It's official he's a dirty stopper!

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samleigh

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Fallen off 4 times this month, in todays lesson he bounced round a course like a show jumper to a 3 jump bounce 70 cm, (completed it 4xpreviously) it had now been incorporated into a course of jumps, he took off, put down, skidded, dropped his shoulder and my horse had disappeared from under me, I actually landed on my knees, then wrists, then belly flopped..it was more effort to stop then jump! I have a fab instructor, who is confident we can sort him, but every week he brings another trick out of his bag to throw at me. 95% of the lesson he doesn't put a hoof wrong, then it's like he thinks I'm cooperating a little too much here, lets mix it up then I can have a Hooley round the arena, but my confidence is taking a bit of a bashing by him, I like to keep his work varied, but it's getting to be point I don't like to jump him at home as his stops are so unpredictable/fast unless I have a pick me off the floor person available. Sorry folks just feeling a bit sorry for myself and my brave pants are nearly worn out... I have another SJ rally tomorrow with my riding club, should be fun:rolleyes.
 
Totally understand your attitude! And it's totally fine to have it!

But you have to turn it around.....really hard to but stop focusing on the stopping! By giving him that slight inclining that you think 'oh are we gona have a nice spin and fall here?' You give him the ammunition needed to do that stop!

Instead write down a perfect jump....just like you did with your fall above, describe one that went well..... What happened, what were you thinking, what had your instructor told you? Visualise this jump, approach, over the jump and landing! Also think...why did we spin? Take my leg off? Back off the jump? Didn't look up enough?

I had this problem..... And it ALL came down to me! One day I accepted I had to have the mind set 'right you f**'er, we ARE doing this, I will accept no more of your bu**sh**!' I didn't hit him, gallop him at the jump etc.... But I put in my mind that I could get over it and that stopping isn't an option! Plus I always find a tree to focus on and look at the top of it! You land where you look.........well I want to land at the top of that tree!!!

So tomorrow IS going to be fun!its a new day, new challenges, and lots of good jumps! Good luck you will be fine!
 
I do sympathise, Stoppers are bad for the nerve. But it is time to look at the whole thing another way. Firstly ,forget all about trying to ride "properly". It merely takes your mind off the real game ,which is to be effective,and to be effective you need to be still in the saddle. A reality check ,70 cm is about 2ft 4 inches in real money .ANY HORSE OR PONY merely has to tuck up its legs to clear that ,they dont even have to jump ,meerly glide!It is a real eye opener to riders when they eventualy do a real showjump at say 1.60 M and feel what a real takeoff is like. I had a horse when I was a kid who could sail over 1.60 but rarely did and generaly would stop at 70 cm just like yours. In hindsight and many years ,I realise that I was trying too hard to do it by the book,and what he really needed was for me to slow everything down so that I was not trying to hang on to a horse that was behind my leg.They must be going forward off your leg . Your guy spots his moment when he is behind your leg ,and BAMMMM.(Rat Fink).IF you slow it down and he trys to stop , leg on hard and if he cat jumps it or wades through it ,no problem .Provided you are still in the saddle ,he will learn from this and realise that it is easier to simply jump the fence. Hope3 this helps .
 
Mike007 said:
!It is a real eye opener to riders when they eventualy do a real showjump at say 1.60 M and feel what a real takeoff is like. .
Click to expand...

Oh gawd that sounds patronising ,so I shall explain a bit more. The horse I had who wouldnt jump 70 cm was incredibly competetive and in one amazing gymkahna "chase me charlie " had gone to 5ft 9. I was so far out of my comfort zone I couldnt have seen it with a telescope, all I could do ,and I still remember the approach as if it was today,was to ride the best I could with my leg on, and if he stopped at that ridiculous height ,well it wasnt my fault .Hell,he could have ducked under that single pole!.As we aproache his bum seamed to get lower and lower as if he was going to sit down .Then suddenly we were hurtling upwards like a Balistic Missile. cleared it easily (but grmble grumble we still only came joint second because we had had a pole down earlier,even though the horse that "won "never cleared the fence.we wuz robbed!)So it isnt about speed ,and you cant force them ,but if you show that you meen business and ride forward,it is amazing what can be achieved.
 
Stop trying so hard to stop him from stopping! :)

When I got my boy he was terrible for running out and throwing in a stop, and it was down to years of being rushed into fences and thrown over them - he was pretty freaked out about the whole thing and had lost his confidence.

To solve A LOT of other issues he came with, I literally rode him near enough on the buckle for months, and let him potter about and realise that I'm not sitting on his back to force him to do anything, and he slowly seemed to realise that we were riding together, it wasn't a competition, me against him, or that he HAD to do what I say AT ALL TIMES. He quickly chilled right out, and when it came to correcting his jumping I took the same approach, longish reins, a lot of leg and casually steered him towards the fence... OK so it wasn't an overnight miracle, but the improvement was amazing. Now that he had a rider who wasn't running him into fences and flapping about on his back MAKING him do it he was far more inclined to do it well. And the most important thing is he has got his love of jumping back. It's a huge difference in him.

He's a very sensitive horse, and the only times now when he really puts a dirty stop in is when my riding has upset him - I might have messed up the approach to the fence, or lost my balance over one and not quite got it back coming up to the next.

I'm not saying that my situation is the same as yours, but as you mentioned your confidence has taken a bashing, he will most likely be picking up on that so the stopping is getting worse? Does he do it when anyone else rides him?
 
Poor you ! I know all to well what it feels like to loose your confidence and dread doing something .

My previous horse was very unpredictable , fabulous to jump but unpredictable in every other area ! I lost all my confidence to the point I didn't want to ride anymore . Everyone was shocked as I've always been the sort of person to get on anything .
Anyway I bought myself a new pony , started from scratch and we now trust each other 100% :D

What I would reccomend is wearing a body protector and an air jacket if you don't already. It will make you feel a lot more confident !
 
Thank you, everyone for all your replies all bang on correct and also enforces what my instructor is telling me...one stop was due to me pushing him with my seat rather than making him in front of my leg.. We regularly jump 1mtr + in training with little gymnastic bits in between its these which he seems to object too, all usually under 70cm.... So we,re trotting into these for a while hopefully not giving him the impulsion to spin and drop...I know I have to keep the lessons up over winter for both our confidences., but it helps to Know others have passed this and confidence returns. 😀 The training rally went well, one stop at a dogleg 90cm upright but i know this was because I let him get away from me on landing & onto his forehand, redid it, much quicker reactions fom me and we finished the course really nicely. So finished November on a good note... Thank goodness lol
 
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