HELP!!!loves to jump too much!!!!!!

[tb_rider]

my horse loves jumping. but gets really strong when doing it. i'm only doing crossrails, and he will do fine over the first one but the rest he wants to be a jumper! it feels like were jumping 3ft over them!! is there something i can do to make him calm down and slow down???:confused: :(

[kirstie]

i used to ride a horse callled Spirit and she stood up to her name very fast and strong and you needed powerful arms to bing her under control. What my instructor said like the other too is circle when your going round the outside track amd you ask for trot/canter and you feel her goin faster. TURN HER. keep circling until she is going the speed you want her to go at. Then turn her to the jump talk to her, "Whoa" "Steady" and "Good Girl" this will keep her calm and relaxed. you could also try doing half halts when approaching the jump, to steady her up. Can you walk, trot, canter with you in control??? :)

[Berry]

There's another recent post that is called 'Too excited about jumping?' by Wings, she seems to have a similar problem and she's had a few replies to it, you could check it out.

[KarinUS]

Often times when horses get like the way you describe they actually are anxious about jumping and want to get it over with rather than being truly excited about it. You could work on building confidence. :)

[*Sparkle]

Hey there- I have had similar problems to yours and I have two suggestions.

-My horse tends to rush jumps when he is bored and not paying attention; since you are jumping crossrails, this could be the problem if he is not focused or challenged by the work. Try decorating your jumps- adding fake flowers, brightly colored poles, saddle pads, anything that make the jumps look funny. This will keep him more focused as well as building his confidence for when you move up and jump scarier jumps =)

-Another exercise I have tried is, providing you have enough space in your arena, trot or canter a 20-metre circle before jumping. Wait until he has a nice steady pace going, then canter him straight past the jump. If he gets tense or starts to rush on the approach to the jump, steer around it. Don't jump it until he's calm. When you land, steer him right back onto the circle and repeat it. You can also circle between fences in a line, providing you have enough space; turning him in tight circles will only excite him more. Eventually, he should get the idea that jumping only happens when he's calm.

best of luck to both of you :-)

-Jess