Jumping problem on approach

nelgonde

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This must be really common but unsure of solution.

Approaching jump, horse tries to accelerate, rider keeps hold of front end, horse objects and turns concentration from jump to fighting the bit, ugly jump if he sees jump at all!

Horse is in the bit he accepts best in the dressage (myler) with martigale/market h.

Any ideas?
 

Helena88

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most of all dont try to get into a fight with the horse - you're not going to win!, get him to slow in other ways? like grids or poles into the fence, turn shorter into the fence, approach in trot, just keep him thinking...
 

KatB

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Lots of pole and grid work, I would personally not use market harborough as it gives them something to fight against. My trainer is adament if that becomes a prob, you should keep your hands forward and soft with very little contact going into the fence, so the horse has nothing to fight against and can concentrate on the fence. Takes some guts, but horse soon stops pulling, and my trainers a 4* eventer so does know what hes talking about (unfortunately!!!) Lol!!
 

siennamum

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hiya stranger hope you are well.
Sienna is terrible like this, and still argues if she's excited. I think tons of poles are the best solution. Long term it can also be a matter of trying bits till one comes along which allows you to control the pace without having ears in your face.
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Shrimp

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Keep his mind occupied by varying what you do like Helena said. My horse used to be the same, saw a jump and was off and we ending up fighting. I kept in trot for a long time untill he stopped rushing and did lots of gridwork. Try making the jumps more spooky so he backs himself off a bit and thinks about what hes doing. Also, after the fence, try and stop straight away in a straight line so he learns to listen and come back to you but never stop before a fence. Gradually he will learn to listen and stop rushing as my horse did though I was starting from the beginning with mine and I dont know your horses history of jumping.
 

cazcrazyjonty

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Hi sounds a lot like Monty as soon as you got near any type of fence he was off and if you have seen pics of him he is mighty strong. I can only just hold him in a cheltemham Gag. Anyway i stuck to flatwork for a few months got his flatwork good then i did gridwork but it still didnt seem to work so i went to a show jump trainer and he got on him and he didnt even go over a fence because he couldnt hold the canter and was very unbalanced no matter what i did in flatwork i couldnt get the Canter anyway. Show jump trainer says lunge him with fairly tight side reins on the sides to start with then put the between the legs and canter him on a small 10 metre circle until he get the idea anyway 2 weeks later I took him bk and he said he was a huge inprovement. you might of seen the video a week or 2 ago well now he is jumping calm and quite nice but the true test will be on sunday when we do a course will this system works fantasticly on him hope this helps. Caz x x x x x x x x x
 

Peanot

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[ QUOTE ]
My trainer is adamant that if it becomes a prob, you should keep your hands forward and soft with very little contact going into the fence, so the horse has nothing to fight against and can concentrate on the fence. Takes some guts, but horse soon stops pulling, and my trainers a 4* eventer so does know what hes talking about (unfortunately!!!) Lol!!

[/ QUOTE ]

This is what I had to learn. My horse used to turn into a fence sideways and when we were 2 strides away, I`d turn her towards the fence so that she could see it. She also used to race away from them too.
I managed to stop her by riding her in her own field and she was so relaxed that when I put a fence up, she cantered towards it and I had a light rein and she had nothing to fight against, so she slowed down. I now have to use leg towards a fence.
A couple of days ago I had a jumping lesson and I was asked to hold her in short into the fence and then make 7 short strides to the next. So I held onto her and guess what, the next 2 jumps were very rushed and pulling. So I went back to a normal jump and just had a nice even contact and she went back to being good again.
The quote above, sounds like my instructor too.
 

cazcrazyjonty

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Quote "My trainer is adamant that if it becomes a prob, you should keep your hands forward and soft with very little contact going into the fence, so the horse has nothing to fight against and can concentrate on the fence. Takes some guts, but horse soon stops pulling, and my trainers a 4* eventer so does know what hes talking about (unfortunately!!!) Lol!! "

Thats equactly what i had to learn too its so hard cos you get starting to think what is he gonna do but it works just just sit there hand forward and soft and keep the legs on to keep the canter and then hopefully jump out of ur stride.
smile.gif
 

Peanot

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Also, I forgot to add, a friend had this problem with a young horse she bought last year. Her instructor didn`t know what to tell her to do so she told my friend to sell it before it killed her.
crazy.gif

But she persevered and she rode it twice a day for 20 mins just walking over poles. She did this for about a month, then when horse was walking calmly, she trotted over them and had to do this for about another 2 weeks, then cantered, then put a x-pole up. She did it gradually and now she has got all 4 clear rounds in the British Novice and has been placed and won one, and she has got 2nd and 5th in discovery.
So in this instance it definately paid off. So as everyone has said, lots of pole work.
I also posted something similar a couple of days ago which was something on the Tim Stockdale dvd.
A rushing horse on his dvd was in the troubleshooting bit and so he got a small jump and put canter poles up -4 poles in front of jump. When horse was going well he took away the pole nearest to the jump, then the next and so on until the last pole was about 4 strides away. This worked.
 

Patchwork

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I can't remember who the trainer was but I watched this approach being demonstrated very successfully at a PC instructors' training day - the pony had been held whilst rushing into fences not looking at them properly (XC) so had messed up the striding and hit several quite hard and the rider had lost confidence and would only jump from trot, resulting in more awkward jumps and refusals. The instructor got her cantering round the whole course out of the saddle with her hands forward, not interfering with the pony in any way, and suddenly they were meeting the fence accurately in a rhythm and jumping happily and cleanly. It was quite spectacular to watch the change.
 

nelgonde

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Thanks for the responses.

TBH I normally just like to soften my hands when I see a stride. This horse does accelerate when you do that. Probably because he's a 5yo TB bred to race. So I think doing nothing is not an option.

He does lots of gridwork from trot where he's fine, ditto jump at xc speed and spooky fences.

The good solutions in my case I think will be shortening/varying the approach, more interesting jumps and working more to improve the canter. Along with minimising the resistance,

Thanks again
smile.gif


I
 

Toby_Zaphod

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Horses rush fences for several reasons, they are either nervous & unsure or they are unbalances or a combination of both. It is important that your horse has an established canter stride. The jump is just an extension on that stride. If you initially abandon jumping (your horse won't forget what to do) annd concentrate on the canter. Do loads of leg yielding which will encourage him to bring his hocks underneath him. This will give him balance & also uncourage him to engage himself properly & increase power. When you have done this do canter circles, spiraling in & then out, again to improve balance. The do short transitions up & down. Then & only then go back to jumping with a placing pole & reletively small jumps. Gradually increas the size & then remove the placing pole. As a previous poster has said when you land bring him to a halt in a straight line & alternate turning him either right or left, This encourages him to listen to you. Eventually you will have a balanced horse who does not get excited when approaching & leaving a jump. He'll also generate more power & you'll be surprised what he is capable of clearing. Goo Luck
 

LEC

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I have found stopping my horse in front of the fence a really good solution. He will argue with you and either go to fast or drop from the leg and I find by pulling him up it teaches him that this is not acceptable. If he does not argue we continue and jump. I approach every time as if expecting to jump and if we get this arguing he is ground to a halt. I have also moved my horse up a bit - normally I ride him in a rubber snaffle but SJ he has a french link hanging cheek. This is after a lesson with Jo who says she still has to do it every now and again with her advanced horse.
 
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