Teaching a horse to respect poles

[santas_spotty_pony]

So, I’ve got my mare reasonably fit and her flatwork has been coming on in leaps and bounds. We have done a reasonable amount of polework both on the lunge and under saddle and I have lunged her over some small fences and ridden her over a cross pole. The problem is she spend respect the poles (they are wooden ones) and just tends to go through them half the time, if she gets the striding wrong. She is honest and always goes but I am wondering how I can teach her to be more careful? I don’t want this to become a habit else she will start to go through everything. I am confident this is a greeness issue. I’m guessing solid jumps might be an option but I don’t have anywhere I can go locally and other than build some logs in the field I’m not sure what to do next. I’m on my own a lot when riding too and I have to keep getting off to put the jump back up. She seems to generally enjoy poles and jumping and focuses better than on the flat so I want to continue just need to work on coordination. I am also conscious of trying to help her out and set her up too much else she won’t learn and will rely on me too much and I like them to think for themselves, especially if they need to get out of a tricky situation.

Any tips?

 

[Katieg123]

Usually with time and balance, knocking poles becomes less of an occurrence. Alternatively, if you think its just laziness or not caring, solid jumps is a good idea. Telephone poles do the trick!

 

[stormox]

Gridwork usually helps. Also when the jumps get higher she will be able to see them as "jumps" better.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Gridwork usually helps. Also when the jumps get higher she will be able to see them as "jumps" better.

I had better invest in some more wings etc then! I did think this might help, thank you and yes I think the jumps are probably a bit small but I might jump her a bit bigger on the lunge first I think so she can get a feel for it without me on board.

 

[windand rain]

A jumping lane with big enough fences to jump rather than trot poles. They need to learn to actually take off if the jumps are too small they don't

 

[tristar]

need a jump that says, `heck i need to get off the ground here`

bit higher, wider, complicated looking, ie more poles etc.

would practice lots on the lunge first to be sure the jump mechanism is working fully {and all the time}

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Is she careful to step over poles on the ground? If not, I would go back to groundwork with poles and insist that she always leaves them untouched.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Is she careful to step over poles on the ground? If not, I would go back to groundwork with poles and insist that she always leaves them untouched.

No not really! She’s happy to roll them if she gets there wrong. How can I insist she leaves them untouched?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Lead from her shoulder, get her walking in synch with you before going anywhere near the poles, use a cue word as she goes to step over. If necessary use a schooling whip to simulate the leg aid. But if you approach the poles correctly she shouldn't touch them. I would go right back to a single pole on the ground and build up from there.

 

[Fred66]

Cross poles can help as it encourages horses to stay more central and gives the impression of greater height without actually being higher.
Also oxers can encourage them to pick up as they have two to get over.
And as someone else mentioned grids

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Cross poles can help as it encourages horses to stay more central and gives the impression of greater height without actually being higher.
Also oxers can encourage them to pick up as they have two to get over.
And as someone else mentioned grids

Thank you, we have been doing cross poles and haven’t done an over yet, I think I will lunge her over one first and see if that helps. Completely agree with grids, I have lots of piles but sadly only one wing and one barrel at the moment hence being able to only make one jump. I don’t think it helps that on the barrel it is just resting on it so knocks down if it’s just breathed on so no room for any mistakes.

I’ve been browsing the internet for some small portable cross country jumps that might be useful and some
more wings and was also wondering if dog agility jumps (even just the wings) may be less expensive and sturdy enough? Does anybody know?

 

[windand rain]

Don't think dog agility fences will be heavy enough for what you want. Wings are easy to make from pallets, cut a pallet in half and add feet for fillers and use the wood to make a triangle to support the pole. We bought big barrels as wings they were cheap at about 10 each and can be used standing up for a jump up to a meter or lying in their side for smaller ones. We also use them as fillers both with a pole over or naked. The barrels are easy to lunge over as the line doesn't catch on the wing

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Don't think dog agility fences will be heavy enough for what you want. Wings are easy to make from pallets, cut a pallet in half and add feet for fillers and use the wood to make a triangle to support the pole. We bought big barrels as wings they were cheap at about 10 each and can be used standing up for a jump up to a meter or lying in their side for smaller ones. We also use them as fillers both with a pole over or naked. The barrels are easy to lunge over as the line doesn't catch on the wing

Some good ideas, thanks. I am finding the barrels fall over easily but had b idea today about putting something heavy inside to make them a bit more solid.

 

[Melandmary]

My mare is similar and unfortunately I have the really lightweight poles that end up moving- I do have them in potties now and wedged in with bricks. my instructor set up a sort of zigzag of poles instead of them being straight and that really made her think about where she was putting her feet in the gaps as usually she would plough through them . Someone more technologically minded might be able to send you a link to suitable grid work exercises. The difference was amazing as we were beginning to wonder if she just couldn’t see them through her thick and heavy forelock and had to plat it one session to eliminate that as the cause

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

My mare is similar and unfortunately I have the really lightweight poles that end up moving- I do have them in potties now and wedged in with bricks. my instructor set up a sort of zigzag of poles instead of them being straight and that really made her think about where she was putting her feet in the gaps as usually she would plough through them . Someone more technologically minded might be able to send you a link to suitable grid work exercises. The difference was amazing as we were beginning to wonder if she just couldn’t see them through her thick and heavy forelock and had to plat it one session to eliminate that as the cause

I’ve questioned that she can’t see them myself - mine are rustic though so not easy to see against grass anyway! But I think it’s more
a case of just not knowing when to take off. I am going to paint them, just haven’t got round to it yet.