Pick up those legs!!

[xLucyloox]

Hey i'm knew here, my name's Lucy and I'm 15. I've been riding for 11 years and i finally mananged to get my own two horses back in January. One is a TB x Irish something, hehe, and she's called Peggy and she's a chestnut 16.1hh mare. The other is Tobi, he's only 14.1hh so he's really a pony but he's a highland with a HUGE personality, just used as a companion though, but he can jump 2"9!!
Now i have introduced myself....here is my problem: Peggy is an amazing jumper, in my eyes, and she can jump 1.05m no problem and the highest i've gotten her is 1.22m, and they are jumped just by themselves. Although when i take her round a course of maybe 3" jumps, she ends up knocking the majority down or clipping them! I don't understand why, and I have my first jumping show with her in 2days and i don't want to do bad! She also slighty rushes to the jump, and when i collect her she throws her head up and has a really short strided bouncy canter, and she also runs away but these problems aren't that bad anymore. She is REALLY strong and i have her on a bubble bit, which has worked a bit, and it's on the strongest hole!
I have spent ages reading all these posts and the advice is really good, so hopefully some showjumping pros can give me a lil' advice!
Thanks, Lucy

[LadyFrost]

Well... 3 inches or 3 feet? I'm guessing 3 feet, but anyway. The pony I use to ride jumped like that at first, you just got to keep practicing. Took me like 3 months almost to get her over stuff. She won't even jump over small jumps. Is it her back or front legs?

[kedwards]

Ideally, the horse is relaxed enough in his or her back to really round it over the jump. If she's approaching the fence fast and strung-out, she may jump long and flat. If she's shortened her stride and throwing her head in the air, her back is probably stiff so that she cannot use it fully over the jump.

Going to a stronger bit won't likely encourage her to stretch down and round the way you want her to. In fact, it may cause her to shorten here stride and stiffen her back even more.

I'd work on control/speed/striding exercises over small singles and lines until she is maintaining her pace. Also, gymnastic grids can be helpful for teaching the horse to maintain consistent striding. If this is going well, adding tighter gymnastics (including bounces) can help with improving her form over the jump itself.

[xLucyloox]

Sorry 3 feet yeh! Thanks, but i'm not putting her on a stronger bit for anything to do with her jumping, it's just with her strenght, i have changed back to her snaffle a few times and it is just making things worse. Thanks for the advice Kedwards, i'll try it.

[tasha]

She sounds a bit like Kally - too much hands, and she shortens and bounces, not enough hand and she jumps flat. I found with her that if the bit was too strong, it would make things worse - sounds like your bubble bit is too strong on the bottom hole. I'd give it a go one hole up, and ideally look into finding something she likes more.

I agree with Kedwards about the gymnastics, or grids, whatever you want to call them. I found that Kally really slowed down and respected jumps more doing grid work. Placing poles might help, but Kally has managed to do a whole 3 jump grid as a 6 grid bounce, by jumping the placing poles too! Make sure the grids are built up gradually, jump by jump, and vary the height of the elements. For example, Kal and I did one grid that was a 2ft6 X pole, 3 ft upright, 3ft3 upright then 3ft spread. We chopped and changed them a bit, so that she would really have to think.

I guess this doesnt help on your show day though!! Another thing I have found that helps is to use my seat and upper legs to slow Kal down, which means less hands and therefore less bouncing. Also I try and ride my turns slightly tighter than normal, thinking of my lines between fences having corners rather than smooth curves. This sets Kal back on her hocks, slows her down and gives her less time to think "ooh a jump - gallop!!". Its not ideal and certainly not text book, but in the short term it helps. Just dont make the corners too sharp or you'll end up on the floor!

[jumpthemoon]

I dont know if this would work but maybe you could free school her over some jumps and see if these problems still occur. Also correct me if im wrong but i think high cross poles encourage a horse to bascule. Maybe if you could free school her over a grid including some big cross poles she'd get more confident and produce a better shape over the fences.

[xLucyloox]

Thanks a lot guys, you all have really good ideas!! I'm going to do loads more gridwork and I will try the high cross-poles, they seem to make a lot of sense! :), I'm not really sure what the term 'free-schooling' means, i think it means like lunging her over. Please correct me if im wrong though!!
Thanks a lot, Lucy

[Sámie]

Heya, I have that problem to lol, my horse only jumps 2ft so far and he taps them down with his back feet when he gets lazy, a good tap on either the shoulder or the bum (depending which legs he knocks down the fence with) give them a tap, not like a telling off one just an encouragment one. If he still does it, give him two untill he works out what there for. Hope this helps!

[tasha]

Free schooling is a bit like lunging without a lunge line attached to the horse. You need an enclosed school, a schooling whip or coiled lunge line, and be confident on your equine body language. Its a useful tool and lots of fun for both horse and rider.