Teaching a horse to "wait" for the stride?

H

Hovis_and_SidsMum

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 January 2007
Messages
2,711
Location
Lincolnshire
Visit site
The Destroyer lurves his jumping and is far far braver than his wussy mother! However his keeness is a double edged sword.
We've managed to slow him down into jumps and he's doing really well but he has a habit of not waiiting to be told when to go and taking off 2 strides away.
i thought it was just me but his aunty Sarah (experienced super star rider) took him over some hedges this morning and apparently was left massively behind as he took off a mile away from them!!
Now he's getting himself out of a pickle at the moment due to the height of the jumps but how do i get him to just wait a little bit before launching into his feather powered Hovis leap?!
 
Generally you want the horse to judge his own take off rather than waiting to be told.

However I know what you mean, I ride a cob sometimes who does this, and occasionally needs putting back in his place a bit.

It depends a bit how established his jumping is. If he is very green I would just concentrate on riding a steady contained canter to the fence and presenting him well. I wouldn't interfere and would be grateful that he is honest. To help him out I'd make sure everything has a helpful ground line and use placing poles. I'd ride exercises with grids and with trot or canter poles ahead of the jump to help him present himself correctly, I then wouldn't interfere with the stride at all and would let him work it out for himself.

If he is more experienced and is just being lazy/taking the pee like the cob I ride, I would ride a very short canter, sit back and in and wait with my body until he is right under the fence and make him go on a short one a few times. Then start riding normally still just waiting and holding for the fence to come to me rather than anticipating, getting too forward, chucking the reins away or over riding.
 
[ QUOTE ]
jumping from walk is excellent for this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure, you tend to get a big powerful jump when you jump from walk........ if the OP is getting left behind.........

I'd be using poles to get him in closer.
 
Grid work will help with this - certainly did for others I have had. Stinky is a little like this at the moment but as he is so green, I am letting him sort himself out and just sitting tight.

In a few months time when we are a bit more established, I will have some grid work lessons - Stinky does not come in fast or strong, just occasionally pops a really big jump in a bit far out.

Wish us luck - our first SJ competition on Sunday - his first and I have not done one for five years since Cairo retired from jumping. We are doing 1'6 HC and then if all goes well the 2' - nice and small and hopefully should be fun.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure, you tend to get a big powerful jump when you jump from walk........ if the OP is getting left behind.........

I'd be using poles to get him in closer.

[/ QUOTE ]

yep, but getting left behind is a seperate (rider) issue to a horse taking off from a long way out and needs to be tackled seperately to make the rider more secure regardless of what the horse does.

i use jumping from walk for my very overkeen 5yro who likes to pretend she is a hurdler sometimes and it has improved her jumping beyond recognition.
 
Hmmmmm I had a horse that used to do this, instructor suggested grid work, and he tried to jump both parts of a bounce in one go... que a fall from him and a squidged shoulder for me.....
 
Grids are definitely the way forward. An accident such as the one lexiedhb described might make him think twice! However, bringing him into a long line grid in a nice, balanced canter should prevent that from happening.

Work on improving the canter in your flatwork too - horses often stand off when their canter is flat and they are not using their back end underneath them to propel them 'upwards', so they choose to propel 'forwards' instead. Lots of canter 10m circles and canter-walk-canter transitions will help.

Stick to small fences for now (so that if he does stand off, the leap won't be quite so impressive) and don't go near a fence without a placing pole for a while! He'll soon get the idea.
 

Agree with Munchkin, you need to work on that canter, so lots of flatwork to improve the canter and plenty of transition work, walk to canter etc so you getting that back end underneither you.

Keep things low and ride in deaper to the jump with a ground pole, uprights tends to be harder for a horses to judge, an simple oxer with the crossed poles at the front and the back rail rail a bit higher up, (not a swedish oxer) the cross poles being inviting and the horse will home in the centre of the jump and encourage him to come a bit deaper.

Also trot work over fences, they need to learn to get their stride and jump correctly in trot, this will really improve not only your horses jump but when your canter over fences too, do this just a few strides away from your jump, so trot up towards your jump, stop for a 5 seconds then pop straight into trot from stand still and over your jump, again your horse needs to sharp off your leg and that's where your flatwork and transition work comes in.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hmmmmm I had a horse that used to do this, instructor suggested grid work, and he tried to jump both parts of a bounce in one go... que a fall from him and a squidged shoulder for me.....

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't use a bounce grid on a horse that does this for that exact reason.

I'd use one and two stride distances and I'd start with poles and one fence and build up so that he understands exactly what is required and where to put his feet.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure, you tend to get a big powerful jump when you jump from walk........ if the OP is getting left behind.........

I'd be using poles to get him in closer.

[/ QUOTE ]

yep, but getting left behind is a seperate (rider) issue to a horse taking off from a long way out and needs to be tackled seperately to make the rider more secure regardless of what the horse does.

i use jumping from walk for my very overkeen 5yro who likes to pretend she is a hurdler sometimes and it has improved her jumping beyond recognition.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree but if the rider is getting left behind then she might catch him in the mouth or become unbalanced and upset the horses confidence. Therefore I'd want to use placing poles and grids to begin with.

Jumping from walk is great for getting them to use their back end though.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hmmmmm I had a horse that used to do this, instructor suggested grid work, and he tried to jump both parts of a bounce in one go... que a fall from him and a squidged shoulder for me.....

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't use a bounce grid on a horse that does this for that exact reason.

I'd use one and two stride distances and I'd start with poles and one fence and build up so that he understands exactly what is required and where to put his feet.

[/ QUOTE ]

erm yep... we had done this for several weeks before hand..... daft horse
 
Thanks all for some great advice.
He is still young and green and as honest as the day is long. As we're only jumping little jumps its not a major probelm but he does tend to hurtle at them from too far back. At present hes still clearing them with ease but he's going to get himself into trouble one day.
Sarah noted he takes off too soon when she rode him - and as someone who jumps 1.2 m courses like a dream being left behind is not something she usually experiences!
Even with a ground pole he can just make up his mind to go and jump from way out - he's just keen!! I just want to get him out of the habit if i can so that whilst he thinks for himself he isn't trying to jump xc courses from half a mile away!

Theresa - good luck!! You and stinky will be fine
 
My previous horse used to do this.

My instructor set up 2 poles, 40ft apart (if I remember correctly) and we'd canter over them. We would then collect the canter between the poles to increase the stride count and also push on to decrease the stride count.
This had 2 plus points, firstly, he didn't know what I was going to ask of him, so couldn't anticipate and secondly, allowed me to become more 'stride aware'.

We then moved onto grids.
 
[ QUOTE ]
you could walk in on a loose rein and hold the neck strap though- i did to start with, no shame in it!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes you could, should have thought of that, but the horses I have used this exercise with I have generally needed both hands to hold them in walk....
blush.gif
 
how about a bit of loose work if your school can cope with the destoryer.........set up a grid and let him run through on his own, i have always loose jumped before adding a rider this lets him sort his self out also you can add spacing poles etc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top