The videos

It's so hard to judge by video, cant really see enough.
What does your trainer think?
He looks to be slightly lost, not quite happy in his mouth and almost jumping a bit hollow away from the contact. I'd imagine he's the sort of horse who will appreciate jumping outdoors with more space- I'd be inclined to not compete him for a little while, concentrate on his confidence though grids and educating his jump at home until the outdoor season starts...
 
It's really hard to tell, but to me he looks very green and basically a bit worried by the whole thing. He looks to me like he needs lots of grids with poles to balance him a bit better, because you seem to get into a vicious cycle with him - in the second 3' vid you let him move on a bit and there is less fighting.
 
she has always said he is funny in his mouth, but that he needs to just get over it and when he does he is fine (on the flat) when she jumped him she said it was very similar, and he was being an a**e, she was very tough with him and he did behave, but hard when Im on my own to know which way to go if you know what I mean.

I dont know if I can face a day like today again my poor brain is exhausted!
 
He has plenty of jump but is hollowing over the jumps, the course does seem quite big for his way of going at the moment.I expect you have had his teeth /back and saddle checked but he is panicking for some reason .I would be working at home until he is jumping in more of a balanced and relaxed way over jumps and grids.
I'm afraid I would try to find a good trainer and get some help on the floor, I think he wants to be careful.A few small jumps with soft hands and just maintaining rhythm is what I would want at the moment.
You will get there ,once he is relaxed and balanced he will be fine
 
I'd agree with the others that maybe grids are the way to go.

Hard to be 100% certain from a video, but it looks as if he dives to the left on his approach, almost to the point of glancing off, so maybe a grid of crosspoles, adding one at a time so as not to scare him, would help him to stay straight?

I'd be tempted to do lots of grids & lessons before you take him out again, then maybe work him v hard the day before & lunge him hard on the day, & do a low key comp. Perhaps take him round in trot so it's all very boring & he can just pop round very easily.

I really, totally understand how you want to get out there & start some serious jumping, & he certainly looks as if he's got the jump. Sometimes, frustrating tho it is, you have to go back a step to move on a step?

(I presume you've checked back, teeth, saddle, etc.)
 
I have had everything possible checked as was convinced there would be a reason for his attitude, but it seems it is just the way he is (or else it is me, but I try to be as quiet as possible
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IMHO, (and I don't know what I'm talking about!!) it looks like you are fighting him too much, when you let him bowl along he jumps much better. I think you need to go back to basics and get comfortable jumping smaller tracks before you jump a 3ft track again. Are you sure your leg isn't effecting your confidence??
 
It's probably not you at all, and him being a git but you are clearly in a lot of pain when you ride - so how can you be riding as well as you can?? I don't ride the same when I have PMT so I'm sure I wouldn't if my ankle was killing me!

Your horse is obviously a testing chap, he's not going to pop round like an angel and look after you no matter what, so I think you need to be 100% before you jump him again.

BUT - don't worry!! I had a pretty terrible season BSJA on my horse in 2006, we had a break, I got my brain in gear and suddenly it all came together in 2007!
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Remember - all the best horses were always naughty babies!
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He does want to jump them, and when he isn't arguing leaves them up. It's just when he sticks his head up you've got no chance. If you can try to keep it a lot smoother. When you did the related distance, you jumped the first part nice and then you held him in the middle and his head went up, you might have been able to keep going on the nice stride you had from the first part. I would also think about turning on the corners a bit sooner. It's a lot easier to let them drift out a bit if you come a bit tight, than to pull him back into the fence if you go wide.

But seeing as you legs not to great at the moment I think your doing really well
 
I'm not sure he's comfortable MH
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Before you attempted to jump anything he was lovely and round, he knows where he is yet when you present him at a fence it's almost like it takes him by surprise and this is when he starts fighting you for his head. He then proceeds to jump catlike, his flow goes completely to pot and he misses his strides and gets too close to the fences, hence crashing into them. I think there is more to it, have you thought about showing your vet the video's?

I feel for you hun, I really do but I think it needs exploring. I don't think he needs to go out and do any more sj until he is sorted. Go do dressage, take him xc and see what he's like but back off the sj. Start with grids at home, poles on the floor keep doing this until he accepts that his head stays put, then move up a level.

Hugs for you. (((((((()))))))) xxx
 
I do understand where you're coming from as when I got Adrian, he used to run off when he was pointed at a jump & then not know quite what to do when he got there!

He was 4 when I got him, & is now 5, & I think that Jerry's 5 too? Not sure if any of this will help, but this is what I tried:

-trainer totally re-worked his diet for me.
-experimented with bits to find one he liked & ended up with a *milder* one, to my surprise.
-loads of flatwork with a fab instructor
-jumping lessons with a fab instructor, concentrating on making him do everything *properly* & forgetting about height. I found this v hard psychologically cos I'd been jumping Cat up to 1 m 25 in lessons & 1 m 15 bsja & I wanted to get out there & do some big jumps. But my trainer (thankfully) knew better so we did lots of grids & the sort of exercises where you can go lots of different ways so the horse doesn't know what he's going to be asked to do.
-circle him away if he's run off or pull him up altogether.
-lots of *tiny* courses, the idea being that if one of us messed it up, they were low enough for him to scramble over & not scare himself.
-realise that it's not a race to be jumping x height by y date, which is a lot easier said than done.

You've got all the ability in the world, both of you
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- you just need to get your basics engrained. I know that it's frustrating, but all of a sudden it will click & you'll make a ton of progress & will overtake where you would have been if you'd kept pushing the height.

You will def get there in the end!
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I have been doing all that
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He is now in a snaffle, have a flatwork lesson once a week and jump clinic once/every other week, both are fab.

Both trainers have said to stop jumping him over anything smaller than this, both say it is him being a git. I have been stopping him, or ciorcling (did twice in second round) and all my warm up was like this!

I dont care what height I jump at the moment, but just been going on trainers advice, and she said to get him out as much as possible.
 
As everyone else has said, its really hard to tell from the vids, and i can only give you my opinion on what i see....

From my eyes i think the problem is rhythm... if you get your canter sorted he jumps well, but sometimes you loose it on the corners (and dropped into trot a couple of times) which spoils the rhythm. As spotted cat said too, try to use your corners and not drift.

He looks very sweet, but quite difficult!! And with your leg your doing a very good job. What is he like jumping at home?
 
The height isnt a prob for him, and never will be, but he looks like he almost doesnt know what he is doing. The prob is, jumping anything with the way he is fighting you at the moment means he is learning that fences come down, and tbh doesnt seem to give a sh*t. Work on transitions with just your seat and legs at home, leave his head alone as much as possible. Do as much pole work/grid work/bounces etc to keep him listening and so you can let him go into the grid and sort himself out. Because he is so argumentative you need to let him learn to do it himself so you can just let him bowl on, so making him work through grids with short distances and /\ poles to get him to use himself better and sort his technique out wil help alot. You need to trust him a bit, and leave him alone. IF eed be, let him crash through, you may find he starts to back himself off a bit. Not pleasant, but he has got to learn for himself, and better at this stage then when you start to seriously go XC, so he needs to learn to listen, or be a bit more careful with what he is doing with his feet, instead of arguing.
 
Youve got loads of comments with lots of ideas so dont want to suggest anything- you know him better than I! I just want to say that my horse cant cope with indoor jumping very well, the atmosphere and the echoes, lack of space upset him, sometimes more obviously than others. Perhaps Jerry feels similar?
Regarding all previous comments, although your trainers say not to jump him smaller, what do you think?
 
Well, it sounds as if you're doing all the right things...

-try a different instructor just for a different opinion? It might help to get a new perspective.
-jump from trot (tiny jumps) so he's more relaxed? Canter is just toooo exciting sometimes! Then let him canter over the odd jump if he's being nice, then more trot.
-try a calmer eg nupafeed or similar?
-lunge him til he wants to listen? I did this once in desperation to a previous 4 yo who was a bucking bronco. I only did it for a week, but it seemed to give him a total change of attitude.

I would try going to beginner shows & trotting round so he can see that it's all very boring really & very easy.

He is prob having a dose of the Terrible Fives, so you'll have to treat him like a baby til he stops behaving like one! You are a lovely quiet rider, which is ideal for an, erm, enthusiastic horse!
 
I'm afraid I am going to be boring and say 'flatwork flatwork flatwork'. *YAWN* I know! He needs to be more obedient and needs to listen to you when you say wait. I'd want him soft and balanced on the flat and obedient to half halt before I introduced some gridwork. I think you ride very well and cope with him admirably - but I don't think he is balanced enough yet to be jumping courses of this size - a couple more inches and I'm afraid you are entering accident territory with the way he is at the moment. I certainly wouldn't want to take him XC yet. It's not a slight on your ability at all - some horses just take more time
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I'd take a break from jumping comps - do the groundwork at home and see how he goes. I'd probably want to canter him round courses of 65-80cm without altering my contact at all - and let himself sort himself out. He'll learn!
 
This horse is young isnt he? TBH I just think its a case of practice! One of my horses who's now 6 took ages to get the hang of jumping. He'd jump crazily huge over some and trash others, purely down to greeness but no amount of jumping courses helped. The only thing which finally made us improve was lots of gridwork in lessons (on your own isnt much good as you know) and time! Only now is he jumping in a far better rythm and leaving fences up. If he's young, time may be all he needs.
 
he isn't being a git, and he isn't careless (believe it or not), when he gives himself a chance, he jumps them nicely.
okay, if he was mine... feel free to laugh/ignore/argue at will!
first, most importantly, i would stop trying to ride him in an outline to the fences. that's advanced stuff, not for babies. it's also a fairly modern mania (and very foreign), lots of great horses jumped with their noses stuck out, some horses focus much better like that.
it's great that you can get him in an outline for flatwork, but it stops him looking ahead - to the point where he is sometimes quite shocked to see a fence in front of him suddenly (e.g. first fence on first 2 rounds, and other places). i would bit him in something that he respects, that keeps him soft and light (i'd try a myler combo, prob the 3 barrel mullen one), and i'd trot to fences for a while, and make sure he sees them (let him poke his nose out and LOOK at the fence, not round and looking at the floor!) and that he has time to judge his distance and pop them. at the moment he has no idea at all, he's getting in too close, and then tightening up, which is why he's hitting so many. very disheartening for both of you, i know.
i'd trot to a small upright (maybe with a placing pole at first, if you really want to help him), until he is looking at it and waiting and thinking about where to put his feet, i'd do grids with perfect distances for him, ditto related distances, all small at first.
i'd take him and TROT him round the small class, if he pops to canter a few strides out, fine, but i'd let him trot and pop and learn. i don't think it'll take long, if he's smart he'll catch on quickly.
i also try to have a different contact when sj to flatwork, a bit less dominant with the hand, very hard to explain - i sort of push both hands very slightly forwards fairly frequently, and keep a light contact if pos, in a sort-of "the ball's in your court, boyo" kind of way. this encourages them to move their weight back off their forehand too, ready for the jump.
he needs to start using his brain to judge the distances, not concentrate on fighting you, which is what he's doing at the moment.
hope some of those ideas might help a bit. he looks very very green and clueless, not rubbish and careless, honestly! and he really wants to get to the other side, bless him!
 
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