Picking up hind legs over a jump?

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jennirosie

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My mare has gotten into a habit of either dangling her back legs or not picking up one enough to clear the fence. Even if she gets a perfect stride, she stills knocks it with her back legs. We tried gridwork and she still seemed to knock at least one fence in the grid each time. We tried raising the height just to see if she didn't respect it and she still knocked it. Are there any exercises we can do to help her pick up her back legs evenly and high enough to clear it? And are there any exercises to stop her from rushing into the fences and getting flat?
Thanks :)
 
I would be doing low wide oxers and also swedish oxers can be useful for this.

Have you tried V-poles on the front rail - whilst this exercise does help with getting them to tuck up in front I have also found that it encourages them to let go with their hind legs too :)
 
In my experience, 3 main things affect the hind legs- rider's body position over a fence, do you sit up too quickly over the top? That will cause the hind legs to drop. Hands- does the horse have plenty of freedom to complete a nice rounded jump? Quality of the canter- an even stride with plenty of power , ideally into a deeper spot to get the horse to spring up off the floor. Are the hindlegs able to do this- IE is the horse sound and supple
 
I think her canter may be holding her back since it is lovely and collected until she sees the fence, then she just takes off into a rushed, flat canter! Then this results in her dropping her hind end so we're working on her canter but I'd like some exercises too to help her😊
 
LJR said:
I would be doing low wide oxers and also swedish oxers can be useful for this.

Have you tried V-poles on the front rail - whilst this exercise does help with getting them to tuck up in front I have also found that it encourages them to let go with their hind legs too :)
Click to expand...

This is what I would be doing. Also I have occasionally put 'v' poles on the back rail of the oxer as well and have found that really makes the horses look and use themselves properly to create a lovely shape over the fence.
I would also be doing some gridwork as well to try and get them to think about where the legs are going and to be quicker in front and behind. Start of with simple grids and work up to more technical ones.
I slowly work up to my horses being able to jump quite a complicated grid which is a bounce, 1 stride to upright, 1 stride to wide oxer, 1 stride to upright, 1 stride to a bounce. None of this is ever higher than 3ft - 1m but it really gets them thinking and using themselves.
With regards to the rushing I would start with getting the horse to be able to work calmly over poles and then slowly building height. If the horse goes to rush, circle away or stop them dead in their tracks. Only let them jump if they are calm. It may take a while to get but you will get there.
 
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jennirosie said:
My mare has gotten into a habit of either dangling her back legs or not picking up one enough to clear the fence. Even if she gets a perfect stride, she stills knocks it with her back legs. We tried gridwork and she still seemed to knock at least one fence in the grid each time. We tried raising the height just to see if she didn't respect it and she still knocked it. Are there any exercises we can do to help her pick up her back legs evenly and high enough to clear it? And are there any exercises to stop her from rushing into the fences and getting flat?
Thanks :)
Click to expand...

A descending oxer (offset oxer) helps with lifting hind legs, whereas an ascending oxer helps with lifting of shoulders and encourages a better bascule. Grid work is better done on a shorter distance, I use 7 and 11 striding for my horse (one none jumping and two none jumping strides respectively).

A shorter distance encourages them to lift their shoulders more. You can incorporate a pole between the fence to make it into a bounce which will help slow her down.

I do a lot of grid work with my horse. The only thing you have to be careful of is that when you compete in a competition the distance of 24.6 (typical distance between a one none jumping stride double) will be longer for the horse if you have been doing a lot of work at home over shortened distances and you will need to approach the fence a little stronger in order to alter the horses stride sufficiently enough to allow it to make the distance (if that makes sense).

I usually do a grid of about five or six fences, typically I will do a bounce to a one stride, to a two stride, or a bounce to three one strides. Sometimes on the last jump I add a back pole to make it into a spread. Sometimes I add a bounce at the end of the grid as he is very experienced at grid work and finds it easy.

A word of caution - descending oxers can be difficult for a horse to judge so it may be better for you to start with a small one first and see how you get on. High cross poles so the 'V' is steep may work just as well and will encourage snapping up on hind legs.
 
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Not many horses want to keep knocking and hurting their hind legs each time they jump. There is some good exercises above, but perhaps pin-pointing exactly what is wrong would help with a solution :)

Has she always rushed her fences? Has she always knocked them with her hindlegs or is this a new thing?
Could she be sore somewhere, which would cause her to not round properly, which would cause her to hit her legs and get more pain, which would make her rush etc.
Is she stressed about distances/heights/ something else (i had one mare that rushed because of bad past memories and was fine when she got her confidence back).
Does she knock her hindlegs if she loose schools over jumps (if not, then consider if you are doing something to affect her bascule).
Does she rush over poles on the ground at canter and very small jumps, if so then consider going back to the beginning and sorting out this before putting the jumps up.

I would 1. check for pain/
2. check if it is a rider problem
3. get a good trainer who can help pinpoint why she is rushing, and who can help you fix it (assuming it is not pain-related, then get vet etc.).

Good luck :)
 
Swedish oxers coming out of a grid is a good way of improving hind leg technique.
We where doing this over the weekend two uprights to a Swedish oxer one stride then two to the oxer.
However training the canter is usually the best way to help technique .
 
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