Jumping - He just doesn't look! advice please!

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laurenpalmer

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I have a thoroughbred which i have been training for a year and a half now and we are starting to look at low level eventing. The discipline we have most trouble with is show jumping. He can canter round the arena fine, controlled, collected ect, but when i point him at a jump he generally rushes and does not look at the jump and takes off on a stride too late and won't snap his legs up, also he doesn't learn form bashing his legs. He is perfect cross country and is very bold, but showjumping (which we generally keep small (2'6, 2'9 at the biggest) because i am still training him) he wont look at all. A lot of my instructors say he will look when the fence is bigger, but because he is inexperienced i feel i cant go and jump him 3ft because he is more likely to injure himself if he doesn't look. What can i do? are there any exercises to help him look? i was watching a lucinda green clinic and she said that when the rider leans right back the front end of the horse has to come up. would that work if i did that when he is supposed to take off? any advice appreciated! thanks! and sorry its very long!
 
Has he raced/hurdled at all?

I would get some lessons of a show jumper and do loads of grids with placing poles in front of the jumps so that he has to take off in the right place.

Not sure about the Lucinda Green advice, sounds slightly strange.
 
use lots of placing poles, and oxers but most importantly have someone on the ground to help who really knows what they are doing as it will help enormously. Does he take off properly for solid jumps?
 
Never jumped before i had him and never raced - nothing really!
oh my gosh never thought of the placing pole how silly of me! we do lots of grids and pole work, just lacks in picking his feet up! his co-ordination has got so much better though.
yes she said the horse is like a see saw i didnt think horses worked like that?!
thank you for the advice! do have any advice on height? not that that is the main thing, just wondering if it would be more beneficial to jump smaller or bigger?
 
Yer i only tend to jump in lessons or under supervision, but have had instructors get on him and they say theres not a lot more i can do for him he has to figure it out for himself, but that is the problem he just isn't?
yer he will jump anything cross country and will take off too early rather than later, just because hes going more forward and flatter
 
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yes she said the horse is like a see saw i didnt think horses worked like that?!

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If its the same LGC I saw, She said that because the riders were unbalanced and tipping forward, therefore making it harder for their horses to pick up. She told them to lean back, so they were actually sitting up.
 
If it's not too far for you to go I recommend you try Paul Crago for some lessons, I had loads of problems in my head as well as with the actual riding, I've got a spooky difficult mare. I love the way he teaches, he's really patient & doesn't make you feel silly if you're struggling. We went from spooking badly over poles on the ground to jumping a 90cm course in 12 lessons. www.paulcragoshowjumping.co.uk.
 
How is he with trotting poles? If he rushes these too, it's time to get back to basics with him I'm afraid! Henry absolutely tanks at jumps in the school, not so bad xc. My trainer has me trot towards the pole and if he's rushing it I have to halt him, as soon as I feel him rushing. Turn away and approach again. Repeat until I get a balanced trot or canter to the pole and then allow him to jump it! Henry soon learnt that it was no fun zooming at a fence if I was going to pull him to a sharp halt and not allow him to jump it, so he started listening to me. Only took one session of about 10 minutes and he's not done it since!

Also on the Lucinda Green thing - she trains my trainer, and what she means is that many riders lean forwards putting their horse onto the forehand and not allowing him to sight the jump - by feeling like you're leaning back on the approach to a fence (effectively just sitting up rather than lying on your horses butt) you free up their shoulder and push them onto their rear end, allowing them room to lift in the front.
 
Hmm hes fine with poles, trot and canter, fine with canter grids too. Its just approaching a jump in canter. Yer, i've done the halt thing before in lessons, he halts quite nicely when i ask him, and i've tried turning him away, but its just the last few strides where he rushes, doesn't look at the top pole so knocks it down. I also get the funny uppy downy feeling from him a lot, where he takes off too close and lands too close. Maybe jumping on the lunge would help him? Then maybe i could see what i feel and understand what i need to do..?Thanks though
 
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