the 6ft trotting pole....

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Abz88

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My little girl who I've been bring back into work for a good 5 months now thinks that to clear a trotting pole she needs to jump with all her might over it! I thought as a good in-hand ex and something different, I'd bring out a single pole. Bit unsure at first, then walked over it fine. Trotter over it fine. Was quite impressed with her attitude, placed another out. Agin, a tad unsure, but walked it fine and trotted it fine, picking her feet up beautifully!

So, with this being such a success, I decided yesturday I would try riding her over a single pole. Walked over it gingerly, but did it. went over a few times and got better, trotted it and she was 'lunging' at it, I could feel all her energy building looking at it...and she jumped it, will NOT trot over it, it must be jumped, and she has a huge jump! So, after making her trot it a few times well, placed the second out,......she cleared both!! She was then treating them as a bounce jump (to be fair didnt kick either and did it very well if they were jumps!). I could not make her walk or trot over them without her wanting to 1) jump them and 2) finish in canter!

Any advice as to what I can do next to try and make her understand trotting pole are to be trotted over not cleared like a 6ft spread!!??
 
Move them further apart and just keep trotting over until she totally gets it and is relaxed and steady then move them closer together gradually.

I've got one that does this, walks over like a donkey, but once in trot it all becomes incredibly worrying.
 
I had this with my mare- found saying firmly "TROT, TROT, TROT, TROT" repeatedly in quick sucession in the trot rhythum on approach and all the way through poles helped much. Using my rise to aid control, circling away at any sign of rushing. It's a tad scary I found though, trotting in not knowing if they are going to leap the lot! Best of luck
 
Place several poles anywhere around the school, not in a line, then just go over them whenever you feel like it in walk and trot on a circle or turn so she is not able to build up speed or anticipate, treat them as nothing special all part of the general schooling session.
Once she is quietly taking them wherever they are introduce a line again, use 3 or 5 rather than 2 , she is less likely to jump them and put them 2 strides apart instead of one until she is confident then you can close them to one stride.
 
Business said:
I had this with my mare- found saying firmly "TROT, TROT, TROT, TROT" repeatedly in quick sucession in the trot rhythum on approach and all the way through poles helped much. Using my rise to aid control, circling away at any sign of rushing. It's a tad scary I found though, trotting in not knowing if they are going to leap the lot! Best of luck
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I did try the trot in trot rythum and she just went into a very bouncy short canter,....in trot rythum!! I didnt circle as I thought once committed, it best to go over them to stop any future bad habbits of running out? Yes,...took me by suprise when she took the lot! Least I know she can jump!!

Thank you,...hope she eventually gets the idea!
 
LouS said:
Move them further apart and just keep trotting over until she totally gets it and is relaxed and steady then move them closer together gradually.

I've got one that does this, walks over like a donkey, but once in trot it all becomes incredibly worrying.
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I tried to place them as far apart as was 'sensible' (as in not too far that it felt like 2 single trotting poles), this was after the clearing of both! May be just more work on a single pole?
 
be positive said:
Place several poles anywhere around the school, not in a line, then just go over them whenever you feel like it in walk and trot on a circle or turn so she is not able to build up speed or anticipate, treat them as nothing special all part of the general schooling session.
Once she is quietly taking them wherever they are introduce a line again, use 3 or 5 rather than 2 , she is less likely to jump them and put them 2 strides apart instead of one until she is confident then you can close them to one stride.
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That is good advice, I shall try placing some about the school. But I can see as soon as shes done one once, she'll be rushing at it the second time. I supose thats a case of no repertition so she doesn't know what to expect. Using more sounds logical, A bit of a scary thought for me as I don't think I'd stay on over 5 manic jumps ha ha ha but if it may work, it's worth a shot!
 
Abz88 said:
That is good advice, I shall try placing some about the school. But I can see as soon as shes done one once, she'll be rushing at it the second time. I supose thats a case of no repertition so she doesn't know what to expect. Using more sounds logical, A bit of a scary thought for me as I don't think I'd stay on over 5 manic jumps ha ha ha but if it may work, it's worth a shot!
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I would say repetition is what you need to do, repeat, repeat, repeat until she's quietly trotting over them where ever the are, if she anticipates its good because then you can correct her.

And I meant have the poles in a line as two single poles, they don't have to be a line. But as the other poster said placing them all over the school is a good idea. I chuck them out every time I ride my youngster as he had a bit of an issue with them, you want it to just become easy and almost boring to them. Then try to do a line of them again.
 
Thats going to be done my next riding session on her. Place them about and get them to not be an issue or exciting! I shall let you all know how goes!! Thanks for all the advice :D
 
put a few different poles in different spots around the arena.

So you can do 20m circles and across the diagonals and things.

Keep her twisting and bending, so she's thinking about where to go and now how fast.

Have a gelding JUST like this :)
I also found that if I put a jump up before the pole work he could get his BOUNCINESS out and then would concentrate on not bouncing over the poles, but this could encourage other horses to jump the poles.
 
Abz88 said:
I did try the trot in trot rythum and she just went into a very bouncy short canter,....in trot rythum!! I didnt circle as I thought once committed, it best to go over them to stop any future bad habbits of running out? Yes,...took me by suprise when she took the lot! Least I know she can jump!!

Thank you,...hope she eventually gets the idea!
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Ok- does she understand the verbal command "Trot" because if she canters just circle till you have your trot- Saying "trot" only helps if they know the verbal command.

By circle I mean circle till you have the calm trot- cricle so that part of the circle takes you on line for the poles and if she is not still calm on that part of the circle stay on the circle till she is calm and in trot - then allow her to stay on line for the poles.

My mare knows what trot means, knows how to do poles but has the attitude- I can jump this lot from trot- what's your problem?! It's not funny when you have 4 or 5 correctly spaced for trotting and they jump the lot. I would come round the corner saying "trot, trot, trot" and thinking "****, ****, ****"! I tried putting so many out she couldn't possibly jump them- 6 or 7 correctly spaced for trotting - so she came back with a bounce. I just wouldn't quit till I got the trot which always happened after a few attempts. Was always very rewarding with my voice when she trotted through them. Not great for my nerves though. If I just did one it wasn't exciting enough to warrant a jump - but three is and so was 5!

Best of luck! You will get there.
 
I knew a pony who saw poles and instantly thought he was required to jump them. We cured that by trotting at a pole and getting him to halt with front legs over it and back legs behind. So you would approach in trot and ask for a halt transition just before so you stop over the pole.

Work wonders. Doesn't mean it would work for everyone but worth a go maybe x
 
Not sure what stage she is at, schooling wise, currently my boy [rising eight and still pretty awkward] has always been amenable when trotting [he is part trotter] but is stiff on one side, and is not tracking straight at the canter, so all our work, even his warm up lunge trot is aimed at working in to an established canter, straight and true.
We have done this by going having a variety of "obstacles" in the arena which can be used, like a series of five trot poles, a single pole on the perimeter., and a narrow path between two poles, also this can be turned in to a zig zag with more poles, and he has to think about where his hind legs are, while maneuvering down this "labarynth", lots of grid work and lots of variety in every lesson,
During the week, I do all the groundwork, which is mostly long reining and lunging with two reins, he has to keep looking down at the poles or will end up in a mess, as yours is so used to lead rein handling, I would "re-start" with long reining, she will be "out on her own" rather than using his handler as a comfort blanket.
Try lunging [with two reins], over one, then three, then five poles, at the trot on the lunge and see if that works.
Agree with halting before pole, but make sure she is understanding all verbal commands, and is doing NH halter work, backing up in hand and so on, there may be a basic problem, but I think it is just a little foible and you can work around it rather than repeating the single pole exercise.
 
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