Running Away After Jumping

[Sarah B]

this is my First 'thread' - so I hope you can help. My ex-race horse TB (Selle Francais) and I are just starting to jump and we have a slight control problem!.

Red is 13 and according to his passport has not raced since he was 4 - but we have no idea what he has done between then and when I bought him last year. I have spent the last year schooling him and started jumping in the school a few months ago. Our school is very small so we can only have a couple of jumps set up, but he still gets excited and a little on the fast side. Last week I took him over a small log out on a hack and although we were trotting when we jumped - we were galloping when we landed! I must be honest and say that I was concentrating mostly on not falling off - but does anyone have any tips on control of the horse after the jump?:rolleyes:

Before anyone asks - he is regularly checked over by a Mctimmony Chiropractor, his teeth were checked a couple of weeks ago and his saddle was reflocked last week!

[galadriel]

:) I wrote a little page on this a while ago:
http://trainersnotes.lorienstable.com/rushing_jumps/

[Sarah B]

:) Thanks Galadriel - I have printed off your article and will try some of the suggestions this weekend.

I suspect that my loony monster will take some time to get used to the idea of stopping after a jump!! But nothing worthwhile is achieved easily - it's taken me almost a year to be able to canter him in an open space without having to fight to keep him out of a flat racing gallop!

[galadriel]

You know, it may seem like a detour from your training, but with any horse, it is always a good idea to just assume he knows nothing at all. Your horse, as an ex-racer, may simply never have been ridden in a non-racing style.

When I work with a horse, I find it's safest just to assume he knows nothing and start from scratch. If he responds to something well enough that it looks like he's already learned it, great :) I can move on. That way I know he hasn't got any big gaps in his training (like cantering controlledly rather than flat out galloping, or even just knowing what "whoa" means). It also helps to teach the horse *my* cues for something; he may have been trained to do what I want him to do, but with cues different enough that he doesn't recognize mine as meaning the same thing.

Since your boy is older, it may seem logical that he knows a fair amount, but it's not necessarily the case. Before asking anything of him, it always helps to be sure he knows it in the first place :)

[Stephelia]

My guy decided that galloping over jumps was the only way to go! My trainer made me take him over a series of 2 jumps and after the 2nd jump, I had to make him halt. We did this several times, and FINALLY, he approached both jumps at a nice smooth easy canter. It was like a dream he was so smooth!

The trick is, if he thinks he may have to halt afterwards, it is not fun to gallop over the jumps - to hard to halt! When you do exercises that make the horse wonder what YOU will be asking of HIM next, then they are much more attentive.

I've used this same train of thought when we are not jumping, but he's not giving me his full attention. I do a series of transitions at different speeds, until I've got him wondering "what next!" I call it Simon Says. And after a good game of Simon Says, he's a dream.

Stephelia

[DITZ]

Stephelia : I have posted a similar thread to this under the EE section as I have the same problem. My tb rushes into jumps and altho i dont think he is in flat out gallop he certainly aint far off. Can you just elaborate for me on what you did? I dont have the problem of rushing after and his jump is actually very good its just a terrible approach. Bear in mind we think mine rushes due to lack of confidence I dont know about yours.

[Stephelia]

Whether he rushes before or after the jump, the same technique worked for me. I would take him over a jump, and make him Halt. This took me many many tries. In fact at first he refused to halt, until my traininer told me to aim him right at the wall. He halted. There were other times that she actually would stand in the way. He halted. These halting exercises worked the best out of all my efforts. He wasn't listening to my seat, my half-halts, or any attempts of mine to slow him down. The first time I steared him into a wall, he was shocked. he stopped, and gave me a buck, as if to say "what the h*ll did you do that for!!" Its his little temper tantrum I call the "Buck you!"

The difference between your horse and mine, is that mine doesn't have any confidence issues. He loves to jump, and he loves to jump fast and wild. I've been working hard at control, and the halting exercises worked wonders.

*Don't forget that the horse looks to his rider for confidence. If your horse doesn't have confidence approaching a jump, take a look at your own comfort level. Are you sending him no-confidence signals?

Do you start out your jumping sessions by trotting the jumps. If my guy rushes a jump, then we go back to trotting the jumps. Its my way of saying "not so fast, hotshot!"


Sorry for the long post! Hope some of the ramblings are helpful.

Stephelia

[DITZ]

I thought i would share this with you in the hope it might help you with your rushing problem - I am in the same place right now, mine races into jumps.

This morning i decided to take 2 steps back to try and get 1 forward and set up a small cross pole in the field. I made quite a long approach to it in walk only and eventually (half an hour). At first he was his usual self, anticipating and taking off in fast canter about half way down the line but eventually i got him so that he was walking most of the way and just breaking out into canter about 12 feet from the jump and finally he just trotted over it.

I also put a neck strap on him and made sure that when he broke out into whatever gait he wanted that i grabbed that and just let him go without interfering.

I hope he in his field is brimming with as much confidence right now as I am he deserves to.

[Sarah B]

Stephelia + DITZ - have a look at the article that Galadriel linked in the first response - there are lots of different exercises to try with your horse to get him to pay attention to you rather than anticipating and rushing jumps. I can't report whether they work or not, cos although I had every intention of trying some of them this weekend, the Chiropractor came to 'do' Red on Saturday morning - and banned me from riding him all weekend as he had a bad back! Typical! Beautiful weather all weekend and not allowed to ride my horse!:mad:



http://trainersnotes.lorienstable.com/rushing_jumps/

[Stephelia]

Thanks Sarah! I read it and it makes a lot of sense.

Steph

[LouiseS]

Hello Sarah B

Amazing someone near me!! I live in Wantage although I keep my horses btween Chilton and West Ilsley. Whereabouts are yours?

LouiseS

[Sarah B]

Hi Louise - I keep mine at Baulking near Stanford-in-the-Vale. What type of horses do you have? :p

[galadriel]

Originally posted by DITZ
I hope he in his field is brimming with as much confidence right now as I am he deserves to.

Sounds like a sensible approach and VERY well done! :) Congrats.

[DITZ]

Thanks Galadriel, we have made further progress since, I jumped him yesterday and we seemed to start off where we finished last time, breaking out into a trot only which is progress enough but after another 20-30 mins he was approaching the jump in walk and then calmly walking over it too (it was ver low cross pole!).

I am so proud of him, this was the horse who would start to gallop 30 feet away!

I presume my next step is to get him to trot both in the approach and over the jump without breaking into canter?

[galadriel]

Sounds like a good plan. Glad to hear your progress is sticking :) I think that confidence is starting to come to him, what do you think?