jumping

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pixiebee

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my pony loves jumping, he jumps very well up to about 2ft9 then anything bigger he still jumps happily but gets in very close to the jump and sort of 'hops' over it. i have jumped 3ft 6 on him before with his 'hopping' technique! how can i get him to take off a little sooner and glide over rather than hop?? he is more than capapble of jumping 3 ft but seems to back off just very slightly, is thias a confidence thing?? he is 13 now so is he too old to change or is this how he is? second question-he jumps pretty much anything at home and in the practise arena at shows, but for some reason he seems to be refusing in the ring, once he gets going he is fine! how can i help him with this and could he be nervous as he doesnt go to shows very often.
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Are you sure he's scopey enough for the height you're doing? Often ponies try to get in close because they feel they cant quite make it (ie. if they're outwith their comfort zone). If you think he's capable then have you tried using a simple placing pole before the fence? That should put him in the right place for take off. Also, Id be trying to do more spreads (not too wide though) rather than uprights since it sounds like he needs to go more across rather than just up.

It's hard to say if it's a confidence thing without seeing him jump TBH.

With the refusal thing - I would be VERY careful not to be doing too much jumping at home. When I was 9 and had my first pony I would jump him all the time (not knowing any better) and like yours, would never refuse, but as soon as we went to a show he refused all the time because he was sick to death of it I guess! He had to have a year off work due to injury and then I didnt jump him at all at home - he jumped clears out from then on!! I have 2 horses who do BE and BSJA, I jump neigher of them at home - only ever in training (once a month) or competitions (most weekends).
 
i know he is scopey enough for what im asking of him, he clears 3 ft by atlweast a foot each time and clears 3ft 6 with atleast6 inches between his feet and the pole. so that says he can do it. he also gets in very close to jumps of about 2ft6-i definately know he is scopey enough for that!! one time he jumps, he takes off too early, another too late and sometimes perfect!!! just wanted to get some consistancy really!
 
i was going to add- when i first got him about 9 yrs ago!! he jumped double clears, then he had a year or two where he was hardly ridden then in march last year was put back into full work and its only now that he refuses in the ring- although i must say im not too fussed as im too nervous about remembering the course order anyway! it doesnt help my confidence thinking he is going to refuse and im sure i dont help him.lol!
 
Rachel, I am having the same problems as you. My horse is a Warmblood, scopey 16.3hh and we were doing BN and Discovery. Over the Winter I took her indoor BSJA 4 times, the first 2 times, we got DC in BN. Then for some reason she wasn`t as forward as she used to be, and started refusing. We have since been outdoors on grass and on a surface but she just seems to stop. At first it was a run out, so I was told to smack her (as I didn`t) and carry my whip in my left hand, but now she stops at the fence.
She is good at home and has had the odd stop in the warm up area, but it is in the ring where our problem is. We went to WL a couple of months ago and in the 90cm we had a pole, then in the BN single phase, we went DC! It has just gone downhill from there. Yesterday on a surface just BN as I was so p*ssed off, we had a stop at fence 3 then stop at fence 6, elimination. I gave her a proper telling off and then she gave me 15 mins of lovely light flatwork. I have been told that I am too soft on her.

Anyway, getting back to your problem, I have decided that at home, (where we can jump up to 1.20m) she is relaxed, whereas at a show she is sooo spooky and nosey. Over the past couple of months, I have been feeding her a high energy feed and she has just got worse out at a show, as she is so spooky. When I first had her, she was so unsettled I had her on Calm for 2 years. I am guessing that the high energy feed is making her spooky and she loses concentration very easily as she is so nosey. I have cut her feed and have started to feed her a low energy mix, and get her to calm again and take her to a couple of small classes as I am getting so anxious about her stopping, yesterday I watched the video and going towards a big oxer, I collapsed forward 2 strides out!!! Needless to say that this is the one she stopped at.
What are you feeding him? Is he spooky? Does he concentrate on you?
 
sorry fogot to add, that my mare used to put in an extra stride and then struggle to get over and this was caused due to our canter not being strong enough. Now we have overcome this just by riding more positive and forward to the fence with our heels down. This is a very good tip I have recently learnt as when I have heels down and a good canter I can get us both to the fence on a good stride. When I have a ponsy canter with not a lot of energy it is hit and miss. I hope this has been of some help to you.
I will be watching this post as it could be useful to me too. Good Luck.
 
Just a thought but could it be that after a certain height you tense up more and perhaps subconsciously worry about the jump? Especially if you think he isn't going to jump it nicely, you might be affecting his canter in to the fence. What's in the brain goes down the reins & all that.
Could also be the case that when you are at shows you tense up a bit in the ring & he picks up on that.

My youngster jumps very nicely but I haven't jumped 3'+ for a while (& I'm getting older & a bit more wussy
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) & whenever a jump looks a bit more imposing I can feel myself riding differently, which isn't going to help him. So I'm concentrating on just riding the canter, keeping it consistent & rhythmical & exactly the same whether jumping 2'6" or 3'.

Using grids & placing poles might help him judge bigger fences better too.
 
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