How to stop a horse looking at the base of the jump??

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Sundae

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I have an ex PTP and am trying really hard to improve our jumping. I really struggle with the fact that he really 'drops' down in front of the jump. I know we need to practice more and more but wondering if there are any tips!! I knew I felt that he was doing it, but OH vidoed me the other day and if I pause just before take off, you can really see that he drops his neck and withers just before the jump. This has got me into the habit of trying to lift him over the jumps.... We have been going gridwork with poles before and after the jumps but doesnt seem to make a difference... Ive had him 4 years by the way!!! Wondering if some xc schooling would help to get him to stand off a bit more?....
 
if that is how he focusses and judges the jump, i'd leave him to it. loose schooling might help, but if that's impossible, i would just concentrate on keeping yourself up and balanced and letting him sort himself out. the more confidence he gets, the happier he'll be to stand off a bit, but it is safer to leave him to judge the fences etc for himself. i try to think "sit in behind while he makes up his mind" with this type of horse, hope that helps!
 
Thanks Kerilli- I defo try to take off too much which means I prob half the problem as putting weight on his front end. I am now trying to keep him in front of my leg more which does help a lot.... And how did you know loose schooling doesnt work- bl**dy nightmare- goes potty!!
 
Our horse likes to do this too. It causes real problems with some fences. Trakehners in particular. He always likes to look into the bottom of it before he leaps! So always 20 pens for us!
Recently my daughter rode him in a Lucinda Green clinic, and she quickly identified that this is the way he jumps. We had already told her we have trouble with Trakheners....
Anyway, it was most interesting... and I do hope I understood fully as it would be v bad to quote her wrongly...but she said that a horses vision is basically cut in two. The upper half of his eye is for one distance, and the lower half for the other. There fore, the need for him to literally 'look before he leaps' is a very real one. As he needs to lower his head to judge where to take off. Far from being naughty about a refusal at a Trakhener, he is actually looking after himself, and his rider.
We have been told, many times, to keep his head up... don't let him look down. Which is all wrong. So now we have to learn to allow him to look, but still expect him to jump.
I hope this makes sense, I am sorry if I have mis-quoted. I am sure other people on here may be able to add more.
 
haha, ex-racers tend to get a bit intoxicated loose schooling! yep, keep him in front of leg without rushing him, think of channelling him from 2 legs forward with 2 hands to guide, and as long as you have the Engine, Line, Balance sorted (this is straight from Lucinda Green), the rest is up to him.
also, horses learn if they make a mistake, but if you make a mistake (because you are over-organising, trying to place him, etc... and it's inevitable that every rider will sometimes) they tend to hold it against you... hope that makes sense.
 
I have to say in all the time I have owned him, he has NEVER refused a jump- even through doubles when the striding has all been wrong! I know he is a totally honest jumper so I dont want to stop him doing something he needs to do- its just damn uncomfortable and I dont think it does either of us favours!! So yes, I wont try to stop him doing it, would just like to find a way of making it better as I'm sure it cant be comfortable for him.... We have only managed 1m so not exactly going to be pro's! But know what you are saying! guess its just practice about knowing where to take off without looking...
 
hmmmmm! You make too much sense! You need to give me some lessons lol! I feel that if I dont organise, about 10-8 strides before the fence the engine goes which means I hassle him before the fence.... Ok so I need to concentrate on ME and not him
grin.gif
 
Just out of curiosity, do you have a photo of him? I've had few of horses with this exact "problem" - more of a style, really - which had a particular head shape and eye placement. Of the ones I knew well, two evented to quite a high level then were good schoolmasters (one was my old horse) and four others (two of them full brothers, all four interestingly, of the same Hannoverian lines) went on to be a VERY good amateur 1.20/1.30 horses.

Interestingly but maybe not surprisingly, they all jumped small fences very awkwardly and improved once they got to 90cm+. I competed three of them myself and we simply gave up trotting anything small as it seemed to worry them and encourage them to stand on their heads even more than usual.
 
a lot of people call this "putting his specs on", it is just his way of judging the fence. i would use lots of big generous ground lines (no sheer uprights for a while) to help him judge the fence properly. if he's used to p2p fences, he's used to having 2 lovely big obvious orange stripes, one 1/2 way down the front of the fence, one at the base (or front edge of ditch) to help him judge!
just stay sitting up and leave the rest to him. don't let him rush the approach, or fall into the trap of thinking that if you take him in stronger or faster that it'll prevent him doing it... the opposite is generally true. i'd prob jump him from trot for a while to help him, too. (this is very good for stopping you getting forward, i've found!)
best of luck!
 
i know this sounds very simple buy my horse does not stop, and used to look down like that and well it was me! my hands were too low when coming into the fence and I simply got shouted at to lift them by my instructor and POOF! sorted! I know it sounds very simple but it helped us alot, I leave the rest to him as he is honest and I trust him so i let him do his thing! He sounds alittle like my chap, my chap also used to do odd strides in between doubles too and just sort himself out!
 
Lol I have too much improving to do- I do keep my hands very low- to the wither in fact! Thanks for making me think about that as well.... Lots of work to do!
 
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