my horse does not respect poles

[mandwhy]

I am trying to incorporate a bit of polework and small jumps with my horse's schooling as she is very easily bored and needs as much variety as possible! Her last owner said she likes jumping but I only saw video of teeny tiny crosspoles, but that's fine as I am not particularly keen on jumping.

She certainly gets switched on when I take her into an area with a few poles, so I guess she does find them interesting. We have done small crosspoles with another horse there too, but it was mostly stepping over.

Now I have tried with some big wooden poles, < eta on the ground first then a small jump>, she seems to not respect them at all, given the chance she will literally stop, paw down the jump or bash the pole, stomp over then try to reverse! I decided it would be better to do some in hand and we got her doing trotting poles quite well with the aid of a treat or two, and over a small straight (less than 1ft) where she did start to jump albeit with not much bother over where her hind legs end up (previously she would half jump with the front and smash through with the hinds).

I'm just wondering if anyone could give me some tips and any exercises that might help introduce her to this work? She is 6 by the way so I believe she is perfectly capable of what I am asking, if quite babyish in attitude at times.

She is a very stubborn mare and does not lunge very well (work in progress) so I don't think that would work at the moment. She seems to appreciate me being on the ground next to her when we do something new, but can do ridden as well (bearing in mind I have not jumped for a while and do not do great heights!).

I expect she would jump over more solid objects e.g. small barrels but I would worry she would hurt herself as she has already tripped and trodden on the poles several times!

Any tips welcome!

 

[cobwithattitude]

I can only sympathise - I have a mare, who I have not had very long that is exactly the same - she has got better, if I ride her positively and with impulsion. If not, she just does not take off in some cases and just runs through the fence. We are now jumping 2' 6" but it has dented my confidence - she will do the same on the lunge too. I am not trying xc until we have developed more impulsion towards fences and I am riding better. I am about to start having regular jumping lessons, instead of ad hoc to see if thei will help our technique. It is very frustrating and like you I do not want to cause her any injury.

 

[AmyMay]

Give her sometjing to actually jump.

 

[JulesRules]

My horse is the same with no respect for poles. If she isn't in the mood she just ploughs straight through everything, although she can jump really well when she is in the mood. This is not good as I want to do xc!

Today I built a small grid with a tiny cross pole, then a stride to two small verticals with a bounce between and then a stride to a baby spread. I started her off with one jump, then two etc. By the time I added the 4th jump she was trying really hard and concentrating and did all four with nothing down. I didn't necessarily get her to respect it any more, but it definitely got her focused and trying. Might be worth a go trying something similar?

I will be watching this thread with interest for ideas how to get her respecting jumps more...Forgot to say that a few jumping lesson s have really helped us

 

[snooples]

Do you have a horse that could maybe go in front and she could get a lead off, sometimes they just dont really get what is being asked so having a horse in front might make her realise what you want!

 

[DabDab]

Umm, not sure from the OP what you have tried so far -
loose jumping with bigger fences?
Raised trot poles?
Long reining over trot poles (or long reining in general)?

 

[mandwhy]

I can only sympathise - I have a mare, who I have not had very long that is exactly the same - she has got better, if I ride her positively and with impulsion. If not, she just does not take off in some cases and just runs through the fence. We are now jumping 2' 6" but it has dented my confidence - she will do the same on the lunge too. I am not trying xc until we have developed more impulsion towards fences and I am riding better. I am about to start having regular jumping lessons, instead of ad hoc to see if thei will help our technique. It is very frustrating and like you I do not want to cause her any injury.

Well I'm glad there are other horses like this (although doesn't help either of us!) I just haven't really seen a horse not be bothered, you'd think it would hurt a bit for one thing! She can be very nappy and slow but has come on leaps and bounds in that respect, in fact I mainly wanted to start doing this as I thought it would razz her up a bit - she gets super forward and enthusiastic when she sees the poles, then when she has to do stuff with them she's like 'oh no, effort'! I expect it's just because she knows they will fall down but I don't fancy XC without a bit of preparation!

Give her sometjing to actually jump.

OK, so do you mean just up the height? I do realise she knows she doesn't HAVE to jump it! I thought making it wider would probably help or using fillers of some kind.

My horse is the same with no respect for poles. If she isn't in the mood she just ploughs straight through everything, although she can jump really well when she is in the mood. This is not good as I want to do xc!

Today I built a small grid with a tiny cross pole, then a stride to two small verticals with a bounce between and then a stride to a baby spread. I started her off with one jump, then two etc. By the time I added the 4th jump she was trying really hard and concentrating and did all four with nothing down. I didn't necessarily get her to respect it any more, but it definitely got her focused and trying. Might be worth a go trying something similar?

I will be watching this thread with interest for ideas how to get her respecting jumps more...Forgot to say that a few jumping lesson s have really helped us

Yes without a doubt I need to have lessons as it has been soooo long since I have done any jumping! I have been having lessons anyway for flatwork so I can do that, I just wanted to make a start and TBH expected her excitement to transfer to actual effort haha! Gridwork could be a good idea, I was actually just reading an article about polework that suggested a 'course' of poles, perhaps two poles, space, a jump, etc... She is the same in that she will literally barge through without blinking if she doesn't want to!

 

[Lolo]

What does your instructor think? Is it a case of her really not understanding the question maybe? What does she do when she's not under saddle over fences? Is she good with pole work and raised poles?

 

[AmyMay]

OK, so do you mean just up the height? I do realise she knows she doesn't HAVE to jump it! I thought making it wider would probably help

Yes. Give her a jump to actually jump.

 

[mandwhy]

Do you have a horse that could maybe go in front and she could get a lead off, sometimes they just dont really get what is being asked so having a horse in front might make her realise what you want!

Yes I do have a few friends with horses who jump, so maybe that would be worth a try. When we were jumping before it was with a TB who was also learning as she has been a racer/happy hacker and now has a young girl who likes jumping - I think there was definitely more enthusiasm but I was quite nervous at I didn't know what to expect so that probably didn't help - I guess I don't need to worry about her over-jumping it!

Umm, not sure from the OP what you have tried so far -
loose jumping with bigger fences?
Raised trot poles?
Long reining over trot poles (or long reining in general)?

I would like to try loose jumping but since she doesn't lunge well and likes to nap I am not sure if we would get anywhere! Still, worth a try! I have not really tried long reining as it's all to do with her understanding she doesn't need to be glued to my side or have me on her to move... it's easier said than done bless her (she works in hand very well)! We can lunge in walk with a bit of trot now, so I think I will give that a try, thank you

 

[starryeyed]

I agree that it's maybe a good idea to try raising the jump so that she physically has to try and launch herself over it rather than just walking through - perhaps put some kind of filler at the bottom (like little cones or something harmless that won't cause trouble if she does crash through).

 

[DabDab]

I would like to try loose jumping but since she doesn't lunge well and likes to nap I am not sure if we would get anywhere! Still, worth a try! I have not really tried long reining as it's all to do with her understanding she doesn't need to be glued to my side or have me on her to move... it's easier said than done bless her (she works in hand very well)! We can lunge in walk with a bit of trot now, so I think I will give that a try, thank you

If you build a 'tunnel' down one side of the school (hard to explain, maybe do a search on youtube), then you can lead her round to it, start her trotting in hand and then let go as you reach the tunnel and have someone ready with a lunge whip to keep pushing her on down the tunnel. Only if she's not the type to try and kick out at you when you let go though. Once she gets the idea it should be pretty easy to push her down the tunnel and you can put the jumps up so that she actually has to do something (start with poles on the floor down the tunnel).

 

[mandwhy]

What does your instructor think? Is it a case of her really not understanding the question maybe? What does she do when she's not under saddle over fences? Is she good with pole work and raised poles?

I have not used poles in a lesson yet but will do (I am borrowing them from a friend and need to get my own!) it's more the polework I am interested in at the mo than the jumping really and she just does not care if she hits them which I am just not sure how to remedy! she'll walk on them, kick them back or forth as she walks/trots, if it's a jump she'll go into/through the jump.

To be honest I think with the polework she knows what to do (strangely enough she does it quite well if I do it in hand with a couple of treats in my pocket), with the jumping I don't think she does, I think it worries her a little bit so lessons will be good

Yes. Give her a jump to actually jump.

OK, I'll up the height a bit and make it wider.

 

[mandwhy]

I agree that it's maybe a good idea to try raising the jump so that she physically has to try and launch herself over it rather than just walking through - perhaps put some kind of filler at the bottom (like little cones or something harmless that won't cause trouble if she does crash through).

Yes I like the idea of little cones, something she might be put off by but not hurt herself on!

If you build a 'tunnel' down one side of the school (hard to explain, maybe do a search on youtube), then you can lead her round to it, start her trotting in hand and then let go as you reach the tunnel and have someone ready with a lunge whip to keep pushing her on down the tunnel. Only if she's not the type to try and kick out at you when you let go though. Once she gets the idea it should be pretty easy to push her down the tunnel and you can put the jumps up so that she actually has to do something (start with poles on the floor down the tunnel).

Yes I know what you mean I think, trouble is lunge whip or anything like that will have no effect, hence why lungeing can be troublesome, I mean you could literally hit her with it (not that I would), probably on the head! She'd just look at you like 'you are a mild annoyance'... however I think perhaps if I set up a polyjump with a lane at the side, then I could be on the outside of the lane and she could be in it, then I could still lead her without having to jump it myself! I don't mind the running around (good exercise) but the bigger ones are a big of a struggle as I am not a horse :-D

 

[DabDab]

Yes I know what you mean I think, trouble is lunge whip or anything like that will have no effect, hence why lungeing can be troublesome, I mean you could literally hit her with it (not that I would), probably on the head! She'd just look at you like 'you are a mild annoyance'... however I think perhaps if I set up a polyjump with a lane at the side, then I could be on the outside of the lane and she could be in it, then I could still lead her without having to jump it myself! I don't mind the running around (good exercise) but the bigger ones are a big of a struggle as I am not a horse :-D

Oh, I have one like that, though fortunately mine enjoys the work, so once he knows what I'm after he does it all quite willingly. But the groundwork before backing him did involve a lot of me getting bright red in the face while he looked at the whip as it it was something that might possibly offer him a carrot :rolleyes3:. Lunging/freeschooling him these days is like pushing buttons though - I can't remember the last time I picked up a lunge whip - so there is hope

 

[JFTDWS]

Loose school, down a channel if needs be, over heights she would have to actually jump (though I'd start with a x). Get her moving forward without any interference from a rider / tack and assess whether it's an understanding and technique issue, or something else.

 

[AmyMay]

OK, I'll up the height a bit and make it wider.

You don't need width - just a jump.

 

[ridefast]

I had a pony like that years ago, tried to do it gently with trotting poles and then raised trotting poles and little jumps but he literally crashed through it all. In the end I just put up a decent jump and rode him at it - he jumped!

 

[Potato!]

My gelding is like this in a school. Out hunting though he jumps really well.

 

[HBM1]

I wouldn't use cones as fillers with a youngster who is not a competent jumper. I actually wouldn't use them at all. I agree with loose jumping first..not on a lunge, but completely free. She needs to learn how to judge distances and height without being restricted.
Make the jumps fair too, eg make sure you have the distance between ground pole and jump correct.
I agree with AmyMay too..my youngster turns his nose up at small jumps but switches on when they're bigger (he is 16.3 though).
They can't really learn on things they can so easily step over. Just be careful not to over face either though.

 

[undergroundoli]

My boyfriend just wandered over, looked at the title and said in total seriousness 'does it matter? What about Lithuanians? Maybe send it to Poland.'

 

[Caol Ila]

Loose school (at first) over a vertical that consists of a single pole set at around 2ft with something like a hoodie sweatshirt thrown over it. I have seen a few fail to grasp the concept of jumping over poles when you can crash through or try to step/fall over them, but they suddenly find enlightenment when it looks like a solid fence.

 

[JulesRules]

My horse was bred in Poland but still doesn't respect Poles lol