you all said flatwork sooo....

ShowJumperBeckii

ShowJumperBeckii

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Sooo what excises should i bee working on?
we can do leg yeilding and fly changes but i need stuff to calm her when jumpng but NOT jumping? any ideas thanks :)
x

ps. at school so might no reply to thanks all all ideas :)
 
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work on collecting and extending her, all basic control that you can translate to your jumping. i can be done as i have done it with my very speedy mare.

another good thing to do is to school around jumps so she doesn't think she is going to jump everytime she sees a jump
 
I dont think anyone meant working on flying changes right now to improve your goal...of jumping bigger courses.

Try lots of work on calm smooth tranistions, half halts and accurate steady turns, shortening and lengthing stride....without drastically increasing speed.

I would be considering getting things like serpentines spot on, and downward transitions like trot to walk, trot to halt, and canter to trot. The also consider the upward transitions.

You may want to consider a couple of lessons with a good instructor just to start you off.
 
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circles...transitions...circles....pole work on the ground...just lots of changes of rein..up and downward transitions...and maybe think about joining your local riding club or pony club..excellent way of getting good lessons and a low cost and maybe getting on area teams..
 
Anything that will teach her to collect / extend immediately the split second that you ask her to. You need to ensure that she is listening to you to do this, so you need to do lots of changes of direction, circles, transitions to get her hocks underneath her and working from behind.
Lots of exercises like shallow loops and serpentines will get her listening to you as she will find it harder to predict where she is going.
Another exercise is shortening her stride in walk/trot/canter down the short side of the school, then pushing her on to extend her down the long side, then collect her right back up again for the short side. Don't do it too often though as she will learn to anticipate and just p-off down the long side when you don't expect it!

Good luck!
 
like the others have said, schooling around jumps / poles in the school but not actually jumping them; serpentines (concentrating on being really good about putting your legs on around the corners), circles while corkscrewing in and out (gets your leg on and her reacting to it again, so really useful); transitions within a pace using your seat and maintaining impulsion; the same with lengthening and shortening strides. Will have to rack my brains for more! I love this book for ideas, just fab as sometimes my mind goes totally blank and I really need ideas! It also has a great index in the front suggesting exercises to help with certain areas of schooling which is fab. http://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Schooling-Exercises-Horse-Rider/dp/0715319507
 
Zoom and I are **** at showjumping so I'm not a great one for advice but I went to an Edward Gal masterclass and he had a few pointers that really helped with my whizzy mare.

He was riding a very green mare and she was very overexcited. Every time she rushed, he just collected her and as soon as she obliged, he let her stretch again. He did this for about 20 minutes just in walk, before moving up a pace.

I know it sounds REALLY simple but it has really helped me and Zoom to connect. It just gets them listening and on your aids. Whenever Zoom gets really whizzy and head-up-in-the-air silly we go back to walk and spend some time just getting her concentrations and collecting and extended the walk.

Good luck!
 
right. if i were you, id find a Good instructor, and work on your canter, as thats the pace causing the problem. as others have said, work on collecting and extending, with no rushing and getting her back working supply in canter. from your videos shes looks extremely tense through her back. i dont know if you use a possa but id get lunging in that 2x a week, that way she will have built up the correct muscle tone through her topline as she looks ever so slightly built up underneath. as soon as things are stopped being rushed and you and your instructor have done alot of ground work, you will find she trusts you more and you will find a, hopefully, different horse.
 
May sound silly but pole work will really help you, concentrate on keeping her in a calm and steady rhythm in trot and later on canter, whilst going over the poles. You will find at first I suspect that she tries to rush and hollow going over them just as she does with her jumps, you need to concentrate on her going as if the poles aren't there, so her rhythm and outline don't alter going over them. I always do it just off a 20m circle. Don't include any jump wings to start with but you can add them later with the trot/canter poles still on the ground. It's harder than it sounds with one inclined to rush their fences but is a fab schooling technique that can later be transferred to diddy jumps, again applying the same principles and then you can gradually increase the height always working on the keeping calm thing. She will begin to understand that it's the keeping calm, relaxed and in a rhythm that you want from her all the time, including when poles are involved.
 
May I throw in my vague bit of thought?
Canter isn't my horses best pace anyway, so we do a lot of work on that - but really bog standard, simple things needed lots of work too when we looked twice!
Little things like could he walk on without resisting the hand? Could he halt without poking his nose or shuffling? Could I control his walk (lengthen it, shorten it, even control individual feet almost)? At first.... no. So if I couldn't at walk, how would I manage at canter?! It was something so 'small' it just got overlooked. So now when we're having a breather between the trot/canter work, we sort those things :)
And transitions, ALL THE TIME! Solved my issue of just riding around in circles all day by a tip from someone else on here - basically never ride more than one circle in the same pace or whatever (so vary, medium trot, collected, walk, canter whatever) and lots of changes if rein!

Have fun! :D
 
QR - I thought I had posted this but clearly not...

I cant beleive you are still asking questions seeing as though you have taken quite a beating on this forum! Good for you :D

Firstly, I admire your ambition. I had similar ambition when I was your age...and still do, and it has taken over a decade to get to where I am (and that still involves schooling my horses at unaffiliated level!!) Maybe I am a slow learner, or have no talent ( :D )

I will also say that if you go to jump a newcomers the way you did on your you tube video it you will knock your confidence hugely and you will either come off, your horse will fall, or you won’t get past the second jump – so please don’t! Slowly slowly catchy monkey, and all that!!

The best exercise I can recommend to you is pole work – if you have your heart set on jumping, first lay 2 grids in your arena. One where you have to ride short strides, and one where you have to push for a slightly longer stride (put the poles further out)

When you are cantering over the poles confidently, introduce things (still poles) like unrelated distances (still in your grid) where you have to ride either 4 short strides or three long ones, and ride a 3 or 4 stride canter over them.

Having watched your riding, I would really suggest that you do this initial trot and canter exercise with no stirrups to help your balance, and hands

Then lay your poles out in a course (this should not all be done on the same day it is schooling, so should take as long as you and your horse needs) and literally, concentrate on cantering round seamlessly, getting your strides right between related distances, seeing a stride with your unrelated distances, changing if your horse changes, all at a correct and calm pace.

Your pole course should gradually become more complicated, so you introduce more technical aspects, such as tight turns, unrelated distances, bounce poles etc. You should also introduce (eventually) ‘folding’ over the poles, so you can see a stride, ‘take off’ and ‘landing’

Then introduce tiny jumps (1”6 max) – and continue to canter in exactly the same way as you did before. When you can do that confidently, build your jumps up gradually. If you can then confidently go and jump round in exactly the same way as you can the poles, you are probably ready to go out and compete. I would suggest local level would be the best option, as it is cheaper.

Your first round at BSJA (at whatever level) is to prove your horse can confidently jump round a technical course of show jumps, it doesn’t matter how long it takes really (so long as it is not all day) . So if you can go in, jump clear, and then push on for the second round, it will be worth your while, if not, you will pay a whapping load of registration and entry for not much else. Its not all about saying you are a member!!

The alternative option, of course, is to go to your local BSJA, warm up, buy yourself a ticket for newcomers, and see how you go...
 
I might go against the grain here a bit...
IMO we have 2 problems: your riding and the horses rushing, I would approach them as 2 separate issues as I believe different things are needed to improve your riding skill to the things that are needed to settle the mare.
For you:
ride without stirrups, steering only with your leg/seat - no rein at all
several transitions obviously, concentrating on consistency of leg/seat/contact

for the horse:
steady canter work, I would actually not pester her with several transitions atm, I would go for good warm up in walk and trot, a bit of leg yield and pole work in trot and as for canter - get a decent transition without jumping into it or rushing and then just canter round the arena as steady as you can without losing impulsion, do circles etc, but don't change pace unless everything goes to pot and you need to start again. Do that on both reins and to finish work on several walk/trot/halt transitions.

for you both:
on the long side track of a school, put 2 poles on the ground at a random distance quite far from each other, but no less than 2-3 comfortable strides from each corner - canter over those poles several times without stopping or changing pace, trying to fit even strides, more or less is unimportant at this stage, just even.
 
The above advice is really good. But I would strongly recommend getting some lessons with a good instructor who has an interest in show jumping. It will be a fab investment and will give you some really good feedback and some good exercises. Video all your lessons and watch them back so that you don't forget anything and can see the progress.

I'd look for an instructor qualified above AI level, and if possible get a personal recommendation on here. If you post your location on here people will be able to give you some names.
 
Dont know if anyone has mentioned it yet but trot work in to fences, the fences, for a problem like this, do not need to be more than cross poles and a couple of small uprights. I would also suggest that sitting trot work would be good but can often lead to a stiff and unsympathetic seat that. so i would advise that an instructor is present when learning the basics of sitting trot and position as i personally found the balance ability to relax in to sitting trot an quite difficult to get the hang on especially when you have a fast mare. But to echo all other posts flat work is the only answer unfortunatly. Good Lucj:)
 
Personally I would do what we did with my sister's horse, who used to rush fences.

First start on the ground- you don't need to take forever over it, 10mins a day or so. Your horse should stop and go when you want. She should stop and go within 3 strides of asking. When she is walking she should do so at a pace that you set, and not at her own pace, and when she halts she should stand still until you ask her to move again. If she starts move when she should be stood still then ask her to take one step backwards and then stand still again. This will reinforce your aids when she's ridden. After all, if you ask her to halt when you're on the ground but then let her wander off, what sort of message is she getting?

You should repeat this in ridden work as well. If you ask for something then it must be done within 3 strides! Don't forget to reward her with a rub or a pat and a release in pressure when she's been good, or else she won't link whatever you've asked her to do with what she's done.

In ridden work you must set a tempo in every pace and stick to it (start with walk and trot, she will struggle in canter to start with)! This should be a fairly slow tempo- slower than you would normally do. This will allow her to find her balance and work through from her hind end- after all, slower doesn't mean that she has to lose energy. Keep putting her back into that tempo if she moves out of it- she probably isn't strong enough at the moment to stay in it without a bit of help. Once she can stay in the tempo then you can ask her to lengthen and shorten her stride. An important thing to remember is that the horse should not associate 'leg on' with 'faster'. 'Leg on' should only ever mean a change of pace or 'bigger' within the pace. That is how she will learn to lengthen her stride without running.

Make sure that your aids are exactly the same every time you give them, otherwise she can hardly expect to understand what you want her to do. Also, make sure that you don't hang on her mouth, or subscribe to the theory that putting pressure onto a horses mouth will make it go 'round'- all horses should learn initially that pressure on the mouth means 'stop'. If you ask for her to go forwards and put pressure on her mouth at the same time, then what sort of message are you sending? You can't start teaching her to stop from your seat until she can stop from the rein (in 3 strides, from a light aid)- it's been proven that horses retain the hand aid better than your seat aid, so even when you use your seat most of the time, hand pressure is your 'emergency stop', and the horse shouldn't be confused by you using it to do something else.

The most important thing to remember is that when she rushes it is not because she is being naughty it is because she is unbalanced, she doesn't understand what you are asking her, or she's scared. When this happens she needs you to be the grown up and take control, slow her down, work out what's gone wrong and then fix it.

I understand that it's very hard to accept that your horse isn't balanced- my sister's horse had PN evented for years and we were gobsmacked by the idea that she could be unbalanced, but having done all of this it made it blatantly obvious to us that she had been completely unbalanced, especially in canter. That was why she rushed- she was so unbalanced that the only way she could stay upright was to get faster (you'll notice that people do the same when they lose their balance). By slowing my sister's horse down she not only doesn't rush anymore, she is also a much more powerful horse who jumps bigger and with a better shape. It takes time, but it's worth every minute.
 
As everyone has said. My last horse thought jumping was the most exiting thing on earth. Try having poles or jumps out in the school every time you ride. Eventually they get less interesting. Pole work is great as you can concentrate more on the horse without worrying about interfering with a jump.
Once she is a bit more established try putting 2 poles out quite far apart. Canter over them and count the strides between. You can then work on getting in more or less. At first just try for 1 extra/less then you can build it up. Working on lengthening and then getting her back wil be really important for you when jumping BS distances on a small horse.
Also work on straigtness as this will also help you gain every inch. Good luck and don't forget to have fun
 
Use plenty of voice, to calm, slow and praise, especially praise. And your upper body and seat as much as you can to influence speed.

I'd do plenty of strectching down in walk, gentle flexing (asking for left and right bend) and back this up with the corresponding leg support, so you get used to using hand and leg for more than stop and go. If you don't get the answer from her you want/expect, please check you got the question right. A pair of trained eyes on the ground is vital, so don't attempt stuff you aren't sure of without help!

Take it slowly and allow her time to build the muscles and stamina to give what you ask. Give her plenty of breaks too and reward any progress, however small.
 
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