Knocking SJ poles down help and advice needed???

BarmyC

BarmyC

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Hi all

Dont know if this is in the right place of not but im sure someone will be able to help me.

Im riding a 6yo tb at the moment and he is jumping well but doesnt seem to be happy to leave the sj ring with all poles in their cups.

He has brilliant scope and when he jumps can clear 3ft with 3ft to spare but always seems to have one pole down.

Is there anyway that i can get him to pick his feet up over every jump?

Im getting really frustrated as you can well imagine is it a case of time or is there some schooling tip that you can tell me. He has come so far in his jumping since last august when he used to just tank off with me and jump at 150mph now its more like 50mph lol but its getting there.

Please help
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I have tried that and have no luck i would normally take a horse hunting to make it learn to look after itself etc... but in this case he is an exracer and this would completely blow his mind.

i have just moved him up to jumping 3ft and he seems to have more respect for the bigger jumps but still has a pole down. I dont want to push him up another level just yet because i dont want to overface him as he can lose his confidence really easily.
 
yeah i do a lot of grids and he goes through them well with out a problem have started to do small bouncers with him and he can clear them no prob

Most of the time at home he is a lot less responsive and messes about more so had the odd one down but when he is out he is a completely different horse. He seems to be taken out of his comfort zone and so listens to me more and relies on me to reassure him.

I just dont know how to get him to pick his feet up.
 
Do you put boots on him? If you do take them off or use open fronted ones.

It may just be he is a little distracted when hes out with all the new things around him, therefore paying less attention to the jumps. I am sure in time, with some more outings he will settle and the jumps will stay up.

Just keep up the grid work perhaps give him a little tap either on the shoulder if hes knocking with the front legs or behind is hes knocking with those.
 
If the horse only has one pole down - then its probably you causing the problem not the horse

Are you sure you are not putting in the odd half halt too late to attempt to steady him?

I'd get some lessons with someone good who can point out your problems (soul destroying as that is....)
 
He used to wear full wrap around boots then i changed to open fronts and left the back ones off and now i jump him without with the hope that he might give himself a knock and it makes no difference.

Im as confused as my friend was watching him on sat and he doesnt kick his back legs out over a jump he just tucks them up so they are nearly in his belly. I dont know if this is just something that will happen in time...?

have had lessons with Vicky Gosling.

I am a rider that doesnt interfere with his striding at the moment as i want him to learn to see his strides and i feel that if i was to interfere with him it might ruin his confidence.

 
What is his flatwork like? How balanced is he? Do you get to each fence at the correct stride etc? Is his canter good quality? Showjumping is 90% flatwork so it might be worht going back to basics if there are improvements you can make there. Especially as it sounds like he's quite keen - if he's going too fast and jumping flat then he will have poles down until you correct this.
 
His flatwork is generally quite good he can get 70% in a prelim dressage test and he goes round in a good rhythm now unlike last summer.

He is slowly getting there and not putting in any dirty stops anymore so i have that to be thankful for.
 
out of his comfort zone - so he reverts back to his well established profession - racing?

an ex racer of mine was the same for v long time, he had hurdled and when at show got excited and went fast! taking out poles here and there by flattening. you sound like your going the right way with the grids, yes get some lessons, and as you say he might be best staying at 3ft out at comps till hes comfortable. 'A' frames and making myself jump a lot more from trot helped me
 

No what i mean is that when he is out at a show he is much better behaved. sorry if i didnt make that clear.

think i might try some aframes and see what happens.

He can do most jumps from a trot but as this is what i spent most of last year doing i have moved on and concentrated on a good canter rhythm should i go back to trot?

at least it sounds like im going about things the right way.
 
i just go back to trot here and their to emphasise the point to mine.

yes work on canter, ensure he has plenty of implusion, a nice rythmic 'bouncy' canter so he has the power there ready for take of
 
so helpful!! Thank you.

Will let you know how i get on..

we are out this weekend for the RC teams and i will do some aframes and trot work this week..

i know it will probably take longer than a week but it will be good to see if there is a slight difference
 
Re going back to trot - i have problems with my horse who quite frankly can be a bit lazy with his feet but in general is a good jumper. Went to a Tim Stockdale demo last year and he made a comment that you should not do fences in trot i think simply because in a competition you wouldn't do anything in trot. Sounds like he could be flattening maybe (although obviously is v difficult to tell without seeing) but maybe try sitting and holding more before the fence hence encourage him to get his hocks underneath himself and really use himself over the fence. Grid work will help aswell to encourage him to 'snap' up his legs better.

The tip that works best for me though is to hold and hold to the fence. If all else fails maybe borrow some weighted hind boots (i get the impression its his hind legs he knocks fences with?) to school in occasionally (under instruction) and then take them off, see if that helps him?

It's tricky, some horses just have a tendency to tap the odd one down - that's just horses for you though!
 
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