Rushing after the jump

[berties-girl]

I am jumping a friends horse in a couple of weeks at our local show, as well as Bertie, I rode her for the first time yesterday and she is a lovely ride, she is an Irish Sports horse and has a huge jumping ability, you can walk, trot or canter her very controlled at the fence, as soon as she lands the other side she is in a flat out gallop and its takes a good 4 to 5 strides to pull her up, she also throws her a head around alot and tries to evade the bit, anyone got any suggestions on anchoring her without changing her bit, as she isnt my horse and her owner doesnt want a stronger bit in her mouth.

[galadriel]

My mare who throws her head around usually does it when she dislikes your contact. Try experiementing to see if she likes a firmer contact, a lighter one, a more elastic one, whatever--also ask her owner how she usually rides, it may help to know.

A horse rushing after a jump is often landing badly and rushing to get the balance back. I've got an article on rushing at and rushing after jumps; the rushing after jumps is the second part:
http://lorienstable.com/articles/jumping/200-rushing_jumps/
There are a few exercises you can do to help her balance herself after jumps. It will also help if you can be sure she's balanced on the approach. Just because she's moving at a controlled speed does not mean that she's balanced and able to take the jump well.

[berties-girl]

Thanks Galadrial,

I am riding her on Wednesday so i will give it a go. The girl who owns her is only 15 and hasnt had her very long, but from what i have seen, the horse does the same thing with her as well.

[kedwards]

I don't know if my own experience will be helpful or not, but I do have a horse who tends to rush after fences, so I can share what has helped me.

(1) gymnastics and grids that encourage him to rebalance immediately on landing.
(2) always thinking "halt on a straight line" after the fence. Sometimes, it would take me awhile to get that halt, but keep with it.
(3) improving my own seat. In my case, I'm inclined to stay too far forward and out of the saddle, rather than sitting down and rebalancing him with my seat and leg, so that he can properly get his weight back and his hind legs back under him.

[galadriel]

Looking at your post again...you mention that the owner doesn't want the horse in a stronger bit. What about a different bit that isn't stronger?

You don't mention what bit you are using, but there are a few options you could look into, to see if it makes the mare happier: for mouthpieces, you can try a single jointed snaffle, a snaffle with two joints (french link) or no joint (mullen). There are also various cheekpieces that sometimes aggravate horses; you can try a bit with loose ring, eggbutt, D-ring, full cheek, or baucher (although a baucher is a little more severe than the others in the list).

If the owner of the horse doesn't want to put the horse in a more severe bit, you're probably already using some combination of the mouth/cheeks I listed. But there are *lots* of combinations, and sometimes a horse is much happier in another bit--one that is just as mild, but which suits the horse's mouth better.

[DITZ]

Totally agree with kedwards. Gridwork has worked wonders for me. It doesnt give them much opportunity to rush because theres another jump coming up right after so they really have to think about things. Then once they've realised they can jump these fence things from a slower pace they are much happier.

I did a competition last week, my first since concentrating on gridwork and I noticed 2 things. First when I walked the course I thought the double was a 1 stride distance yet my horse put 2 comfortable strides in. Proof that he had slowed down. And secondly after I'd done the last fence I noticed he was really hard to stop. On reflection it was ONLY because I had switched off and was still riding forwards. I hadnt regained my position because I hadnt 'needed' to. Proof to me that when I lean forwards we go faster.

[Sarah]

hello!

Like Kedwards said, I'd recommend some grid work to get the horse to lighten his forehand and engage his quarters so that he can't tank off on landing. Having a placing pole AFTER the fence can also help with this. you can try doign the jump, placing pole then stopping in as few strides as possible. If you do that a few times then your horse will be ready to stop and won't be charging on landing as much.

When you do the course at the show, you can still use that technique. So long as you are stopping a long way fromt eh next fence then you won't be penalised for it - maybe not a good technique to use if you go through to the jump off though! Actually, if you do go clear, I'd think about just trying another calm clear round int eh jump off rather than trying to go faster and get a rosette as toehrwise he might unlearn all that you have taught him!

Good luck!

bye!

[DITZ]

A great book for improving things is 101 jumping exercises by Linda Allen by the way. Its very progressive starting off with the most basic and simple of exercises and then moving up at your own pace.

It has now replaced my lessons so it has paid for itself already!

[berties-girl]

Thanks for all the advice, i rode her on wednesday night, the first thing i tried was to not hold on to her and she practicly came to a hault as she landed, so as Galadriel had said she was not happy at being held on landing. I am going to ride her again at the weekend and will do some grid work with her too just to give us a bit more practice before the show next week, she is so differant to riding Bertie, if i gave him an inch of rein he would take me a mile before we stopped:D :D I suppose i know him and know how to ride him and it has been a while since ive jumped anything else and i have to remember that i cant ride every horse into a fence the same.