How do I slow my horse down?

Question

I just started leasing a horse that I plan to buy in a little over a month. She's everything I want except she loves jumping a little bit too much. Once she sees a jump there's no stopping her and she practically does a dead gallop to it and refuses to slow down. So it would be rather impossible to ride with someone else in the ring for fear of running into them let alone bring her to a show next year.

I've tried just about everything - Trotting her into the jump, putting ground poles a few strides ahead of the jump, one stride in front, or many ground poles every 2 or so strides going to a jump, just to remind her to think and slow down a little. Half halts work wonders for her on the flat, but when it comes to jumping there's no stopping her.

Some people from my barn suggested a stronger bit or a pelem, but she's already in a copper roller and I think pelems are horrible and I don't want to use one on her. She used to be a race horse and she's a TB so of course she's going to have energy, but this horse is waayyyy too fast to calm her down.

Today her owner let me school her in an on barn warm up to see if we worked well together in the show enviroment. My trainer had set up a gymnastic where it was a 4 stride to a 2 stride and this mare managed to turn the 4 stride into a one stride and bounce the 2 stride. Help?! I'm running out of ideas.

Answer 1

ahhh i would deffinately take some dressage lessons so your horse will learn to not just hang on your and run. Yes dressage is kinda boring but it will solve your problem and you will have a very submissive horse. You will be light years ahead of other hunter jumper riders that refuse to do dressage.

Dressage will teach you how to use your body to slow your horse and it will teach your horse to be light and not drag you to a jump. She will respect your aids.

From the H/J perspective if you don't wanna do dressage lessons just lower your height way down. like a foot. Enough so your mare will jump but not feel like she has to rush to do the height. Also do a lot of turns. I suggest setting up four cross rails or low verticals on a twenty meter circle and having your horse canter the circle over the fence and set a number of strides you want to get between the fences and make the horse get the stride. I usually do three strides into the first fence five to the next and strech for two then end with three again. It works on control. Sit to the fences and use your body to slow her down. Don't hang on her face to slow down. Just pull and release, pull and release. Stop her if you have to. She needs to respect your aids. Open one of your reins and squeeze the other one to soften her mouth.

Don't put a stronger bit in her mouth. You will only harden her mouth and make the issue much harder to correct.

Good luck. A horse that rushes takes patients and a quiet rider. I commended you for sticking with her.

Answer 2

I agree with the first answer.  I ride Pasos which sometimes get a bad rep for being high strung and hot.  But when my gelding tries to go too fast I give and take gently on the reins.  Mind you he knows this cue so I don't have to pull hard.  But if you try this you might have a little strong, until she learns the cue to slow down.  Even though my horse is a paso he loves to jump and if the person riding him doesn't know that he will take of towards the jump and go for it.  lol  

Answer 3

First, you can consider the age and experience of a horse - if she's a green little baby gaining some experience and growing into herslef. When she does a bit more jumping she may start to realize it doesn't take all the extra she's putting into it.

Next, remember to thoroughly warm her up before you jump, every ride. Trotting for a good 20 minutes will certainly take away some of her energy! Make sure the jumping isn't too simple either. Make some turns confusing, the jumps different, and try plenty of gymnastics and lines. You can also try cantering in a cicle before a jump if you feel she's getting too fast, and then half halt all the way to the fence.

Then, think about your horses enviroment- is she eating too much and that's why she has all the energy? You may want to cut down on her feed. And if she doesn't have any turnout, then she's taking all her energy out when your riding her.  You should also try riding her more often {weekdays} and just do jumping evry other day. You also try lunging her for a 1/2 hour before riding. And you might also want to reconsider not chainging that bit.

Hope this helps- happy riding!

Answer 4

u shouldnt buy her if u dont know this already...u dont want to rush into horse ownership and ruin a horse because ur lack of experience, try cricling b4 the jump until she settles and then when she isnt expecting it jump it and then prasie her.also do NOT use a stronger bit it is pointless because that would just b punishing her for ur/person who trained her lack of knowledge but i highly suggest you continue to look for a different horse its easy to look at everything good in a horse but she seems as if she is too much horse for you and if u want to be good u need a horse @ ur level to make u better.

Answer 5

u might  want to try some circles and if she gets to fast then pull her up. you should talk to her and say things like "easy" or "woah" in calm voices

Answer 6

1) Make sure jumping doesn't cause this mare any pain. She may anticapate the pain as she goes to jump and then wants to get it over faster.

2)If your horse isn't on the skinny side, decrease her grain or give her a less energy-high feed. It works wonders on horse behavior. But make sure she can get to plenty of hay.

3)You have good instincts to not want to use a harsher bit. That can cause many more problems.

4)Go back to ground work to get the mare focused on you. Make her do many turns on line to get her watching your moves. Then proceed to using to some ground poles and work your way up. Anytime she wants to speed up or pull on the line, get her to yield her hindquarters and face you. I always teach any horse I work with to yield their hindquarters because once they disengage their legs (cross them) they can't run.

5)Once you think you have more control go back to riding. Start with groundpoles. If she wants to speed up to them, then yield her hindquarters and trot off the other way. Do lots of changing of direction to get her relaxed and focused.

This can take awhile if it is engraved in her mind. But surely, it pays off in the end. I've worked with some challenging TB's that love to just take off and run and the more you pull back on both reins the faster they go. So make sure you don't do that. In a little while you should have a magnificent jumper (:

Hope I could help.

Answer 7

Start by bare-back riding. When you ask her to slow pull your knees up about 6 inches and completely focus on slowing down.

Answer 8

  It sounds like she's picking up the bit and running away with you.  Try breaking her forward momentum by pulling her around in a circle.  This might be scary if she really does a dead gallop like you say.  A stronger bit may just make her hard mouthed and unresponsive to you.  It's good that you horse likes to jump if that is the job you want her to do, but you need to be able to control that energy.  

Answer 9

There are a couple of things you can do.

I would play around with bits.  I think that a mechanical hackamore can work wonders for training (not for a show of course, but it can work great for training in jumping for a broke horse).  Don't just pull on it - pull and give, pull and give.  You'll also really have to learn to ride with your seat and get her on the bit.

You could try going back to more basic stuff until you have absolute control - go back to dressage work - half halt, lead changes, moving off leg.

When I was in college (UW-River Falls) one of the school horses LOVED to jump like yours.  She would just get faster and faster.

One of the professors vowed to "fix" her by the end of one of the semesters - and he did so by taking her over a jump and as soon as she got over it, he'd pull her to a stop and reverse and take her back over the jump.  If she rushed over the jump again, he'd turn her around and take her back over the jump again.  You have to be careful - do'nt start pulling them to a stop as they're completing the jump, that's just mean!  But, once they've landed - stop, turn, and take them over the jump again.  That's the most proven method to fixing rushing.

Otherwise, find something you can do with the horse.  If he loves to jump and is fast - what about cross country or (hopefully this isn't offensive to you - my apologies if it is) maybe try your hand at gymkhana/barrels.  I firmly believe that horses have to do what they love and what makes them happy - find that and you'll love your horse and stick with it for years.

Hope that helps!

Answer 10

Sounds like you just need a emergency brake. When your horse gets going to fast take your one of your  reins and turn your horses head to the inside towards you leg. Wait till your horse feet stops moving. then go again until your horse does it again. Since you horse does jumping right before you go over a jump shut down your horse(stop) and go again until your horse calms down before the jump. But make your horse go over it the next time or she might think she must stop before the jump and off you go.

Answer 11

not sure if this will help but try giving and twking on the reins untill she goes the speed you want

Answer 12

My mare is like this. She sees the jump and grabs the bit and takes off for it. It can be pretty scary.

What I did:

School halts on the flat untill she is stopping on a dime, reinforcing them with "Whoah" Whoah should be used for halts ONLY and not say canter to trot or just trying to get her to slow down at one gait. Set up a nice easy very low fence (if she's anything like my horse, it only has to be a little off the ground before she barrels for it). Trot large in the ring, reinforcing with half halts until she is at a slow relaxed jog. Bring her into the line and ask her to halt a couple strides in (it might be difficult, but she has to) and hold her in that halt. If she tries to make for the jump grab one rein before she gets close and spin her around back into that halt. Hold the halt for as long as you need to. Then ask for a walk for a couple strides. Make her walk and not jig into it. Then, literally two strides before the base, ask her to trot. She won't have time to rush and she'll be forced to take the jump slowly.

Repeat this untill she is relaxed and calm and no longer fighting the pattern. Then, trot her into it, but give STRONG half halts every few strides. Make her think you are going to ask for the halt, and then she will anticipate the halt vs. her anxiety to get to the jump.

Copper roller is a nice soft, very easy bit (I'm assuming snaffle?). Don't switch to a harsher bit, it will be a momentary fix, before she adjusts and starts fighting that bit.

Remember this all starts with ground work. Reinforcing her manners on the ground can never hurt and might build a respectful basis on which to tackle under saddle problems.

Good luck :)

Answer 13

Bump the bit slight quick pull back and release on the bit.