knocking jumps with back feet

[Horse_mad07]

My horse will happily jump up to 3'6" at home and doesnt usually knock one down unless either of us mess up but at shows he has started to take jumps down with his back feet. At the last few shows ive been to hes managed to have at least one down in each class but its been up to 6 down (although we still came 3rd!)

What do you think could be going wrong and is there any schooling i could do to help sort this out?

 

[virtual]

Does he get particularly excited at shows? Or do you go faster than normal? He might be loosing concentration if he's excited by the buzz of a show, and going faster than you usually would might cause him to flatten over the jumps and have them down.

Also do you use the same tack for competitions as you do at home?

 

[lorenababbit]

Also make sure worrying about it hasnt made you keep a slightly too firm hold over the fence, that s a prime cause particualrly if you are small and he is big

 

[Hollyhorse]

Sometimes if you 'snap' back into the saddle too quickly over a jump it doesn't allow the horse time to bring their back feet high up over the fence and clear it. Try folding and staying out of the saddle for a split second longer and see if that helps. It could be that at a competition you more aware of looking for your next fence etc cos everything happens so much faster. Might help!

 

[igglepiggle]

Make sure that you are giving with your hands to let him stretch. I sometimes get nervous and don't realise I am clinging onto him, and he has poles down with back legs as he can't stretch enough, similar to Hollyhorse's pot really