jumping help please!!

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emilyR

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26 August 2009
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im running out of ideas for my 6yo horse..

i believe he has the potential to BE, but at present his jumping really lets him down. He is amazing and never spooks at anything.

HOWEVER he is way to excitable. he rushes (very badly - just ignores rider completely) and that causes him to knock fences (which due to his bombproof nature doesnt mind). His jump is also much to flat. His rushing is not due to any discomfort, he just enjoys himself too much, thinks he knows best and stops listening. he drags you to the fences!

He is extraordinarily sensitive to everything - rider position, leg aids.. just not the bit

He doesnt respect the contact, and so even in flatwork when he gets excited its very difficult for him to calm down and listen.

Bits - at the moment reverted back to snaffle. any poll action puts his head on the floor! I dont believe it is a bitting problem, just a behaviour/attitude thing.

Thankyou, i'd be grateful for all suggestions. i really need to help my horse to improve his future prospects, and make sure he will have a nice home when i can no longer have him.
 
I am sure that you have checked back, teeth, tack etc but it might be worth a second look over those just to ensure he isn't running from something sore.

Then I would do gridwork, gridwork, gridwork oh and some polework.

The carol Mailer book on gridwork is very good (and it has a section on horses that rush)
 
is he like this XC or just SJ? TBH i would recommend enlisting the help of a really good BSJA trainer who you can work with over a range of grids. my friend has a mare which used to sound like yours and now it is awesome (jumps DC newcomers) but this is because she spent like 2 years doing loads of grids and tricky stuff in her lessons. whereabouts you based?
 
if you have access to indoor school i would try to loose jump him start with poles (in a lane) and then one x pole then x to another x and build him up to a grid. make sure the striding is right for his size, try to keep him slow and let him work it out for himself. they really enjoy this and makes their brains work. i would lunge quietly to warm up before starting loose, you will also need another helper. have fun
 
My bsja trainer made me get really strict with my horse - He didn't particularly rush fences, but I realised I had been just letting him take me around courses and he wasn't letting me ride him. He had to walk, trot and canter exactly when I said, not when he felt like it. I started every session flexing left and right, canter-halt-reinback-canter transitions. complex jumping exercises that made him think. One exercise that really helped was to make downwards transitions before a jump at set points eg canter-trot-halt. Then rein back four steps, straight into canter for two strides to the jump.

Also, walking up to a jump with a pole placed 7 yards infront of it, asking for walk-canter transition over the pole, folled by one more canter stride then jump. Sometimes If he was getting gobby, I would halt stride or two infront of the jump, reinback 4 steps, then turn away and do something else (apparently, as long as you include the rein back, this is a valid exercise and will not teach horse to refuse). It just gets it into the horse's head that you are in charge of getting over the jumps, not him. Worked a treat for me!
 
thanks everyone! your posts are all really helpful (:

yeah hes the same XC except he doesnt have a flat jump..

I think lessons with a BSJA instructor is a great idea, not sure whos in my area though (im based in aberdeenshire)

Yes ive tried loose humping him before, pretty much same as you described but he got too excited and attempted to bounce the double, and it was a reletively long distance too..

The reinback sounds really good
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i'll definately give that a go! He really just needs to get into his head when he sees a fence he doesnt have to jump it!
 
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