Young horses and getting striding right

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Stroppy Mare

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My 4yo appears to love her jumping, and seems very talented, but when she gets excited she develops this awful bouncy canter which doesn't move forward easily, which means you get in deep to the fence. If you send her forwards, chances are you'll take off long.

She's ridden once a week by my RI, who has the same problem with her. What can I do to get her bouncy by forwards (like she's capable of!) and jumping nicely?
 
Ditto on the poles. I also post the canter for a few strides sometimes when my mare doesn't want to extend and it helps some... but she is not green so that may not help you much unless she is pretty well schooled on the flat.
 
When relaxed, she can do shoulder in, she does flying changes when jumping (on the flat between fences, and also over fences) and goes quite well. When she gets excited, it all goes out the window and you're left there bouncing around trying to move her on!

However she is only 4 and has only really been in consistent work since April.
 
Lots and lots of grids :) really sorts out too long a stride and too short a stride!

My four year old had what I used to call a "tranter" and now is making up too much distance - typical!

However I will just continue with the grids and hopefully these will teach her about keeping a good length of stride - I do lots of canter poles too :)
 
Free school her over jumps and let her figure out her own striding. Keep them low and choose easy distances and keep going until she just doesn't find it that exciting and has figured out the striding. Then start changing things up or add a rider over the simple combinations she already 'gets'. Particularly at her age, having a rider trying to 'help' is probably more of a distraction than anything else.
 
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