schooling/jumping exercises for over excited pony

[tobiano1984]

I have a 14.1hh 9 year old jumping pony, had him for about 4 months now - bought as a bit of a project. He's an extremely talented jumper, previous owners were jumping 1.20 tracks but pushed him too far and he became difficult. So far he's had a month off out at grass to settle, then for the last couple of months has done lots of hacking (he's very well behaved on his own and in a group) and a bit of schooling once or twice a week just for 15/20 mins. He's gradually coming round to the idea of schooling, although still puts his head in the air a lot and tries to canter, although isn't strong so is manageable - when he does go in an outline he looks amazing and moves like a very smart warmblood..!

A couple of days ago we introduced some jumps back into the school, he was fine popping over small jumps, poles etc but after 10 mins or so he started to get excited - was able to come back to walk and walk around but when you go to turn into the grid (a few trot poles and a a couple of under 2'6 jumps) he would start to monkey about, sort of bucking, plunging, prancing around - almost like 'get off and let me do it on my own'. his rider is very quiet and competent but he'll never go back to jumping courses like that!

So - can anyone recommend exercises to help this? He's had back and teeth done, all fine - he's been ridden 'heavily' in the past, whips, spurs, gag bits etc as I've seen in past videos. Shame as he's so light and responsive he barely needs anything. In a way he seems to love jumping, but at some point he's been wound up to such a point that he just can't contain himself.

On the one hand I wonder about just sticking to dressage, as if he settles into it he's got huge potential, but on the other hand he is an extremely talented jumper and seems to love it - once he's on the 'line' to a jump he's foot perfect and straight, and you can see that he's capable of jumping very big, has such a nice technique (and an impressive tail flick!) so it almost seems a waste not to utilise his talent for it.

He's had a total 8 months off jumping and that hasn't stopped him getting OTT. If you can suggest any exercises to try and calm him down I would love to hear them. I'm wondering whether we should just be popping over tiny jumps to desensitise him (his previous home only did massive jumps), or take him XC to get him to let go a bit and stretch out.

After a jump he doesn't do anything wrong and is easy to come back to walk/trot, it's only really as you turn a corner into the fence. We haven't tried him over a small course, I wondered if it would keep him going and not give a chance to get wound up in anticipation, but it also could just send him crazy...!

Look forward to thoughts!

 

[Cowpony]

I have this with my mare, especially when we are in a group lesson and she has to wait her turn. It's the only time she is a pain to ride! When we do a full course she's absolutely fine as long as I ride with my legs and not my hands.

One of the ways we deal with over-excitement is to school around and between the jumps, as if it's a normal flat lesson, then pop over a jump on a circle, then immediately go back to schooling again. That way it's not something big and exciting, and she never knows when she will be asked to jump so she doesn't anticipate.

The other thing we do is circle in front of the jump until she has calmed down, then jump, then immediately circle again.

 

[Andi_]

I would continue doing what you are doing... Flatwork and hacking out. When you do school, there are two things I would try that I have done in the past with horses getting silly to jumps (though it sounds like he is a bit more extreme).
1. Set a small cross rail with trot poles into (3 or 4) and landing rails. Trot in as if you're going to the jump, and circle over the poles in figure eights, changing up direction. When he settles, jump the jump and halt or walk after the landing rails. He may not jump the jump that day if he doesn't settle. He may jump it once and plow through the rails. Patient repetition and he should start to figure out that he only jumps when he settles. The trot rails will also get him thinking and focused and less likely to pull to the fence.
2. I used this for a medium pony who would bolt to and from the jump. We started trotting him in to large cross rail grids (one strides and two strides mostly, with trot rails in). I would just sit there quietly and let him make the mistakes he needed to and he figured out pretty darn fast that he needed to settle, think, and get his feet out of the way. We did a lot of grid work over one winter and the next summer he was great with his little rider

Good luck... I don't know if either of those are what you are looking for, but maybe worth a try?

 

[mystiandsunny]

Firstly, some horses that have been pushed too far never recover, and it's best for them to find a new career (in dressage for example).

If yours is just excited (so wasn't put off jumping for good, just over-enthusiastic), then this is what we do for my talented, jump-mad mare each spring (no school so can't jump over the winter). We start off just by dotting poles around the riding area, first walking over them until she can do that calmly, then trotting, then cantering. They are there EVERY day, and we just school as normal, around them and over them. Once she can walk/trot/canter over them as if they're not there, they become raised trotting poles, then teeny jumps, 2ft jumps (4x a week or so) and so on until we've reached a metre or so again. The second she starts to rush we go back a step and into walk again until she can do that calmly. It works for us, and after a few weeks of 'calm down' training, she jumps nicely for the rest of the summer.

 

[tobiano1984]

Thanks for these, all useful suggestions that I will try! Mystiaandsunny - I don't *think* he's been pushed too far, as he never falters or refuses and doesn't rush the actual jump, it's just turning the corner into a jump. I've seen videos of his previous owner (a man!) socking him in the mouth as he turns the corner (I think a 'half halt') and then again when he lands - it's no wonder really. He'll do trot poles and cavaletti in all paces with no problems, but I definitely think he needs to see jumps as something fairly run of the mill rather than a big event!
Mind you he also finds flatwork pretty exciting, although that's coming along nicely and I was pleased that after his jumping session on Friday he was back doing flatwork today and the craziness hadn't got any worse.