Thoroughbred Jumping

[misswoods]

I have a 12 year old ex racehorse thoroughbred mare, who is fairly green in the school, and has done very little jumping. I'm currently working on her fitness, after losing a lot of condition during winter, and now want to progress onto introducing her onto jumping. What are the best ways to do this? I have confidence that she is fully capable however I struggle with her rushing into them and making mistakes that will then knock her confidence as well as mine! She often heats up in very open spaces and this makes it more difficult to control her speed and make her more careful going over jumps. Any advice/previous experience is much appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Lily

 

[NaeNae87]

Grids and poles. Best things ever when teaching green horses to jump.

You don't have to make it super difficult by having lots of poles, start simple and increase the difficulty.

Check out Evention TV, Dom and Jimmie Schramm are eventers and have an online series of videos full of helpful tips and exercises - you can make the exercises easier by decreasing the amount of poles and gradually adding more poles or uprights as you become more experienced. I have put links to some of their grid work videos for you to have a look at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpVQM5C8vAE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbMqGfcYpnM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F84TodVzuso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIfnytjunyE

 

[misswoods]

Thank you so much, videos have proved to be very interesting, will let you know how it goes!

 

[Orangehorse]

Have several little jumps around the schooling area and every so often pop her over one, so it becomes just part of the routine and not "Wow we are jumping = got to go fast." Although you have to just ride normally, don't get tensed up, conversley don't let her just fall over them.

 

[misswoods]

I tried this out today and it took her a bit of time but definitely saw a change, thank you so much to both!