Teaching a horse to come back

[Joyous70]

Im looking for some advice, before you all say get a trainer, i am sorting to get someone out to help us, but would rather start helping myself in the mean time if i can.

My girl loves to jump, however, there is no adjustment in stride with her, once she sees a fence she is off, and woe betide you if you ask her to slow down, she will promptly stop at the next fence, it seems its her way or the highway, cue us flying around a 70cm course last weekend with me feeling rather like a passenger.

I think some of it is her balance, but im not sure how i can rectify this? if i put up raised poles at home she treats them like jumps and flies at them, i have tried halting after a fence, we usually manage to get back to trot before the end of the arena, she will throw her head and her body around to avoid being asked to stop, so far the only way to get her to stop is to ride her straight at something solid and preferably around 7 feet high. Does anyone have any useful ideas, tips or exercises we could try please. Picture of madam, motoring around the corner at the weekend, she may as well be at a gymkhana

 

[HeyMich]

Half halts are your friend... They work like a dream with my excitable one!

 

[Leo Walker]

Can she work quietly in the arena when jumps are up? If not thats your first step.

 

[Joyous70]

Can she work quietly in the arena when jumps are up? If not thats your first step.

yes she can, she will school nicely, and i can have a lovely canter, where she will sit and wait, however, point her at a fence and she locks on and is off she has slowed down from when we first started, but if you put in a half halt it is generally ignored, or met with head tossing that then unseats me! once she has landed again she is off like a little rocket.

 

[JillA]

It sounds like it is teaching her to run out, but the best exercise is to trot (or canter if you are happy with changing directions) around and between small jumps and occasionally pop one from a stride or two out, when she isn't expecting it. If she spots one and speeds up thinking you are heading for it, circle her away in front of it and do a bit more circling and serpentines. They will engage her hocks and make it easier for her to jump properly.
Keep doing that until she waits for your instruction instead of taking things into her own control (it is usually the horses who are scared who rush, because it is easier for them to just chuck themselves over). Running out is her taking control again, what you are looking for is her waiting for you to tell her what to do and where you want her to go.
I have never known a horse learn to run out after doing that exercise, it is about getting them to use themselves and have confidence when they do and follow your instructions.

 

[Meredith]

I think you need an instructor to give you guidance to help get your horse listening to you.
My daughter’s horse got faster during an SJ round, not as fast as you look though.
This is, as far as I can remember, an exercise she was set.
She had to school over one pole practising first trot and then canter over it followed immediately by a halt. The number of poles was increased and a cross pole added at the end until she could do it sensibly. Then a proper jump was put in and later it was set as poles, jump, halt, turn, poles, jump, halt.
Hope you can get some help and proper advice soon.

 

[JFTDWS]

yes she can, she will school nicely, and i can have a lovely canter, where she will sit and wait, however, point her at a fence and she locks on and is off s

Schooling her with fences up should involve moving her onto, and off, the approach to fences repeatedly, at all paces, until she ignores the fence until presented at it. I'd also do an awful lot of work over poles / small cross poles, encouraging her to wait but approaching from a steady trot or canter and halting after the fence / turning away if she gets too forward, working on maintaining the rhythm using figures of 8 etc. Complex gridwork can help with rushing horses, but I'd be loathe to put a horse down a grid if it was going to get too onward bound and crash through it at first! If it takes the wall of an indoor to stop her, that's fine, provided the idea sticks - George Morris seems to do this a lot in training judging by videos on youtube.

 

[Joyous70]

It sounds like it is teaching her to run out, but the best exercise is to trot (or canter if you are happy with changing directions) around and between small jumps and occasionally pop one from a stride or two out, when she isn't expecting it. If she spots one and speeds up thinking you are heading for it, circle her away in front of it and do a bit more circling and serpentines. They will engage her hocks and make it easier for her to jump properly.
Keep doing that until she waits for your instruction instead of taking things into her own control (it is usually the horses who are scared who rush, because it is easier for them to just chuck themselves over). Running out is her taking control again, what you are looking for is her waiting for you to tell her what to do and where you want her to go.
I have never known a horse learn to run out after doing that exercise, it is about getting them to use themselves and have confidence when they do and follow your instructions.

thank you this is certainly something I can set up over the weekend and have a play

 

[Joyous70]

I think you need an instructor to give you guidance to help get your horse listening to you.
My daughter’s horse got faster during an SJ round, not as fast as you look though.
This is, as far as I can remember, an exercise she was set.
She had to school over one pole practising first trot and then canter over it followed immediately by a halt. The number of poles was increased and a cross pole added at the end until she could do it sensibly. Then a proper jump was put in and later it was set as poles, jump, halt, turn, poles, jump, halt.
Hope you can get some help and proper advice soon.

Yes we are sorting g out someone to help with the training and this sort of exercise sounds like something that would be useful when I have someone around to add and move poles around

 

[Joyous70]

Schooling her with fences up should involve moving her onto, and off, the approach to fences repeatedly, at all paces, until she ignores the fence until presented at it. I'd also do an awful lot of work over poles / small cross poles, encouraging her to wait but approaching from a steady trot or canter and halting after the fence / turning away if she gets too forward, working on maintaining the rhythm using figures of 8 etc. Complex gridwork can help with rushing horses, but I'd be loathe to put a horse down a grid if it was going to get too onward bound and crash through it at first! If it takes the wall of an indoor to stop her, that's fine, provided the idea sticks - George Morris seems to do this a lot in training judging by videos on youtube.

Another fantastic idea thank you. We have done grids with a previous trainer and she manages them well but it is rather fast just as well she's quick with her feet as well as her brain I have been thrown into orbit on one occasion when the grid was a bit too complex for her and she stopped dead with no warning after jumping the first fence

 

[tatty_v]

I had a similar (although not half as dramatic!) problem with my boy, who is a natural jumper but uses speed to mask a bit of uncertainty I think.

We have spent a lot of time with my instructor working on rhythm and him being on the aids. Lots of poles on the ground, in trot and canter (he used to launch them like a jump), stopping in between poles, trotting in and cantering our etc. Very similar to what Meredith describes. It takes patience, but it has worked and he is now a lot calmer and listens to the rider rather than assuming he knows best!

 

[Joyous70]

I had a similar (although not half as dramatic!) problem with my boy, who is a natural jumper but uses speed to mask a bit of uncertainty I think.

We have spent a lot of time with my instructor working on rhythm and him being on the aids. Lots of poles on the ground, in trot and canter (he used to launch them like a jump), stopping in between poles, trotting in and cantering our etc. Very similar to what Meredith describes. It takes patience, but it has worked and he is now a lot calmer and listens to the rider rather than assuming he knows best!

I think its uncertainty that causes the rushing she has an incredible pop on her and does seem to enjoy herself. She will launch poles on the ground in canter although she does seem to be getting better and listening a little more than before. I will try some of these exercises as described.

 

[sportsmansB]

I had one who had been showjumped badly before I got her and had basically taken over with her previous rider as a self preservation instinct.
I spent a lot of time schooling around, but not over, jumps, and then casually just popping over one when she wasn't expecting it (eg circling onto it so there was only a stride or two)and then circling away at the other side or going straight to the wall / corner (if not too far away) and saying (very important to use voice) 'whoa'
We set up jumps on the centre line (actually on the line, not across it) - little cross poles like 50cm- and just popped over them casually and then either continued straight to the wall saying whoa or eventually cantered on but onto a circle (but she was expecting the wall so slowed up).

This was the start of a long process of just getting her to wait for an instruction rather than taking matters into her own hands! I didn't jump a full course for a looooonnnnggg time. Lots of jumping from trot, stopping and starting, circling between fences, etc. Its important that you get very straight for the stride or two to the fence so that they see it and understand, but then that you are also quick on the other side to 'have a plan' of where you are going to ride to and not just let them hooley on

I mixed up flat and jumping schooling (i.e. did a wee bit of both every time) so that 'jumping' didn't mean excitement every time.
Mares are clever, you need to get into their wee heads and be 3 steps ahead!

 

[Vodkagirly]

I've seen an exercise at a demo and in clinics where you need to stop 3 strides after the fence. After a few goes the horse was anticipating it so half halting and rebalancing himself automatically.

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

I've seen an exercise at a demo and in clinics where you need to stop 3 strides after the fence. After a few goes the horse was anticipating it so half halting and rebalancing himself automatically.

I had a lesson with a top eventer once and I was on a horse that rushed his fences. She got me to trot towards a small fence and halt a few strides INFRONT of the fence and then trot on over it. Sometimes we'd trot straight over without halting.We did this several times and then in canter. We cantered round the corner to the fence, then halted , then cantered over the fence. This exercise worked really well for us as my horse began to listen and as a result came back to me.