Purposely stopping your horse before and after a jump?

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Benefice1

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My horse has a tendancy to really rush when SJ, he sees a jump throws his head in the air and launches towards the jump, we then shoot off straight afterwards as well.

His flat work is very good and i think it is mainly down to excitement.

I have heard that purposely stopping your horse before and after a jump can help.

My question is...and it may sound daft....but when you stop before a jump where do you stop and then do you turn away from the jump or do you then jump it?

Also do people think this is a good idea? thanks
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It is quite common to pull a horse up a few strides before or a few strides after a fence if they rush. Other methods to addresss the problem are putting canter poles either side of the fence too. The pulling up method can appear quite severe, but if done correctly can be very effective.
 
There was a post on this a while ago will see if I can find it.
It does work but has to be done properly.
 
You could maybe try schooling him on the flat while there are jumps up in the arena but not jumping them? Have been taught the method of halting after the jump. Had a jump/grid on the centre line and been told ride at the arena fence and try to halt in front of it.
 
We have a similar problem with maddy, she sees a jump and just takes off. It may be slightly unsound logic but i'd worry that stopping them before a jump would encourage any tendency to refuse, circling in front of it seems to help a little, or making them think about it a bit more, like some gridwork or something.
 
I tried this with my mare in our last jumping session and it seemed to work quite well. I stopped her as soon as i felt her start to rush, turned her away and then approached the fence again.

Only thing with her is that she is too clever for her own good and when she felt the urge to rush she put on the brakes and through her dummies out of her pram until i calmed her down again LOL.
 
thanks spacemolly, he will happily school around fences without a problem and the first couple of jumps arent too bad but the more we do the worse he then gets. Did you find halting after the jump worked?
 
I had this sort of problem with my girl. We did grids grids and more grids, also doing very small jumps from walk and trot. I have never stopped her before a jumped but have done after a jump. I found that alot of her rushing was also down to my position. When i had gone over a jump and wanted her to halt i found looking forwards at an object where you wanted to halt really worked. I know i haven't explained this very well but it worked wonders for us.
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thanks spacemolly, he will happily school around fences without a problem and the first couple of jumps arent too bad but the more we do the worse he then gets. Did you find halting after the jump worked?

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Can I ask, where is your weight in between fences ? Do you keep your weight out of the saddle, or do you come back into the sitting position ? It sounds like the horse may just be getting more and more onto the forehand as the round progresses and you may just need to be a bit 'sharper' in picking the horse up on landing
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lol i can imagine my boy doing exactly the same, if he doesnt get to do what he wants to then he has a pad, nothing major will just through his head around and bounce! The trick is to make him think he is doing what he wants but in actual fact he is doing what i want!
 
I come back into the sitting position and try and bring him back but i think you are right i do need to be a bit quicker after landing but it is a struggle. the more i 'interfere' with him the more he forgets what he is supposed to be doing and then we send poles flying!
 
Depends on your horse, but I had a mare who did the same, we jumped her over one smallish jump on a 30m circle, first in trot, and then in canter untill she began to slow herself down and obviously find it easier as she slowed down. we tried the stopping before and after but that made her worse!
 
hi i currently have a horse that does the same, rushes his fences then hollows and ends up having a pole down. Be it 2' or 3,9 but he never ever refused or ran out.
I had one instructor that said stop him before the jump, all it taught him was to refuse. Another instructor encouraged me to circle, all that taught him was to run out.
he will now run out at the last second and refuse. Have had a few incidents of him being committed ie lifting front feet then suddenly putting feet down and stopping therefore demolishing jump.

Wouldn't recommend either of them if you have an intelligent forward going horse. Am currently working with another instructor (different ideas) and so far it is working but I have yet to take him to a competition.
 
sounds like you have had a tough time of it, hope you are now on the right track.

I think im going to try and do lots of grid work with him, get his brain thinking which will hopefully steady him up a bit!?
 
ok, well my mare was exactly the same, she charges. I never used the stop/circle beofre or after a fence, i just used to hang onto her mouth trying to slow, bringing her head up so she would fight against me and rush more of stop as she couldnt see what she was doing, i had one lesson with instructor who told me to let her go and not hold her head, it worked, she had to think about it and she doesnt rush as much as she can see where to put her feet and she has realised that rushing is just going to get her into trouble. Also in a lesson i had, we had a pole infront of the jump, walkied into it and trotted about a stride or 2 before and popped in, then as it grew bigger, we made sure that she stayed in trot, did not rush/canter, if i had troubles, instructor would stand infront of the fence until the last minute when i was about to trample her down, which backed mare off. Also i have found she tends to rush at normal fences at home and then when we go out to a competition and in the ring, she will back of so much i almost have to kick her on! so try using fillers and things that may back of your horse. It works with oakey
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I have to say I use this method when P gets to fast and it really works for us.

I actually only did this execrise on Sunday, P was jumping fine to start off with but then started to rush his fences so i asked him to half once or twice before his fence. I then started asking him to halt after his fence because he started to run off, it only takes once or twice of me asking for him to realise what I want and then he calms down.

I only ever use this method over a small crosspole or a training fence and for us it works. It may be because he is used to the exercise now but as I say once I ask for it originally he understands what I am asking.

So if done correctly, I find it very usefull
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My horse (for some reason) is very reactive to me saying 'whoa' on the flat (and galloping out hunting/on the beach). If I say it on the approach to a fence it steadies him just enough to re-focus his attention on me. He is an enthusiastic jumper and they all switch onto the fence and off the rider, rather than wait to be told/allowed. It's his saving grace!

Perhaps try using it it downwards transitions from canter to walk. I have to be very careful as it can be instantaneous. I'm still not sure why he is so obedient to the command.
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I wouldn't ever do the stopping before because I would be worried that it would teach them to refuse but i have used stopping after a jump and it really seemed to make her think. We started off stopping after a trotting pole and then gradually raised it off the ground until she was jumping over it. By increasing the height slowly it removed the excitement because there is very little exciting about a trotting pole
 
Ok so how about schooling then popping a couple of fences then back to schooling again. I tried this with my old horse who sounds very similar to yours and its does work but you really needs to give it time, lots of time!!!
 
I have never found a horse that learned to refuse from being halted in front of or after a fence. The key is to make sure you are halted at least 2 strides from the fence. It is an effective way to slow a rushing horse but often the issue is not the horses but the riders.
A big clue here is a horse that will school calmly around fences but then rush on approach.
Get some one to stand in the school with you and randonly shout halt on approach (2 stride rule applies). What this does is make the rider concentrate on the quality of the pace rather than the fence as they know they may well have to halt at any time or jump.
Another issue is the way some peeps try to check a rushing horse on approach. My advice would be to never just check the horse as this tends to come from the hand and be very half hearted. Instead ride a halt and the instant the horse starts to submit to the request soften and allow forward. Do NOT soften until you get a sumbission to the request. This is far more affective than just checking.
 
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