going soo fast

[mister jones]

well i have got Mickey's approach to a fence sorted and he will now trot nicey into a fence if anything he needs leg but on the get away he reli tries to bomb off with me nd it takes me about once around the school to slow him down i have now started circling him but is thre anything else i could maybe try?

[Kris R]

Perhaps Mickey has jumping anxiety. He has got over the fence and really just wants to get away from the ’ monster’ as fast as possible. Then if you are holding on to him tightly because he is rushing his adrenalin levels shoot up and he gets anxious and tense. It takes seconds for adrenalin to kick in but longer for calmness to return. For example if Mickey had knocked himself on a pole at some point in the past he would become anxious that it would happen again. If you fall off your bicycle or a horse for the first time, you will naturally feel stressed about getting on and trying again. It takes time to gain confidence.

Before you begin I know you hear this time and time again but make sure Mickey is comfortable with his tack and that he hasn’t strained something somewhere and is in pain. It is easy for us not to recognise signs of discomfort and not so easy for our horse to tell us.

So what to do ? you want to set up a situation where Mickey cannot run away and to encourage him to remain in a slower pace. You want him to remain calm and responsive. I assume you may just have one or two fences set up and you turn into this to jump it. You need to ensure your exit point is nearer one end of the school and you can create a corridor (with cones) for a few metres after the fence with a pole lying on the ground. You need to leave enough room to turn comfortably either left or right before the end of your school.

Start off with just a pole on the ground where the fence wings are and at the end of the cone corridor. You then ride him through this at walk first of all and then trot, it may take a few sessions. You just want him to get used to the set up. Let him look at the items if he wants to and talk to him and scratch him on the withers as he walks through. Only when you feel ready try at trot, but don’t just turn into the fence and jump work him in circles in front of it and work closer to it. The idea is you don’t give him the chance to anticipate when you want him to jump. If he rushes in trot you return to the walking pace. Eventually you remove the cones and move the pole a little higher and you add a second jump a little way after the first.

Take your time and watch his reactions if you are moving too quickly he will rush again.

Remember every time you change the setup let Mickey examine it in walk.
Good luck

[LORRI]

If he is just bombing it off to be cheeky why dont you set up you jump and then put a pole on the ground 1 stride away from the jump, this usually slows down our crazy lil' ponies! :D :p

Whats he like at gridwork?

Good luck with him and let us know how you get on! :D

[mister jones]

If he is just bombing it off to be cheeky why dont you set up you jump and then put a pole on the ground 1 stride away from the jump, this usually slows down our crazy lil' ponies! :D :p

Whats he like at gridwork?

Good luck with him and let us know how you get on! :D


my instructor strongly disagrees with landing poles and believes they can be very dangerous if landed on....which causes a bit of a problem seeing as i am at her yard :rolleyes:
he good at gridwork but speeds up after it like he does with jumps!

thannkyou and wil do:)

Kris R:

i really dont think he is in any paini think he is just expressing himself and is just excited and looking for the next fence.
i think i will deffinatly have to try your sufggestion next time i jump so thankyou and i hop it works as i am strarting to get some very big blisters on my hands. :rolleyes:

thankyou everyone for your hel it is greatly appreciated and i will let you know how iget on:)

if anyone else has any other suggestions please do share im very open minded and really wan to sort this out

Edit to add= his saddly and bridle has just recently been fitted and he's had the dentist out just before i bought him.

[lynz+ollie]

i always used to catch ollie out by asking him to stop after some jupmps and other letting him carry on, just to make sure he was listening.
it ight be that your unballenced afetre the jump so he loses his ballence and has to go faster to get hi ballance back.
my trainer uses landing ples with her 6 year old but she is really experience and a really good rider, unless you have help from somebody really experienced id give them a miss!