Slooooooowing down into fences.... any tips?

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trickivicki

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Hi All,

Pj has turned into a bit of a whizz kid and now thinks that this jumping business is a bit to easy!!

Any ideas on how to steady him up and get him thinking?

V and P x
 
trotting poles in front of the jump and trot in to the jump forget cantering for a while until he has settled again.
 
I tried playing about with things like that this morning, he just gets a stride and a half a way and whoooosh!!

I abandoned getting a double out today, his stidings were just completed out of sync
 
sounds like a good one.

do you walk all the way and then push for a bit of a hop over the fence or go up a gear a stride or 2 away from the fence?
 
My mare does this too, have found leaving a jump up and schooling around it and not jumping works. Another tip is to really get them listening, go for a shorter run up so there not expecting it :) grid work helps too with lots of different striding differences apart to get them thinking :)
 
Agree with EKW - walk until calm and then trot. When you progress to trot circle in front of the jump until he is calm enough to jump it properly.

How balanced is his canter? The better his canter is, the easier it is to control him so make sure you do lots of flatwork to improve his paces. If his canter is already very balanced a great excercise is to jump the fence, immediately turn a small circle and keep jumping it off a very small circle. However - really make sure he is balanced enough to do this as it is very hard! Perfect for nippy ponies but unless the horse is extremely well-balanced this will not go well!
 
He probably isn't balanced enough for that yet as he is only young.

And has been so chilled and easy to date, it was a hell of a shock this morning!!

I watched a demo at Bluechip last week where Peter Charles (possibly??) pulled up a few strides after the fence and did some rein back, which worked he pulls up fine he just has a good whooooosh into the fence!!
 
Build a course of fences and ride round them circling, serpentines, changing your rein next to them. When he settles and stops locking on to any then jump a fence - be clear at this point to him you are intending to jump i.e. very straight clear approach. Then pull him up shortly after the fence pat him and trot off to resume ground work for 10-15min. Try and mix your ground work and jumping for a while so it is not so exciting.

Also does he show any sign of being keen before he is right in front of the fence? maybe dropping a shoulder on a turn towards one, or getting hold of the bit when turned towards the fence? If he does this is the point you should be nipping it in the bud - the first time he shows any slight sign of not waiting for you. If he does circle and approach again if he does not stop it rein him back. If he is still being keen then lateral work for 10min before jumping again. Basically make it clear jumping is on your terms and it is not acceptable to set off without you.

If you are doing the walking to a fence routine please be very careful as a horse on our yard started stopping for fun after this technique was used on him by an inexperienced rider. The horse I think got confused, thought it was being pulled up in front of a fence and then suddenly thought it was OK to stop on it's own terms...
 
thank you (I have a batch of jumps on the way so will be able to work with a full course soon)

I like the whoosh as he does feel as though he is really enjoying it and feels rather powerful BUT it would be far more enjoyable if it was a little more contained!!

Luckily he makes a nice shape over the fence so I am not getting thrown about too much!!
 
Is he excited around them or just when you're jumping? The schooling around them is useless if its only when you're jumping.

Put 4 canter poles in front of a single fence, they will regulate his stride so if he rushes he will mess up and hit the poles wrong, he'll soon start thinking about where he's putting his feet. Don't over ride him, just get a good canter and approach then let him figure it out. Once he's doing this take the poles away one at a time starting with the one closest to the fence. So eventually you're cantering over a pole then 3 even strides to your fence.

When I get a rusher I don't jump a fence without poles in front of it for weeks until they get the idea. You've got to create the right habits. Also always pull up after you've jumped a fence or grid etc. Stay straight and come back to halt, its not about the halt itself its teaching him to come back to you after fences. If you get him into these habits now it will pay off in the future.

I wouldn't trot into fences either, its very difficult for horses to jump properly from trot, you want to teach him to canter into fences. By all means trot up to the poles and pick up canter over the poles if you're more comfortable with that.
 
thank you, more great advice!

what distance do you put your canter poles on? we have used them with him to pull his canter out a bit (he was v v v stuffy when we 1st started) and think they striding would be to long for a nice SJ canter (he is a short coupled 15.1 tb)

(I am really looking forward to my next jumping sesh on thursday now!!!)
 
Are you going to be competing him?

Thing is if you're competing him in senior classes (I'm talking BSJA) you want to be riding him on horse strides, but its probably a bit long for him, I struggle deciding what to do with my 15.1, I normally just try and roll them in a bit if he's struggling. Just have someone on the ground to adjust for you.

For a proper horse stride I put four of my steps between each pole and the fence, 12ft. But maybe try 3.5 steps if he's struggling then you can practice horse distances between your combinations when he's more balanced etc.

Good luck.
 
unfortunately, I will have to jump senior!

I'm sure he has the scope to jump from a longer stride but really want him to be going right on a comfortable for him stride first.

He has very neat but very pony like paces (which I'm sure will come in useful somewhere- i hope!!).

Plan of Action- poles, jump, pull up/ more jumps in the school/ get him looking presentable enough to have some decent lessons (I dont want to embarass myself, the local SJ-er is a bit of a task master so want to make sure P has at least half an idea!)
 
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