, & plays about seeing how far under the jump she can get & still clear it. Give her a decent size fence or something tricky to think about & she's good as gold. Could be the same for yours?
If not, then lots of gridwork, plus working on the canter on the flat. And trotting smaller fences, allowing a stride of canter only before & one or two strides after before coming back to trot, slowly building up the amount of canter between fences. Plus not giving an approach any bigger than necessary so he doesn't have a dozen strides to get silly in before it. Even if I put up a biggish upright at the far end of an arena, with me mine will race towards it before coming back & preparing herself for it a few strides out.
 
littlelegs said:
If he's an experienced jumper could it be the fences aren't big or complicated enough for him to pay attention to? Unless you're a nervous kid or teen & she's nannying you, anything small & simple mine just takes the mick, races round like its a point to point, jumps bigger & wider than needed, & plays about seeing how far under the jump she can get & still clear it. Give her a decent size fence or something tricky to think about & she's good as gold. Could be the same for yours?
If not, then lots of gridwork, plus working on the canter on the flat. And trotting smaller fences, allowing a stride of canter only before & one or two strides after before coming back to trot, slowly building up the amount of canter between fences. Plus not giving an approach any bigger than necessary so he doesn't have a dozen strides to get silly in before it. Even if I put up a biggish upright at the far end of an arena, with me mine will race towards it before coming back & preparing herself for it a few strides out.
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agreed! try some of the gymnastics jumping grids...small bounces etc:)
 
Angela_1987 said:
This happened on a lesson with other horses around, and my instructor was just shouting "jab" what ever that means??
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That would be a sensible question to ask the instructor who said it :p If the instructor can't explain what they meant, and is only capable of offering unclear commands, seek a new instructor!
 
JFTD said:
...If the instructor can't explain what they meant, and is only capable of offering unclear commands, seek a new instructor!
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I agree, jab, what does that mean? Are they suggesting you give the reins a sharp pull to jab the horse in the mouth maybe? :confused:
 
i personally wouldnt jab a horse in its mouth even when its out of control providing your enclosed...i studied natural horsemanship and my horse would gallop round neck locked for ages and the last thing you do is grab hold and pull as your dealing with something bigger than you and he will get upset and pull back harder knocking you out of the saddle....obviously harder when theirs other horses there but you want to almost let the contact go a little and sit very very deep slowing the horse by seat and voice and maybe then just add a little feel with the reins...im sure the horse isnt that naughty...ive seen this done and done it myself on horse that would gallop round bucking jumping spinning on their back legs etc! just to be safe id check the saddle is good fitting and his back etc is all good...also what bit are you riding in...im not a fan of strong bits at all but you might be riding in something to small, too big, or a bad joint for its mouth??
 
I like the ideas about the grid work. Will be giving that a go. Think i just need to relax more. Im 24 and am an experienced rider, just never had to deal with a horse cantering fast when i don't want them to!! lol Its having to deal with slowing them down but i guess i can learn that on the flat too. I like a challenge and he does school beautifully :-) Thanks for the advise so far!! :)
 
I'm hoping the OP misheard the instructor. It can be tricky to hear when you're doing warp speeds round an arena :o
 
JFTD said:
I'm hoping the OP misheard the instructor. It can be tricky to hear when you're doing warp speeds round an arena :o
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I would not know because this has never ever happened to me, honest guv... nope, that was not an RS / RDA pony peeing off with me across the school, no siree...:p;):D
 
Angela_1987 said:
I like the ideas about the grid work. Will be giving that a go. Think i just need to relax more. Im 24 and am an experienced rider, just never had to deal with a horse cantering fast when i don't want them to!! lol Its having to deal with slowing them down but i guess i can learn that on the flat too. I like a challenge and he does school beautifully :-) Thanks for the advise so far!! :)
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haha it can be a shock sometimes ive ridden some that would surge forward in the last to strides leaving me nearly sat on their arse...just keep working and breath...you should try riding with music on it helps you keep a rhythm when riding and to keep calm...lots of dressage riders do it:)
 
Spudlet said:
I would not know because this has never ever happened to me, honest guv... nope, that was not an RS / RDA pony peeing off with me across the school, no siree...:p;):D
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lol I spent the first year or so of horse ownership charging round a school at warp speed out of control. I then spent the following decade charging round schools at warp speed in control :D
 
JFTD said:
lol I spent the first year or so of horse ownership charging round a school at warp speed out of control. I then spent the following decade charging round schools at warp speed in control :D
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I have perfected the oh-so-nonchalant 'No, I totes meant to do that....' face after years of practice:D
 
Agree re the jabbing, if she does mean tug on the reins then as jftd said, get a new instructor.
Personally I find racing round on mine excellent fun, she's sensible & responsive the rest of the time, if she wants to be an idiot with me round small fences its fine by me.
 
Sounds familiar.:) i get the 'get your bum back in the saddle' shouted at me by RI. She's got me practicing changing pace in canter to try to sort me out..that and lots of work over poles and lots and lots of ever decreasing circles. Oh, also it seems I was not taking the reins back quickly enough. I know the theory but can I get it right!
 
TrasaM said:
Sounds familiar.:) i get the 'get your bum back in the saddle' shouted at me by RI. She's got me practicing changing pace in canter to try to sort me out..that and lots of work over poles and lots and lots of ever decreasing circles. Oh, also it seems I was not taking the reins back quickly enough. I know the theory but can I get it right!
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They don't seem to know that it takes ten brain cells to do all the right things at the right time, and to be honest I only have five available most days!
I have had a lesson with a 19 year old who seemed to know exactly what to do to get the horse to do the right thing in spite of my riding!. sickening!, as after 40 years of riding, she seems to have cracked the whole thing!
 
robert leese horsemanship will be able to help you, robert is very good at all aspects of horsemanship and i have seen him fix many horses with a similar problem.
 
My boy use to jump Children's A Grade (being a pony and all that, he use to belong to a Child who rode Pony Rider classes. lol) and also buggers off around anything under a meter... Semi-fixed it by turning jumping into something that he shouldn't take seriously :D (we do dressage, so when we jump it's just for fun), started off jumping him bareback in the trot (he wouldn't bugger off bareback because that would result in me bouncing around on his back) and then adding the saddle and just trotting jumps on a long rein (the long rein does seem to make a difference) and then cantering them on a long rein.

He's fine now days, I just feel that they don't take it seriously if they've jumped a certain height before and you ask them to do something ridiculously small :p.

Just focus on relaxation, that's the only tip I have

Good luck :D!
 
To stop my big lad charging round like a loon over fences (fair dos, cleared them all, but control wasn't really in the equation, steering yes, but control, no!) we would pop him over a fence, come back to halt, turn round, jump the fence again from the other direction, halt, and repeat until he was listening.

Worked wonders, and was a really good warm up method too!
 
Thanks for all the advice!! I had a really good lesson on him on Friday and was practising shortening and lengtherning his canter stride. I have the same problem with keeping my butt in the saddle!! Lol Another jumping lesson tomorrow. I'm sure me and Monty will get used to each others styles soon enough!! Just got to keep practicing :-)
 
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