Showjuming advice...

Grey_Arab

Grey_Arab

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I'm in need of a bit of advice, my problem is that whenever I jump my boy he tends to rush the last three strides, he is controllable until then, but when he gets three strides out he just sticks his head in the air and tanks, and then is fairly uncontrolable after as well. He is better the bigger the fences are, although he still does do it. He also has a tendency, probably because of the rushing to flatten and so knock poles down.
So what I would like to know is, if anyone could advise me, was is there anything I could do about this, we were working yesterday with jumping him from a walk/jog and that helped to get his hocks under him, but when we tried again in canter he went back to how he always does it. Grids seem to make the problem worse, he just gets faster and faster and he knocks everything down. I'm sure it's enjoyment rather than pain that's making him do it, so what can I do??
Cookies and thanks in advance
 
We've done a series of three fences that have a stride in between, but he just flattens and gets faster and faster in between the fences and pays no attention to me, and so he knocks them all down. We also tend to meet the first fence wrong as he's rushing so that won't help the situation.
 
Do you have lessons with a good instructor?

Try pole work, moving on to small grids of bounces to make him slow down, think, and get his front end in the air.

Jumping fences with placing poles from walk helped my mare, we then did the exercise in canter when the walk was established.
 
go back to tiny jumps to start with and just canter round in a nice rhythm with a loose rein and don't fiddle on the approach just let him take them at his own speed. If he wants to rush then let him don't attempt to hold him or stop and just keep doing it until he works out that it is easier to stay balanced and at the same pace than to rush, Once he has this then you can start to put them up and do the same thing. It will probablt take a few goes before he stops charging at them but he should if you persevere
 
i used to have this problem with Andy.. go back to jumping smaller fences from trot, its a real pain but it really worked for him. once you can do this without rushing then try canter again, if he rushes, circle away and come back in trot, he will soon get the idea.! we got out first SJ clear at PN the other week, it has taken a lot of time and hard work but all of a sudden it has clicked.!!
also flatwork is a real must.!! working on the straightness is really important, working off the tracks is really good for that.! Andy's canter is now much more togther, balanced and therfore he finds it easier to jump from a slower canter.
another one is jumping on a circle.. i would avoid too much grid work until you have much more control as they are really good for picking up speed if your horse is that way inclined.!
 
If all is well, for example saddle, teeth, back etc etc and its just a case of your horse being too enthusiastic and not listening then going to back basics it's your only route which will take time. How long have you being practicing jumping using the poles and have you had a good instructor to give you some good jumping exercises using grid/ground pole work? sorry I might sound like I'm asking daft questions but I'm just trying to establish what you have done so far and what is your normal jumping routine.

You can over a jump a horse, which can cause this problem, not saying you are, just pointing out that jumping your horse every other night over a similar course or same single jump will numb his brain. If he's a pretty good jumper, then exercise him in other ways, practicing once a week is enough to keep on top of things once you've got him out of this habit, or a few days before a competition. I'd lay of the jumping for a couple of months while you get him listening again, because it sounds like when his in jumping mode, he's not in listening mode and it will only take once bad skid/fall/smash into the jumps to kill both your confidence.

Transitions, halt to trot, canter trot, to walk using this method between your jump wings with a pole on the ground, lengthening and shortening your canter strides, ride in heavier deeper seat when trotting, rather than a forward seat into a jump (pole on the ground) before placing your horse into a canter after the jump, so your putting a spin on what you'd normally do, he's presuming one thing, your asking him of another. Remember can canter towards a jump without having to actually jump it. Ride right on a 20 meter circle and place a small cross pole on the side next to X, ride round as if your going to jump but as you come towards E track left and ride a small serpentine back on to your outside track towards K again, repeat this process until he slows an starts listening once he does only pop the jump once.

Putting a series of jumps one after another will not slow him down, if he's got into a habit of flying at a single upright then of course he's going to plough through the rest.

Hope that helps, remember the more time you spend doing various exersies like the above, the more sooner you will get results.
 
Agree with what everyone else has said, and also this has slowed my mare right down and made her jump ebtterr:
Put the jump up to whatever height, smallera t first, then have a raised v shadpe going into it, so its like a funnel going in with the narrow ends on the jump pole, about 2 foot apart, i'll attach a pic so you can see what i mean
frenches7.jpg

Like that, sorry not very good angle, make it a bit wider as you get ghigher and eventually you should beable to take them away, they rush into it the first time until their about one stride away but it really gets them thnking, also stops them running out if you have those problems, i dont but in case
 
why dont you circle him/her everytime they go too fast, just so that they know that you are in control, and won't put up with him not listening to you.

This is what i do, ok i have only been jumping for about 5 months so not as used to it, but it always works with the horses that i am on when i turn them.
 
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