jumping

[Elaine]

I need a bit of help. Today for my lesson I did a little course of jumps. Anyway my horse decided he was going to pick up speed during the turns. It got me in a horrible state. I told my instructor that I didn't feel like jumping anymore, because he was going to fast. I tried sitting tall and pull on the reins for 3 seconds and then release but that didn't stop him. I don't know who got him into this habit of speeding up for I know its only the second time he has done it to me. What should I do? I need to be in control but I don't want to be harsh or a rough rider. Any advice on how to slow him down would be much appreciated!

Elaine

[minx]

your horse is rushing before/after the jumps. many horse do that in jumping and i can understand that it gets rather scary when they pick up speed.

u can perhaps restrain him from cantering too fast when u approach the fence. if he is rushing, don't jump the fences, immediately turn to another side and try to slow him down by cantering in a circle. repeat until he approaches the fence calmly.

if u are not afraid of speed u can try another method. maintain a very light contact with the horse and let him rush as much as he wants before the fence, then stop him abruptly on the far side. he will soon learn to anticipate the stop and slow down before the fence.

basically, if a horse rushes or refuses when jumping a high fence, he should go back to jumping short fences again, and then gradually increasing the height.

hope that helps!

minx

[Jess]

My horse does the same thing. Try going back to smaller jumps (try 2' or even cross rails) and take up the slack on the reins. Lean back around your turns *turns are the perfect place to ask for a lead change!* and half halt. Hope this helps.

[joy_6]

The horse that I ride for lessons is only 5 and he just started jumping. He has a tendency to rush the jumps also. My instructor has me sit back deeply in the saddle and use my voice to calm him. Also, I hold the reains back and try not to give him too much rein.

I know it's scary when they move quickly to a jump, but I would let him take the jump. If you pull him up too many times or take him past the jump because you think he's moving too fast, he will start refusing the fence when you finally decide to ask him to jump it. I know this from experience because it happened to me 3 weeks ago. My horse was rushing the jump, so i circled him before it. Finally, when I asked him to jump the fence without circling, he wouldn't do it.

Try jumping him over the fence and then cantering in a straight line a little ways past the jump and halting. Try to understand why your horse is rushing the jump- put yourself in his position. He may be nervous of big jumps and thinks that he needs alot of speed to clear them. Or he may love jumping and is just excited(as is the case with the horse I ride).

Hope this helps and good luck. Above all- don't give up. It'll start getting to you and you might start being very fearful of jumping.

[Elaine]

Thank you everyone for the replies.

[Sharmoore]

From what I've read, try going back to working transitions, from walk, to trot, to canter, back down, only let him take a few strides at the faster paces, until he gets the idea that there are various speeds.

[Elaine]

He is very responsive doing flat work. I can go from a canter to walk with just the use of my voice. But the second I go over a jump with him he barrels off like its some kind of race. I think he gets excited, but then sometimes he's plain old lazy and crashes through the jumps. I did a series of 4 jumps in a row and he did well over these. But when there spread out across the ring he picks up speed. I wonder what is causing this.