knocking poles with front legs

[samerlin]

can anyone give some advice. I have a horse that is great at xc but he loves going at his speed show jumping (too fast) and is flat if I come to big spread. If I slow him down by changing his bit he then comes in too deep and knocks poles. Can jump 3'6 easily but at the same time he knocks poles even in 2'3. jumping at home is completely different only does this in competitions. I have done spreads and put placing pole in front of jump. No problem but I cant go round putting placing poles at the jumps in competitions. If I let him jump at his speed he will just get faster and faster and it is like doing point to point
any suggestions how to stop him coming in to deep and knocking poles. Have done a sj season and have yet to get a clear round.
advice please.........................

 

[Doreys_Mum]

you need a comprimise - he needs the speed as momentum but not too much that he's in control.

Practise making him go over small jumps, about 1-2 depending on what you consider small, at varius paces and changing the distance away you ask for each pace.

Theoretically, horses could jump from a walk if it was active, so if he can't manage it in trot or canter, you are deffo holding him back too much. On the other hand, it's not nice to be tanked off with over fences!

 

[Bossanova]

It sounds to me (although it's very difficult without seeing the horse) as though you're not able to get a shorter canter without holding onto his mouth so you have to be on his mouth coming into fences= horse not able to bring its front end up.

Practise having a more active but slower canter on the flat by balancing him with your seat, not your hand. Once you can keep a better canter on the flat, introduce a single upright- circle before, get the nice canter tyhen approach the fence and try to keep it the same the whole way in. After the fence circle again to re-establish the canter. Halt transitions may be what you need after the jump just to get him thinking.

 

[Thistle]

Forget the jumps for a while and work on the canter. Put 2 poles out, 5 horse strides apart, approx 18 - 20 m depending on your horse. Practice coming through them at 4, 5, or 6 strides. Once you can open and close his canter on demand whilst keeping his bum under him by using your seat rather than your hands, introduce a jump on the other side of the school. Forget the jump and just ride the canter to the jump.

Remember jumping is just dressage with speed bumps, it's your job to get him to the jump in a balanced canter and his to jump it when you get there.

 

[Rambo]

You need to turn the speed into energy. If you can shorten the horse while maintaining the strength of the canter you will be halfway there. I would also suggest plenty of grids / bounces to encourage the horse to snap up quicker. Ultimately, some horses are more careful than others, but you should be able to improve his performance regardless

 

[goeslikestink]

back to basics and school him-- simple dressage movements asre needed and collecting the horse up then grid work and small jumps and poles
oh and having a pole before and after the jump will help him to break the rushing

 

[goeslikestink]

pole after jump should be a cnater stride away

 

[Thistle]

just a safety point here. Poles on the floor should be planks or square poles that can't roll. (had a horse do a check ligament catching a pole and rolling it)