How can i get my horse to enjoy cross country and do it with ease?

Question

I bought my horse to do eventing, which includes dressage, stadium, and xc. yesterday we jumped these barrels in the field and i did it 3 times. the first time, he ran at it than at the last second he ran out but still jumped over the air. the second time he tried to run out but since i was ready he couldnt but still just jumped the edge rather than the middle. the third time i walked until i was about 6 feet away and then trotted and he did it fine. the problem is, if i do cross country, i cant just stop and walk for every fence. how can i work with him so he will jump them?

Answer 1

practice

Answer 2

I'm not a cross countery person, but I wouls follow the other peoples advice. And 1 of 4 things is going to happen:

1. If you just got him, give him some time to settle down.

2. If he was used as an eventer at the previous home, and you have had him for a while, he's being a brat.

3. If he wasn't used as an eventer at the previous home, and you've had him for a while, you're goind to have to train him to do it.

4. Much as I hate to tell you this, If you've had him for a while and he didn't do eventing at his previous home, he might dislike eventing. There are plenty of barrel horses who would rather be jumping and plenty of dressage horses who would rather be cutting. Just because a horse is meant / bred to do something, it doesn't mean that they want to do it.

Answer 3

How well does your horse to a barrel jump in an arena? If that was that the first time he ever saw a barrel jump, then his reaction is probably understandable. He might need some more jumping experience in the ring before he is ready to go outside. He will need to jump new jumps often enough that its no big deal, and that can be hard to do when you have a small number of jumps. So, be sure to change your jumps around a lot. I really suggest the book "101 Jumping Exercises for Horse and Rider" by Linda Allen for ideas and a schooling cirriculum.

Second, how well does your horse school out in the field when you are not jumping? You need to be able to speed up and slow down and turn easily at all three gaits, and halt,  outside before jumping outside.

If you don't have both of those ingredients in place, then you may need to spend some more time working the pieces before putting them together.

Assuming you do have both those skills already in place, then you are probably ready to start jumping in the field. One thing you should know, is that at the lowest levels of eventing (Green as Grass or Beginer Novice) where you would start out, there are no time limits. So, you actually can stop and walk for every fence. You can also circle if you need to as long as you have not presented your horse to the fence. (Cross-country only - circling in stadium is considered a refusal.) So, if that is what you need to do to get a good jump out of your guy, then you can do that. Alternately, you can trot into your fences. That just gives the horse more time to study the jump and assess what is being asked of him. As he gets better at it, he will be able to do it quicker. Also, the slower speed helps you to stay organized. But you need to do lots of slow, careful, deliberate work before you are ready to go fast. At the lower levels, cross country is not about speed, it is about obediance.

Finally, there is a LOT to learn in eventing and it can very dangerous when done improperly. You have to master three different disciplines and do them all well. I hope you are working with a qualified instructor for help. That's the best way to solve problems and progress.

Answer 4

I think with any "problem" that a rider is having and can not solve on their own they need to work with a trainer. But xc is a very dangerous phase and must not be attempted without TRAINING. I am glad to hear that you are interested in doing eventing. A lot of the schooling needed to do xc comes from dressage and show jumping, the only difference between xc and showjumping at the lower levels needs to be that the xc jumps are solid fences. To build a good xc horse you need to build their confidence and GO SLOW. xc is not about the speed. You need to find a place that has real xc jumps that you can school over. The chances of seeing a barrel on a xc course is slim to none. You need to school over logs and brush. Please work with a event training. Eventing is considered one of the most dangerous sport in the world. It ranks up there with sky diving.

Answer 5

IMHO, looking closely at your horse's behavior, I would say that he is simply "insecure" about being out in the open and not completely sure about how to go about this new phase of his job.  He could have easily refused the jump, but both times he tried the jump, he just wasn't sure if he was doing it the right way and afraid of getting hurt so he jumped awkwardly.  

Some horses are trained in an arena, ridden in an arena and compete in an arena.  They come to see the arena as this "safety zone" where they clock in, do their job, clock out and go back to their stable/paddock/pasture.  Once they are taken out of the arena and asked to work, it kinda turns their world upside down.  Some horses never adjust to the openess of the trail, and are unable to settle down and do the job required in cross country jumping.  

A good eventing horse is BOLD and FEARLESS on the cross country.  Cross country jumps, although change is underway, are a great deal more solid than stadium jumps. As a result an unconfident, fearful jumper on a cross country course is a dangerous jumper who stands a good chance of getting stuck in a jump or suffering a rotational fall because of a misjudgement or last minute mistake.

Always, always a beginner should have the help of an experienced trainer to introduce a green horse to the cross country phase.  So your best to find someone to help out -- even if you only take a couple of lessons.

Your horse is new, so SLOW things down and give him some time to get used to trail riding.  Take him out with a calmer horse and give him time to get used to the wide open spaces and miriad of distractions.  Once he can go out and behave calmly on a trail ride at all 3 gaits (walk, trot & canter), set up a LOW (no more than 1.5') cross country jump with "run out" poles.  Get a 10' to 12' lead and hand walk him up to the jump, let him inspect it, walk over it and let him step or hop over it.  Do this a couple of times until he relaxes and realizes it's no big deal. Praise him and end the day on a good note.  The next time you go out ride him up to the jump at a walk, walk around it, inspect it and finally take it at a trot.  Give him a decent approach and give him time to think and react accordingly.  Add more fences using the same technique.  Once he's calmly trotting obstacles you can graduate to a controlled canter and finally adding additonal obstacles in a sequence.

Good luck!

Answer 6

To begin with, jump only natural jumps like fences, etc and follow a companion horse, then graduate to the artificial jumps, still using a companion horse until your horse gains confidence and begins to enjoy it...get rid of the companion horse as soon as possible.  Try to keep your horse on the trails as much as possible and make the jumps a means to an end...the end of the trail, give him a reason for going over instead of around.  Also, if you are jumping a rail fence, try to do it between two trees....he isn't going to jump out then.  One more thing, if he jumps a barrier of any kind and does it correctly, go on, it's done, don't drill him....find another jump, find something else for him to do.

Answer 7

Walk them for a bit, letting him go a few strides out if they are small enough.  Then, when he is comfortable with that try just trotting him until you are both comfortable with that.  Then try the same at the canter.  I had a horse who was a perfect hunter in an arena jumping anything, but when I took him out, he was a hot mess, literally!  I did this every day for a month until I could finally let him be a little to do his thing.  It may take weeks for him to get used to it, but be patient.  The more you do it and the more exposure he gets to different jumps out there, the better off you will both be!

Hope that helps.