jumping question!

[amylou_84]

ok when coming up to a jump my instructor always says to squeeze my legs in. is this to keep the horse moving so he goes over the jump, or is it to make me feel more secure or something along those lines..:(
also if the horse tends to rush towards jumps how can i get him to slow down a little without confusing the poor thing? do all horses tend to speed up a little when comin up to jumps, because there might not be a problem with this specific horse rushing..it might just be me being over sensitive to the horses movements.

amy :D

[Equisgurl]

I'm no expert at this whatsoever, but heres what I was taught. You need to squeeze a horse to keep him a bit more motivated and he will pick his feet up better when he feels the nudge,remember the faster the horse approaches the jump the smoother the jump will be. As for rushing, I dont have problems with it, but I've been told to half halt before the jump to slow the horse down, but because I was never taught half-halt at my other school, I still need to learn it properly.

[shaka]

Squeeze a horse to reassure him into the fence and keep l;etting him know to jump it. Try not to grip with your legs as you go over the fence though, it isn't good for you or the horse. To slow a horse down into a fence takes schooling, but as you are having lessons that could be difficult! Try sitting very quietly and still, use a couple of half halts into the fence, but don't hang on the mouth or grip the reins to taut. You want a contact but not so much so you are pulling against each other.

[westley_jacobs]

my horse does that when they rush to the jumps""
you have t be VERY strong and let them know whose boss! YOU - i mean!!;)
squeezing is exactly what shaka said, to give your horse the confidence he needs to jump it, otherwise he'd probably refuse!:D

[jUmPingIsLifE]

unless the horse needs to be moved up or brought back i try my hardest to leave him alone to jump, they go better when you arn't trying so hard to do differant things. a horse i ride a lot needs a big squeeze because if he isn't moving foward enough at the jump he pops fences and will pop you out of the saddle.

[amylou_84]

hey

thanks for the replies. there have been a couple of incidents where i just dont encourage the horse enough and he has ended up bunny hopping over it or taking too big a jump. iv never fallen off because of it, because iv landed on his neck and managed to scramble back on.
i think im sending the horse really confusing signals. i try not to but cant help it. i come up to the jump and feel the horse speeding up. its only slightly but enough to unnerve me a little. so i tense and and pull the horse back a little so he doesnt go to fast. but then the horse slows and the jump isnt as smooth as it should be.
my instructor always said to let the horse get on with it. iv just to direct him straight into the jump and let him do it. when i do finally relax and do that, i jump fine but im usually tense! my jumping position is fine and im getting more in to the timing of the jump. its just the speed that makes me tense. i canter into jumps that are a little over 2 ft. i couldnt go back to trotting over them as iv come so far!

amy :D

[TBEventer2002]

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH GOING BACK TO THE BASICS!!!!!!!

Just because you are cantering 2' jumps DOES NOT mean that you cannot do trot poles or trotting X's or even trotting the 2' jumps!!! Sometimes I get out there wanting to get right into the cantering X's and possibly trotting 2'. However, sometimes my boy just isn't cooperating (jumping is a priviledge and a reward for him, he loves it so much) or I just have one of those days where I literally feel like I am on top of my horse rather than with him, so we go back to basics for the day. It's a nice refresher, very simple and relaxing.

[Nikita88]

the answer to your first one, is you squeeze with your legs to keep the horse going so it doesnt refuse. i guess it would make you feel more secure too. Your instructor is right! listen to her, always squeeze with your legs, thats usually when the horse stops because they think your not ready for it and dont want you falling off and getting hurt (horses are smarter then we give them credit for :) )

answer to your second one...
Yes, its normal for a horse to speed up. They see the jump coming, and will speed up. an easy way to tell if my horse will refuse the jump is if she doesnt speed up. If my horse speeds up i know she is going to do the jump, if she doesnt speed up she will refuse (thats the way she is) so if she doesnt speed up i give her a tap with the whip to let her know im in charge and shes going over!

hope this helps!

[IrisSilverMoon]

I always used the squeeze to tell the horse when they are supposed to jump. George is a tad clumsy and if you don't squeeze at the exact right moment he'll just trip over the whole thing...:o

so that's another reason you squeeze just before the fence.

[OlavS]

It is undesireable for a horse to pull towards a jump, however normal it may be among horses to do so.

Galadriel has a great page on this and how to train the horse to go at a more steady pace before and after jumps:
Horse rushing at jumps, and rushing after a jump (http://lorienstable.com/articles/jumping/200-rushing_jumps/)

I think an experienced rider will be able to count the strides and tell the horse exactly when to jump by squeezing the legs. He/she will also adjust the length of the strides before the jump so that the horse jumps at a suitable distance from it without having to do any half strides just before, or jump from a distance too far away or too close. But this takes a lot of practice! I don't know if I'll ever get there myself :o

[Demson]

As you approach the jump some horses need to feel secure or they will refuse.

Keep your legs on the horse (with your toes pointing out slightly as this encourages your calfs to support the horse) as you come to the jump if you feel the horse starting to back off then genty squeeze with your lower leg. If the horse is already going forward enough don't squeeze but still keep the contact with the lower leg.

Same applies with the half halt, unless you need to shorten a stride or the horse is starting to rush don't interfere with the stride.

Your hands should take up a contact but not so much that you are pulling on the horse. Once this occurs the horse will lean into the reins going onto the forehand making it harder to clear the jump, or on the opposite side it could also cause the horse to throw its head in the air. This will cause the horse to either rush and flatten over the jump or refuse.
Instead keep a steady rhythm, keep your hands quiet but ready to give as you bascale (spl) over the jump.

Keeping you weight back in the saddle be ready to move forwards to follow through with the horse as he /she jumps. Don't make the mistake of standing up in the stirrup and just leaning forward. You centre of gravity should stay with the horses centre of gravity on your approach, and descent of the jump.
Each horse is different so you need to learn the basics so that you are in a better position to ride each horse.

Cheers



Oh! yes I also agree, back to ground work over poles is very important, should never be neglected.

[Demson]

my jumping position is fine and im getting more in to the timing of the jump. its just the speed that makes me tense

If you end up on the horses neck as you say you do then your quote above is false.

If you are unable to sit with the horse because it has speeded up then you do need to go back to pole work and caveletti's.

Can you with and without holding the reins trot and canter over caveletti's without loosing your balance? I doubt it. It seems you need to concentrate more on your balance and rhythm.

Only people that think they know it all think that they don't need to go back to basics and that they don't have a problem.
You have already proved your not in that catagory by asking for advice but are slowly slipping into it by saying you don't need to go back to trot work.

Anyone will tell you that until you can ride correctly in walk and trot you can't do so in canter. Until you can ride correctly in canter you jumping will be hard to improve. Before you say you can ride in walk and trot I mean correctly, by keeping the horse in balance, supple and into the the movement keeping rhythm and harmony to the paces. The walk is the most difficult gait to maintain and ride correctly.

Exercises like riding over poles in a figure of 8 without loosing balance or rhythm.
Serpentines, circles etc. can you keep balance riding without reins or stirrups while on the lunge? There is plenty you can do that will help enormously with your jumping.

Hope that helps


Cheers

[amylou_84]

cheers for all your replies, il try keep what you all said in my mind for my lesson tomorrow. its quite alot to take in.
one thing though - i dont think i am good enough to not bother to go back to trot poles. its just that its taken so long for me to get to this level and kind of conquor (SP?) my jumping fear that i want to continue my cantering jumps. i know that basics are what all riding is based on and they need to often be relearned. also i know my jumping position isnt 'fine' i like to think it is ok :D but i know it needs work! also i can sit to the horse when it speeds up, it just makes me a little nervous when the horse does this so i tense a little. i dont think i know it all :)
again, thanks for your replies, appreciate it :D

amy :D

oh il look up galadriels page, she has all the answers :D

[sammywiskers]

im 12 and my pony is 13hn he is very forward going but quite sharp when it comes to jumping, i always make him jump it because its not that he cant jump he just needs a bit of encougegment and sometimes me squeesing with my legs doesnt work. because he is a angle jumping at home it is just when we go to shows that he gets scared whenever i jump anywhere i always give him a light tap on the sholder not hard at all, just to say im with him and its worked perfectally just as long as i do it to say im with him he is fine jumping and sometimes with even the speedest of horses that refuse jumpng but go wissing up to the jump you just hav to erge them on even more so they no to go over it not to run out