Tips for skinny fences?

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Sail_away

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So skinny fences have been a recurring problem for me and Paddy -don’t think he’s ever gone over one without stopping first. It’s still early days - I’ve had him for less than a year - and he’s not quite green but still pretty inexperienced. So I am sure it will come with time but would appreciate any ideas.
He absolutely loves xc but refuses to jump skinnies. I will admit that the first few times it was my fault; I didn’t ride straight so he could run out the side. However I’m mostly cured of that - we’ve had lessons and it’s improved our xc loads but not skinnies. The only difference is that now he’ll stop in front of the skinny instead of running out. He will get over it eventually but we’ll have the same problem next time we go out.
So... any one else had this problem? How did you go about fixing it? My current thinking is that he’s just not seeing it as a jump - I’ve set skinnies up in the arena with wings and have had no problems.
 
Have you had Xc lessons? Are you regularly schooling over skinnies in a Xc schooling session and if so what does he do then?
 
Can you start by simulating the skinny in an arena at home - just with a pole on the ground between two wings. Just trot backwards and forwards first of all, then build it up gradually to a very small fence. Do that a few times at home until you can come out and jump the skinny fence without doing the poles first, then move on to the XC version.
 
The horse should see a skinny as just another jump, they only need a narrow amount of any fence to jump, the width should make little difference if approached properly so it may well be a rider issue more than a horse one, we do a lot with ours in the arena at home, jumping skinny's with blocks instead of wings, jump them on angles as well as straight always keeping them very small, often approaching in walk or a very steady trot until the horse really understands that a jump is a jump that is there to be negotiated from any approach, stopping is not an option because they can walk over it to start with, running out is a rider mistake so must be avoided if the horse is going to learn it's job.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone! To specify - he jumps skinnies in the arena at home with no problem, he doesn’t treat them any differently to other jumps. We have jumped sj skinnies, we have jumped single fillers as skinnies, we have jumped them on an angle too. So he is very solid at jumping skinnies in an arena. He very rarely runs out now as I ride him straight. I’ve ridden lots of other horses xc without this problem.
The problem now - and I’m sorry I really should have been more specific - is that when we school out xc, he will stop in front of a skinny. He doesn’t run out anymore, and he doesn’t have problems with skinnies at home.
 
ihatework said:
Have you had Xc lessons? Are you regularly schooling over skinnies in a Xc schooling session and if so what does he do then?
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Yes we’ve been to xc clinics and had individual lessons. What we do now is trot up to the skinny in a forward trot, or canter if it’s bigger. He will stop suddenly when he gets to the point he needs to take off from. I’ll let him look at it, I won’t rush him, then we go again until he gets over it. Sometimes he’ll jump it the second time, but not always.
 
Lillian_paddington said:
Yes we’ve been to xc clinics and had individual lessons. What we do now is trot up to the skinny in a forward trot, or canter if it’s bigger. He will stop suddenly when he gets to the point he needs to take off from. I’ll let him look at it, I won’t rush him, then we go again until he gets over it. Sometimes he’ll jump it the second time, but not always.
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I might be wrong, but I suspect that if he is jumping simulated skinnies in the arena and regular Xc fences confidently, then he is somehow got himself confused/unconfident or is picking up something subtle from you.

I’d be inclined to book some private sessions somewhere for this specific issue and get yourself some SJ wings and poles out on the XC course.

I’d keep it all small for a while but equally don’t pander too much - he knows how to jump so keep him positively forwards, don’t give him the option to stop over diddy stuff. Use poles as guide rails/channels (you can do this on skinnies but also made pseudo-skinnies out of regular Xc fences)
 
If he is really solid at home then I would find a local venue that has a lot of skinnies, we have one nearby that I think made plenty in a full range of heights to save on the cost of materials but it has been useful for schooling to have 4 identical ones set almost side by side with numerous variations.
Start off walking over the tiniest ones without stopping, keep doing the same ones until he is really confident trotting in before moving onto a slightly bigger one that is as similar as the last you did as possible, I wouldn't present him to anything I considered needed to be cantered into for some time, if he stops at any go back to the tiny ones and walk over, if you don't have anywhere with a really good choice you may need to go out more frequently to build his confidence, I would keep doing as much at home as possible as well.
 
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