Taking horse xc schooling for first time

[pixiebee]

I am taking my horse xc schooling for the first time ever tomorrow. He is 14 and ive had him a year and in the past has not done much jumping, mostly hacking as far as I understand. Anyway, Ive got him to jumping 3ft as one jump and 2ft 6 courses, though he gets very excited and strong but thats another matter.lol

He is quite suspicious of new fillers or different jumps and will sometimes refuse then go over the second time, though yesterday I put a spread up and he flew over nicely. I have done a fun ride where there was some tyres and logs which he jumped, did have a look at the tyres the first time but after he went over once he was flying!

Im taking him somewhere where they have a range of jumps and heights and I am thinking I will keep to the smaller ones to build both our confidence. What is the best way of introducing the jumps for the first time? do you ride at it normally or let him sniff each individual jump before? probably sounds a weird question but hopefully it makes sense!

 

[be positive]

I would treat him as any inexperienced horse doing something for the first time, warm up really well, get him focused on you before thinking about jumping.

Once he is ready to jump pick something really simple and work round it, I would not go up and let him sniff it, just trot round a few times keeping him listening to you then trot up to it, expect him to jump, dont think about him stopping if it is small enough he can walk over it. Once he has gone over it jump it a few more times to really get him confident then move on to the next doing the same trotting round before jumping it a few times.
If you get it right he will gain confidence and you can link a few that you have already jumped into a short course, then move on to some more gradually approaching without the trot round but go back to it if he stops.

If all goes well try a few more tricky things before he gets too tired and finish over something easy so he ends on a really good note for the future.

 

[pixiebee]

fab idea, thanks, will give that a go! Just always wary when approaching a new jump for the first time as I alsmost prepare myself for a run out or refusal which probably doesnty help!!

 

[Princess Jess]

fab idea, thanks, will give that a go! Just always wary when approaching a new jump for the first time as I alsmost prepare myself for a run out or refusal which probably doesnty help!!

I think this is probably going to be your main problem. I know how you feel, one of the horses I ride is a very nervous jumper so I use to have a lot of stops with him, which then dented my confidence so I expected him to stop and backed off a little resulting in him stopping even more! Thankfully with him it was just all about confidence and whilst he still throws in the odd cheeky stop he's 100% better and I ride much more positively.
The best thing you can do is pick up a really nice bouncy canter and approach the fence once he's relaxed and listening to you. Make sure the canter is in a even steady rhythm and is really bouncy so that there's plenty of energy there but he's not rushing. Hopefully once you've established a good rhythm he'll keep the same rhythm and just pop the fence
If he does stop I'd be tempted to let him have a little look at it, then circle, pick up canter and re-approach calmly and with a steady rhythm.
Let us know how you get on, I'm sure you'll both be great