Crashing through jumps

[G.Gracious]

Has anyone ever had to doeal with horses crashing into jumps instead of flying over them? Grace has worked out that running straight into jumps and knocking them over isn't going to hurt her so why bother going over them when you can go through them :rolleyes: I took her up to my friend Ann's schooling bit in the field because she has a couple of showjumps up there, i tried jumping Grace and surprise surprise i didn't get her over a single one! Ann didn't know what to do either, we tried cantering her straight towards them from a long run-up, turning sharply and then trying to jump, going at an angle...everything! Neither of us have any more ideas! She doesn't even get a fright when they crash down. We thought it was perhaps because the poles were so easy to knock down so i tried taking her over a "scary" semi-solid filler, didn't work, she took the filler (and the wings!) down with her when she went storming through it. As far as i know, i'm doing everything right, riding confidently, kicking/giving her a tap with my stick before the jump, etc. but she just doesn't go over them. I know that she CAN jump, i've jumped her! When i went to try her i took her over a nice colourful jump in the arena and she flew over it! She cleared 2'3" by at least a foot!! I don't know what's changed :( any help?!

[casey]

All I can think of without seeing your canter, is that maybe its too flat and not the rocking horse type canter needed for jumping.
It is so important to have the right canter, much more so then people realise.

If your sure the canter isn't to blame.
I would put tarpaulin on the floor with a small jump over it , so your horse will be less inclined to run through it.

What I would be bothered about, is the underlying cause. As you know horses are extremly protective of their legs and wouldn't willingly run through jumps. Especially as she jumped when you tried her.

Get an instructor to assess you, as this must be frustrating for you both.:)

[Horsegal014]

Hello, sorry you are having such a problem with your girl. Through riding our "trial" horses at a school, several horses did just the same thing! One of them had had formaldehyde put too high up on his hooves and it deadend the coronet band making him knock through jumps (so the vet said), another seemed to think it was fun! Solid cavaletties (had X's on each end that could be rolled to different hights) helped him lots, once he found out he couldnt knock them over, or should he have hit them just right and the would only flip over higher, he stopped! Just something to think about, hope things get better for the two of you!

[G.Gracious]

Casey, thanks, will see if i can get an instructor to have a look at me and Grace, proffesional help might be just what we need!

Horsegal014, where can i get solid cavalettis from? Or do i have to make them myself? They sound like a good idea.

Ann's husband suggested we tie the poles to the wings so that when she crashes into them the whole jump falls over, think that might just make her refuse jumps alltogether though!!

[Tor&Warrior]

I think getting an instrcutor to have a look in obviously the best.

I'd try jumping her out of trot. It should make little difference to whether she knocks them or not but a good bouncy trot will probably be easier to keep and she's more likely to give a better jump from it. Especially as she's a baby she could get flat in her canter and this will really not help.

I don't mean to cause arguments but I'm not a fan of cavaletties as they will roll the whole jump if the horse catched it wrong and you'll end up with it wrapped round its legs and you all in a big pile on the floor. Cavaletties are more of an old style jump and aren't really used any more because of this reason, never in shows, pony club etc. I wouldn't like to jump them on any horse let alone a horse with a problem of hitting them as your asking for trouble. This would be the same thing if poles were tied to the wings. If she hits it, which she almost certainly will as she wont know its tied to it this time, you'll end up with the whole thing crashing down and causing big problems. You could all end up really hurt and you could scare her and she might not jump anything again!

I agree with putting something like bags or fillers under the jump to make her pick her feet up. Even if she has a spook this could be a good thing cause it'll mean she wont want to touch it.

Do you put boots on her? I had this problem for a while with Flyte. I bought him really expensive medicine boots which I loved and were so protective. They were great XC but we started Show Jumping in them and he started exactly like Grace. The jump could be 1ft but because the boots were so thick he didn't care so he ploughed straight through everything!! So I jumped him bootless for a while and then only used tendon boots.

I also had a cob just like gracie a few years ago and know how "hard" they can think they are. She was also very very clumbsy Show Jumping. Now don't shoot me for this but I found that taking her XC, doesn't have to be big, with no boots on made her pick her feet up. She never touched the fences or got even the smallest bang but she knew they were solid and respected it, where as Show Jumps her attitude was why bother picking me feet up so high when there not going to hurt me. But a XC every now and again made her much more respectful to the Show Jumps. But this is only if your 100% that the problem isn't cause by anything else.

Torx

[cvb]

crashing through jumps isn't a great idea - the poles can get between their legs and bring you and them crashing to the ground.

It also seems odd that she would prefer this to jumping cleanly. The effort is not much different but it will hurt more. Could it be that she saw knocking them down as preferable to stopping ? There may be an underlying reason WHY she's doing this e.g. sore back, joints, mouth ? etc.

What sort of warm up did you do ? What is she like over ground poles ? Raised ground poles ? I would be tempted to go right back to basics and build up again so you can work out what and when the problem happens.

e.g. does it happen from trot ? canter ? do you use placing poles ? (and do they make any difference ?) ground poles ? is she better with cross than upright ? and so on.

[Horsegal014]

I wasnt clear on my description of the cavaletti's, the X's that hold them up, arent even a foot high (we used to have larger ones but got rid of them due to the problem Tor&Warrior brought up.) The middle pole is attatched to one of the X so different highest can be gotten. x----x <- kind of like that

[FreedomStar]

horse gal, I know exactly what you're talking about the kind you can just roll over and it's a few inches higher, we have tons of those at my riding school, they're excellent for trot work.

How about backing off of the jumping for a while?? It could be that she's bored of jumping and doesn't want to jump so much. Try different things. Do some basic schooling, some games, longing, trail riding, cross country (not the jumps) and just do lots of lateral work to build up the hind end and a light contact. Then, when you feel comfortable, put down some trot poles, canter poles, and then small, raised cavaletti. Then start building up from there, but don't keep a steady jumping pattern/

[Horsegal014]

Hooray! I'm so glad someone knows what I'm talking about! I was beginning to wonder if I was just imagining the jumps! (sorry for the pointless post! :o )

[Tor&Warrior]

I know what kind of jumps you mean but I would still not use them with ahorse with a problem like this as I've seen bad falls from small mistakes using them.

[Lovecat]

Murphy does this all the time, however he's fine with solid XC-type jumps - logs etc - my instructor said it's because he was used for hunting in Ireland where it doesn't matter how you get over/through the jump as long as you do! Bless him, he never refuses or runs out, but he just ploughs straight through everything given half a chance!

I have some lovely photos of him demolishing every jump in the school when I can get round to scanning them in....:rolleyes:

We were advised to take it in trot before trying for canter, start low but concentrate on the timing and the rythym of the stride, it does work but it takes a lot of effort and to begin with help is needed to understand it (well, it was for me, anyway!) so I would agree that an instructor would be beneficial, just to let you know what you ought to be working on.

Good luck!

[G.Gracious]

Lots of great advice, thanks :D

I haven't tried jumping since i wrote this thread as i don't have any jumps and have to borrow friend's or go over to their place.

The general message that most of you have been giving me is to try her over solid XC jumps. I don't have access to any solid jumps but seeing as it's the summer holidays i have lots of time and will go round to Scottish Woodlands and ask for some spare wood to make my own!!

Do you think starting the jumps at about 1'3" or something tiny like that would be ok?

But before i do any jumping i am getting her a new saddle, i was tacking her up a few nights ago and her saddle really doesn't fit any more, it's too narrow. I tried my friend's Wintec 500 on her and it fitted perfectly, her husband knows a little about saddlery and he said that it is an excellent fit for her so i'm going to buy a Wintec for her. So if anybody sees a Wintec 500, 17", black, with the interchangeable gullet and CAIR for sale...let me know!!

FreedomStar - i don't think she's bored of it, she hasn't done it since last November!! Come to think of it, maybe that's the reason why she's misbehaving, becasue she hasn't jumped in so long. Will defiantely do some games, flat work, etc. with her.

cvb - we just do a basic warm up, walk/trot/canter on each rain, circling and some trotting poles. She's fine with trotting poles, goes over them perfectly and will happily lengthen/shorten her strides to fit the spacing. Haven't tried her over raised poles, will try taht next time i ride her. I agree with you, i think going back to basics is the best idea. Yes, she did it from trot and canter. I haven't tried placing poles, what an obvious idea! It just didn't cross my mind! It doesn't matter if it's a cross or an upright, she still knocks it down.

Tor&Warrior - i didn't have boots on her the first time because i was expecting her to go over them but i put boots on once she started going through them!

I have just got access to a proper all-weather outdoor arena which is just a 10 minute trailer journey away from me so i'll be able to work much better in there than in my field!! I'll try doing some work in the arena, raised poles, etc. and i'll also take her down into the XC field and take her over some mini solid jumps, hopefully she doesn't start refusing/running out when she realises she can't go through them!!!

I hope i've answered everybody's questions, if not, don't worry, i did read your reply!! I've read through everything and all i can say is THANK YOU, these have been some of the best replies i've ever got!!

[Tor&Warrior]

Sorry I didn't mean to make sure that she had boots on what I ment was that sometimes, especially if a horse doesn't respect poles anyway, that it can be made worse by boots because then they'll feel absoluley nothing! Thats what happened to Flyte!

The same as Lovecat said, because Flyte had only done XC and hunting he had little respect for Show Jumps until he learned.

Good Luck with getting a new saddle and getting this sorted!

Torx

[casey]

Originally posted by G.Gracious
The general message that most of you have been giving me is to try her over solid XC jumps.

Sorry to put a spanner in the works, but if she is crashing through showjumps, there is NO way i'd put her over solid jumps.

There must be an underlying cause, whether it be lack of impulsion or a physical problem. Horses dont like hitting their legs regardless.... and jumping her over solid obsticles, will not only knock her confidence but could cause you a real accident.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I would get a trainer to assess before you even atempt to correct the problem yourself.:)

[RachelEvent]

I've got a wintec close contact 17" for sale if you're interested?

PM for details..

Rachel xx

[G.Gracious]

Originally posted by casey
Sorry to put a spanner in the works, but if she is crashing through showjumps, there is NO way i'd put her over solid jumps.

There must be an underlying cause, whether it be lack of impulsion or a physical problem. Horses dont like hitting their legs regardless.... and jumping her over solid obsticles, will not only knock her confidence but could cause you a real accident.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I would get a trainer to assess before you even atempt to correct the problem yourself.:)

As i said in an earlier post, before i do anything i'm getting her a new saddle, i think that may be part/most of the problem. Will also get her teeth checked.

I know what you mean about causing an accident, in my first post i mentioned that my friend had suggested jumping a solid wooden jump but i refused as i had visions of her refusing, running out, attempting the jump but not making it, etc.

I've been having a phone/look around for an instructor who could come and look at us. If i'm going to do this i'd like to do it properly so i'm looking for a BHS qualified instructor.


RachelEvent - will PM you ;)

[AvantiEqCenter]

Hi!

You can try a tiny gate--a solid-looking jump that actually releases if a horse hits it. Maybe she thinks the rails aren't worth her time. If she sees a "solid" jump she might give more of an effort--she doesn't know this one won't hurt. :)

Good luck!

[hApPiNeSs]

this is exactly what i went through with happy! what i did was to really go back to basics. me and my friend just got a REALLY long piece of wood (no nails or splinters!) and put it on a couple of upturned buckets. then i got my friend to lead her pony over the jump and i lead happy, not letting her drag behind and giving her a slap with the whip if she slows down. try and run slighty in fornt but not too much and to her side so you dont get squashed, and jump the jump following the other pony. when happy saw the other horse, and me, jump it, she jumped it too. then i gave her a treat. hope this helps :)