Jumping & brakes!

conniegirl

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on Monday I had the saddle fitter up and bought a GP saddle for my little cob, I even managed a couple of little jumps during the fitting. This is fairly major for me, I don't do jumping as have had a couple of very nasty falls previously and now have a tendency to fall to bits in a puddle of nerves when presented with anything more than a trotting pole.
New saddle is much more secure for me and for once I actually felt safe whilst jumping (it is half an inch shorter in the seat then I normally go for and actually has knee rolls). However Cob has a tendency to get somewhat excited jumping and I think I need something stronger in his mouth just to give me some control over the pace at which he takes the jumps.

he is currently ridden in a french link loose ring snaffle and is normally very light in the hand. For showing he has a double bridle but I really don't want to have to think about double reins whilst jumping as I'll have enough to worry about (the whole continuing to breathe, not shut my eyes etc).

Jumping He takes a hold of the bit and sets his neck slightly when taking you into the jump, he does come back beautifully after the jumps but going into it he's a typical pony and saying "we are doing it my way".

So Suggestions?
 

J_sarahd

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I would go down the route of schooling him before putting something stronger in his mouth. Get yourself a good instructor who is sympathetic. If you’re nervous, he may be picking up on that. Has anyone else jumped him? Is he the same with them?
 

conniegirl

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down the route of schooling him before putting something stronger in his mouth. Get yourself a good instructor who is sympathetic. If you’re nervous, he may be picking up on that.
yes, yard owner jumped him, he was the same with her, she is a totally bonkers eventer so definitely not nervous about popping a 13.2hh pony over a 40cm jump.

On the flat I can't fault him at all, even going for a gallop in company we only ever use the french link snaffle, he just gets ridiculously excited about jumps and takes hold.
 

sportsmansB

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Can you do lots of jumping from trot ideally with a placing pole, and circling into and away from small fences so he has no opportunity to bog off? It might just be super exciting for him right now if you haven't been doing much of it, he doesn't know it could become a more permanent feature so hes making the most of every chance :)
 

SpringArising

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When jumping you want them to take hold to a certain extent. I like feeling my horse lock onto the fence and him being firm in my hand. It only becomes a problem when you can't adjust them. I'm all for using a different bit if the current one isn't working, but I think it might be a bit premature. It sounds like you virtually never jump so it's all going to be new and different for him and it's expected that you're going to need to put some work in. I'd give it a few months with you learning how to ride to and from a fence and getting more confident, before you up the ante.
 

vhf

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I decided to pop my 17yo over a few jumps the other day - she's semi-retired but not due to her health. She used to XC/SJ in a snaffle, but she plunged and tanked over the (foot high) double before broncing off like a loon... no amount of head gear would have made a difference, it was just too different to her usual activities.
Schooling as above is going to be your best bet, almost certainly. It will help your confidence too, especially if you get the right help. As that's currently out of the question for my girl, she's grounded indefinitely!
 

TheMule

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It's the unpopular solution, but I totally agree with everyone above. A fundamentally well schooled horse on the flat does not need a stronger bit to tackle very small fences in a controlled arena environment, just capitalize on his good schooling.
Use transitions before and after the fence and just don't allow him to take over
 

Cowpony

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I had this problem with mine a while ago. She loves her jumping and we hadn't done it for a long while, so she was literally going from a standstill to a gallop in a couple of strides, set her neck and I could do nothing to stop her. Luckily she's a very good jumper and the fence was only 2'3" because I get nervous about jumping too, so you have my sympathy Conniegirl. The following week I had a private lesson with an instructor and we did lots of calm circles into and out of the jumps. She was foot perfect and after that we didn't have a problem. I think it's the excitement of doing it for the first time in ages that can just get too much for them.
 

conniegirl

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Can you do lots of jumping from trot ideally with a placing pole, and circling into and away from small fences so he has no opportunity to bog off? It might just be super exciting for him right now if you haven't been doing much of it, he doesn't know it could become a more permanent feature so hes making the most of every chance :)

Thanks but the problem is as soon as you point him in the vague direction of the jump he takes hold and goes, no chance of circling away. My yard owner has jumped him and said that she had no chance of getting him to trot the jump, even her approaching a jump in walk (one that he could easily step over) resulted in him taking hold about 5 strides out and a rather rapid canter.
Don't get me wrong, he seems to get the right stride and a lovely shape every time but its all extremely fast and with little to no control from the rider.

I've probably made him sound insane, he isn't! he's just very opinionated and excited, yard owner loves jumping him, but as I said she's a bonkers eventer! I trust him implicitly on the flat.

If I can just get it all calmed down then it could become a more permanent feature but at the moment if I can't gain some control before a jump we risk knocking my already very fragile and newly found nerve.

God, shove me on a bronking psyco horse on the flat and I'm fine but stick a 10cm crosspole up and my nerves go to bits.

I decided to pop my 17yo over a few jumps the other day - she's semi-retired but not due to her health. She used to XC/SJ in a snaffle, but she plunged and tanked over the (foot high) double before broncing off like a loon... no amount of head gear would have made a difference, it was just too different to her usual activities.
Schooling as above is going to be your best bet, almost certainly. It will help your confidence too, especially if you get the right help. As that's currently out of the question for my girl, she's grounded indefinitely!

Thankfully no plunging of broncing involved ever with him.

When jumping you want them to take hold to a certain extent. I like feeling my horse lock onto the fence and him being firm in my hand. It only becomes a problem when you can't adjust them. I'm all for using a different bit if the current one isn't working, but I think it might be a bit premature. It sounds like you virtually never jump so it's all going to be new and different for him and it's expected that you're going to need to put some work in. I'd give it a few months with you learning how to ride to and from a fence and getting more confident, before you up the ante.

Thanks, at the moment adjusting him would be totaly out of the question I feel like i'm currently hauling his back teeth out trying not to end up going at it at the gallop!, I virtualy never jump but he has been jumped by my yard owner so it's not completely new to him.

I used to jump a lot did RC teams, a bit of eventing etc, then had a nasty accident and haven't done much since.

Trying to find a half decent instructor who will actually answer a phone or email is another major problem (I don't think a reply to an email within a couple of weeks is unreasonable to expect) will keep looking though.
 

conniegirl

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I had this problem with mine a while ago. She loves her jumping and we hadn't done it for a long while, so she was literally going from a standstill to a gallop in a couple of strides, set her neck and I could do nothing to stop her. Luckily she's a very good jumper and the fence was only 2'3" because I get nervous about jumping too, so you have my sympathy Conniegirl. The following week I had a private lesson with an instructor and we did lots of calm circles into and out of the jumps. She was foot perfect and after that we didn't have a problem. I think it's the excitement of doing it for the first time in ages that can just get too much for them.
This sounds like him exactly, sets his neck and goes except i'm most definitely not anywhere near 2ft3! I'm a nervous wreck at about 30cm.
 

Cowpony

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It's the unpopular solution, but I totally agree with everyone above. A fundamentally well schooled horse on the flat does not need a stronger bit to tackle very small fences in a controlled arena environment, just capitalize on his good schooling.
Use transitions before and after the fence and just don't allow him to take over

Sounds right in theory but I'd defy you to have any sort of control on mine when she sets her neck and gallops! We mainly do dressage so she's very well schooled, but when she knows it's her turn to jump and she's in that mood there is nothing that can stop her. So in this case it's regular jumping which gets us back in control.
 

vhf

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Sounds right in theory but I'd defy you to have any sort of control on mine when she sets her neck and gallops! We mainly do dressage so she's very well schooled, but when she knows it's her turn to jump and she's in that mood there is nothing that can stop her. So in this case it's regular jumping which gets us back in control.

I feel your pain. 2 years ago I spent 40 minutes with my girl (the reason she's now semi-retired!) establishing a calm trot over a trotting pole. After that I decided that until I can commit to doing it regularly, it wasn't fun for either of us to have the occasional jump. My recent experience reminded me of that decision, and also how much we both loved our jumping... hey ho.
Some horses don't cope well with doing things out of routine, just like people.
 

JFTDWS

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I don't consider bogging off towards a fence a reasonable approach to jumping. I generally think that a horse should be able to school around fences and pop them out of a rhythm as part of their basic schooling. That sometimes means starting with the fences as poles on the ground, working around them, not over, and building up to going over them when they're truly calm and in control, then building them into fences over time.

Once they've gone, as a PP implies, there's very little you can do to get them back. The key is teaching them not to knob off at fences in the first place.

Bitting up has its place - on a keen horse who might get a bit onward bound round a course, xc, in competitions etc. But mostly, training them that jumping is just a normal part of their work and should be tackled with a degree of rideability is the first port of call.
 

Meredith

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I did an exercise recently which was to help with control.
It was something like 3 trot( or even walk) poles, then 2 parallel poles, then 3 trot or walk poles.
Walk over poles, halt between parallel poles, walk on.
Progress to trot when walk OK , still with halt
Make last 3 poles a tiny cross pole jump with halt before
Progress to cross pole at start as well when OK, still with halt
Raise last poles to low straight bar.
Repeat in trot, with halt.
Eventually do canter poles in a similar way. No halt.
The distance finished as 4 canter strides.
I think the idea is to get your horse really paying attention before doing anything too exciting.
I think it is a little early in your progress to use a stronger bit although you may possibly need one later.
Good luck.
 
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