jumping

[shoniedaspony]

Now i know im not the most accomplished jumper, in fact i am probably one of the least...but still. I have been having jumping lessons every other weke interspersed with flat lessons (based on the theory that both need huge amounts of work, so we will do one on each as without flatwork, there is no point even attempting jumping!!). I do trust my instructor, i know she wouldnt ask me to try anything i wasnt capable of. However i do not seem to be able to control the irrational fear that for whatever reason, we will not be able to get over the jump!

I have jumped up to 2ft, including doubles and spreads, crosses and uprights etc, both on my usual horse and several riding school ponies, plus a friends horse. Today i was riding this horse of my friends and i had jumped a tiny jump, both in trot and canter, it cant have been more than a foot. then she put it up to id say over 2ft, like 2ft 3/6 possibly... (although to me, taking one look, thought irrationally that it was more like 4ft!!) but i felt prepared to give it a go, wasnt pressured into it at all. Now on first apporach, i lost my bottle and when sam slowed to a trot i didnt push him on, just took him around the jump at the last minute...but berating myself for being such a wimp, i took him round again, and kept the canter til almost at the jump where i felt the canter slow, and i immediately thought he refuse, so didnt go into jumping position. well the angel that he is he jumped it anyway, and i was unbalanced but fine.

But i always seem to have this problem, i am fine when my instructor says am i ok to try it, i am fine on the approach, up until the part where i feel she might not want to do it, and id prefer to let her stop than her to stop dead infront of a jump and me fly off the side (done before, into an unfortunate bed of nettles!!) or for her to crash into the jump and hurt herself.

now she does enjoy jumping, although she takes off very early and makes the jump feel enourmous, when its just a little cross!! but she can be canny to try and get out of work, but i cant seem to keep the bottle to stop her running out or slowing to a stop before we reach the jump. im finding it really hard, as i know i have jumped these heights before and everything was fine, but i just seem to not be feeling a massive trust in myself or malibu.

I know jumping high is not a nessecity (SP?) and that starting small is the best idea, but small is no problem, and she is also getting to the stage that if its small she wont jump it properly because she cant be bothered, and shel knock it.

Massive apologies for the extensively long post, but any advice on confidence gaining would be appreciated. Or do i just need to slowly increase the size of the jump, hole by hole, each lesson and practise?hmmm why is it so big from up close, but doenst feel so large when you get over it!??

Thanks
Shona
xx

[amylou_84]

ok il tell you now that im not going to be much help :rolleyes: but i wanted to say that you are not the only one. i dont have a horse and only jump with the riding school horses so i guess it is a little different. these horses i ride have been trained and know how to jump etc. having your own horse (or using someone elses horse that isnt school trained) and jumping with her may be a bit more difficult as you are not only thinking about your fears and worries to get over the jump but you are also thinking what if Malibu doesnt jump right and i fall off because of that.
so i cant help you with Malibu's problems with jumping, if she even has any, but il say that i know where you are coming from with your own fears.
i used to canter jumps no problem last summer. a year later and i get a rush of fear every time i see my instructor setting up the jumps. even if he puts the jump up one hole, i think it is about a foot higher and refuse to do it. to me the jumps look huge the first time i see them. but as soon as i jump over them a few times and realise thay they are not so big then i relax a bit. but as soon as they are raised again i feel fear. there have been many times in a lesson where i am cantering up to a jump and i see it looming towards me and at the last minute i pull up. its not good for the horse as the next time around the horse refuses because i made him refuse the first time around. however i cant stop myself from doing it.
my way of coping is to take it slowly. i also have a good instructor that knows my fear and pushes me enough to get me over the jumps the first few times so my confidence grows. unfortunatly my lessons dont seem long enough so as soon as i begin to feel a little more confident the lesson is over.
i guess all i can say is try jumping lessons with a well trained riding school horse, so you dont have to worry if the horse is good enough at jumping and you can concentrate on your own thoughts. if you trust your horse then you relax a bit more. start small and work your way up. thats all we can really do. there is no miracle cure, it is a matter of confidence and mind over matter. just think of the last show jumping event you saw on tv and think of how high those jumps are. the size you (and i) jump are tiny compared to that :D
good luck and tell us how you are doing!

amy :D

[kedwards]

If we have it in our head that we won't get over the jump (or even that we are reluctant to jump, for whatever reason), we tend to send mixed signals to the horse.

I recently dealt with this in my own horse when I was expecting him to run out after a jump. In anticipation, I was riding forward in a "go, don't go, go, don't go" sort of way and he refused the same, straightforward jump about 5 times (and he's not prone to refusing). Funny thing is, this was the end of a long x-country session, so I decided to end on a good note by putting him over an inviting, log jump. I had walked him up to it just to give him a look first (at the request of my instructor) and don't you know, Bud kept going and jumped the darned thing from a walk.

Moral of the story. It's very hard to hide your intentions from the horse. When you plan to go over, they know it. When you have reservations, they know that too.

Don't ask him to do anything that you don't truly believe that he can do, but once you've made that decision, stand by your belief and send him on.

One thing I try to drill into myself is that I do no favors to the horse by being indecisive. Ultimately, he has the power to refuse whether I ride him confidently forward or not, but failing to ride him confidently forward only makes him anxious from the start.

[shoniedaspony]

thanks very much guys, i know entirely what you mean about the mixed signals, at a jumping lesson riding Malibu (i am sharing her) she kept refusing the first jump in a double because i didnt feel in my heart she was going to jump it, so she felt i had lost faith and didnt entirely want to jump it. A friend has suggested pointedly looking above the jump and past it, or even closing my eyes so i dont see how large the jump looks as i approach but this seems even more scary and although i trust the horses that i ride to behave all places, even alongside double decker buses and on fast gallops in the field, the jumping seems difficult. Now Sam (the friends pony i rode) is an angel, loves jumping, and wouldnt refuse however much you wernt urging him on, but malibu takes advantage. However i cant "decide" as such because my fear tends to take over, and even if i am still urging the horse on and over with my legs and voice, my heart doesnt want to so the horses can tell!!! i suppose i should stick at small and go up from there, and go up hole by hole, and if i am unsure, to go back down and build up again. I dont suppose this helped me the other day as it went from half a foot to massive (in my opinion!!).

think i will try to ride Sam a few times as he is ex-riding school and know it all, whereas malibu has not much more idea than i do!!

Thanks again.

[DITZ]

Just remember that you can sometimes do more damage by telling your horse to jump (ie let him do the approach) and then tell him not to (send him past/stop him) unless you are doing something specific like getting him to listen to you. You are sending mixed signals and your horse is probably doing what he thinks is best - ie he feels you dont want to jump it and so he doesnt. He's probably trying to look after you!

It is an irrational fear and one that I've had too and one that can be overcome. Just remember that its not you that is actually jumping the jump its your horse and your horse is perfectly capable of jumping 2ft 6" with ease.

Also another big tip is as you turn into the approach to find a point beyond the jump (say a fence/tree/road sign etc) and fix your eyes on this and dont look away from it. Before you know it you'll be over the jump and because you dont know when the jump is coming you cant anticipate it and you'll fold at the right time too.

[shoniedaspony]

that seems much more appealing to me ditz, than closing my eyes, i will try that, pick a shed or tractor etc, i shall make sure i try that next time. i also, as you rightly guessed am either too late or too early, and on the odd occasion i fold at the right time...amy anticipatory skills leave something to be desired so i suppose this would get the feeling rather than the sight correct. many thanxs, will not be jumping until probably next thursday (the joys of a footsore pony after a week-late farrier, and only riding 3x a week (im not being unappreciative, promise) )

do you think watching other people jump the horses i am riding might help too? just to prove to me that they can jump it?
i do actually feel better jumping the same height on a less experienced, bigger horse (16.2), rather than know it all pony (14.2)...silly i know!! thanxs and i will tell you all how it goes!

[kedwards]

i suppose i should stick at small and go up from there, and go up hole by hole, and if i am unsure, to go back down and build up again.

That's the ticket! Go about building your own confidence the same way you would build confidence in a young horse - step by step!

And yes, it might help to watch somebody else jump the horse, so long as it goes well.

[Ruffiane]

I found one night when I was really too tired to try to control everything, and just decided to let the horse do what she needed to do and I'd just hang on, that it got better for me.

Also I'd been watching the previous class, and realized these were such baby steps - jumping over 1.5 feet cross poles. What in the world was I afraid of?

I've only been riding consistently for 4 months, and I find the more I ride, the better it gets. But I would go back to baby steps. At my 2nd stable, my lessons aren't as advanced - I'm still pretty much just trotting, and it gives me a chance to really refine my seat, my hands, my confidence - everything.

I know my next step will be trotting over cross poles, staying in 2-point and cantering over another low jump after just 1 beat and I know I can do this. Maybe trying something like that will help you regain your confidence.

There are women I ride with who have been riding much longer who still go in and out on the confidence, especially with the jumping.

I take Zoloft, and sometimes, if I feel my anxieties getting the better of me, I'll up the doseage a little for just that day. Not the best way to conquer fears, but it works.

[shoniedaspony]

For the first time since my post i jumped today. Just decided i felt like it, so went and set up some jumps (cups on the fourth hole for the straight, hole nine for the cross...no dont ask me how high that makes the jumps!!)

It was odd because i had set the jumps at a height i felt perfectly comfortable with, so rode confidantly in trot towards the cross after warming up (walk trot canter circles etc) my heart was really in it, and i was keeping my leg on, trying to keep the impulsion, and she just stopped dead at the fence. i instantly turned her around, circled in trot, and approached again in canter and she jumped it perfectly. however after a few times over the cross, i decided to try the straight which was if anything lower. cantered up to it and she stopped dead...so someone lowered half the pole and we walked over it, then jumped it half up, then jumped it fully up...and she was fine (by this time i had borrowed a stick for extra encouragement if neccersary)

oddly enough, the carrying of a stick seems to be enough, if i carry one i use it extremely rarely, but if i dont i seem to find occasion where i might have wanted to!! i dont like using it anyway but i suppose where i could have used it and where i do use it are entirely different..other people seem to actively encourage me to use it several times after the horse refuses a jump (ie when we are turing around away from the jump to reapproach) and i just dont see why it is appropriate.

sorry rambling..just thought id keep you updated!!

[kedwards]

It sounds like you are making progress. Once a horse gets it in his mind that you may hold back, it can take awhile to build him back up and prove that you really do intend to mean it everytime you face him at a jump. It sounds like you are heading in the right direction, it just may take some consistency to assure him that you will remain consistent.