Making a horse jump from BOTH hind legs

[Bubblebutt]

Hi guys,
I was videoing my horse today jumping down a grid (3x trot poles, 2xbounces to a 1stride oxer). When I slow motioned it he wasn't sitting back on his hock to jump, it was like he was just cantering them. He is only young so I didn't want to build too big! X pole going in (on blocks) to a block height vertical to an oxer not much bigger. How will I get him to sit back to jump and not just canter/plod over them?

 

[Mike007]

Ah yes ,"the hoof of death" as we know it with Bob the nota cob. Bob has a tendancy to canter over fences without jumping them and when you are built like a tank and 17 2 (across the sholders) Every fence is capable of being knocked down,and anything up to abot 80 cm is no more than a pole on the ground. We , the collective brains trust here at Bob the nota cob HQ have puzzled over what to do. We think that it is an instincive "default mode" when he is unsure.Oddly enough ,over any fence with some brush, he tucks up nicely and jumps like a demented stag. But anything solid and we tend to get the hoof of death (leed fore leg of a canter stride smacking up the face of the fence).Dont try to do too much too soon,young horses need time to grow mentaly into their bodies. They are like gangly uncoordinated teenage humans. You do need to reinforce good tecniques without throwing in too many mental challenges. I think (actualy I am not that clever but merely stole the good idea) that high angle cross poles encourage good tecnique without unduely penalising clumsyness .(Clumsyness is to be expected and should not be punnished , the horse will learn and correct this himself)

 

[be positive]

He may not yet be strong enough to push off evenly give him some time to build up, my physio is pretty hot on this as a sign of correct development and that all is well in the back/ hind legs, it may be worth having a check done if you are concerned but it may be that once he strengthens he starts to push off or that he is just not trying that hard as the fences are still small.
I am usually more bothered by what the front legs are doing at the early stage, if they snap up well in front that keeps me fairly happy.

 

[Fides]

Put them up

My mare will treat any cross pole as trotting poles and will not jump them because she doesn't need to (unless they go up above 65cm). Uprights a little bigger and she has no issues...

First time loose jumped ever - trotted it

So l got on and still trotted it

To be honest it became a bit of a habit...

A teeny bit more to think about and we get this...

First jump with me :}

 

[showpony]

Try some grid work! They have to push from behind to get enough impulsion!

 

[shampain]

Lots of gridwork & make sure that he's really going forward properly coming into them and doesn't lose impulsion as he travels through the grid. If you don't want to build them too high, maybe just use high cross poles to encourage him to pick his feet up a bit more?
To be frank, I know a 19hh wb x tb who, though perfectly capable, just doesn't bother 80% of the time with showjumps. Like Mike007's horse, anything with brush/out hunting he'll leap, but poles? Naahh. His forelegs tend to come down before the hind legs have even left the ground unless the jump is upwards of about 90cm. Whilst I'm sure that your lad will learn to jump more as he becomes stronger and more confident, it is true that some horses just never really seem to be overly bothered by jumping 'properly'.

 

[siennamum]

I think it is really important to get this a good jump established. The answer is polework. Teach horse to work over canter poles correctly and ensure you keep a placing pole in front of what you are jumping as much as possible. A good trainer should be able to use exercises with poles & canter work to help nip this in the bud.