Speedy Speedy Horse?!?

Question

Hi there,

Well im riding a 18 year old TB gelding who is still VER ridable and jumpable

He could easily do 4 feet at his age right now.

He is a jmper but he has this habbit of going to the jump nicely then taking off and i personally really dont like this. Now every jumps I just now i put a ple infront of the jump aproxamitly a few trot steps and it heps him for taking off on me.

But I plan on showing him his smmer in the begginers and I would like to do a lil bit of jumping at the shows.

AT the shows how do I get him from taking of a breakneck speeds to the jump?!

My coach just said sit up and try to hld him back and thn 1 stride before let him go.

WHat are some exercises I could do with him to hep slow him down?!

Thanks

Answer 1

First, let's get the safety concern out of the way: make sure you're always working with a professional when you ride and especially when you jump this horse. At your level, you need the expertise of someone on the ground.

Now, horses rush for a variety of reasons, and it's nearly impossible to diagnose the exact cause without watching you ride. If this horse in question has a background in the jumpers as opposed to hunters, then it could be quite likely that this is how he was trained. In the jumper ring, which is dominated with tight turns and combinations, many riders train their horses to come back and collect through a turn or bending line, then at three strides out from the fence, they open the horse up to give him more momentum over a larger spread. Your horse may be remembering this type of ride, and waiting from a cue from you as to when he should wait and when he should go. If he's not getting that signal, he'll make the decision himself.

It's also possible you're cuing him to go forward when you don't intend to. Some riders, particularly nervous ones, tend to grip with their calves for security, which will just send the horse forward. If the horse is a TB, then it's likely he had some racehorse training. Though 18 is old enough that most of this should be firmly in the past, many horses never really forget it. Racehorses are trained to go forward into the pressure of the reins, so pulling hard on the reins could just ignite those old training habits and send him rushing forward.

Again, it's impossible to know what exercises to give you without knowing why the horse is rushing. As a general rule, though, you should deepen your seat and relax. Following you horse's movement as opposed to fighting it will help him relax, too. Do a lot of trot poles and gymnastic exercises. Your trainer should know many of these. Even though you'll be doing courses at the show, gymnastics require a horse to use precise pace and striding through the exercise. They set him up mentally and physically for the type of ride and jump you'll want on course. And remember that at the show, with natural nerves, you'll probably speed up again. So don't go into a competition until you can successfully ride a course at home without rushing once.

Answer 2

I suggest that you lunge your horse before you ride because he could be going fast because of lots of energie. Just have him trot and canter for a couple of minutes. Just make sure you do it like 10 minutes before the show. It should tire him out and stop him from taking off. I also suggest you lean back and use your words clearly and strongly. And start off at small jumps and see how it goes if he still takes off after a jump lean back and have him canter around the arena to let off some steam. It should help. Good Luck and be confident with your jumping. Horses can sense excitment and if you get all worked up then he will want to go run off.

Answer 3

i answered a question with an answer that i think will help you, so if you'll go to my profile and look through my questions that ive answered for the one titled "how can i make my horse more responsive?".i know you probably dont want to take the trouble but i really really dont want to type it all again, and my computer is so ancient it doesnt have a copy/paste. sorry, but it might help.

Answer 4

My favorite is after the horse jumps the jump, put on the breaks and stop the horse. I'd definately always be able to do some dressage work be able to collect the horse then extent at YOUR command. Do some lounge work so that when you say "easy" he slows, when you cluck he goes faster. Get this on the lounge line or under saddle on the flat FIRST. Then, work on going up to a jump and then asking him to stop infront of it (if you aren't comfortable with this, just skip this step).

I then control the horse right after, sometimes I ask them just to trot, sometimes I ask them to NOT move, or sometimes I ask them to go faster. Usually I don't ask for faster if they want to run off, but I'd definately in practice just whenever he speeds up, completely stop, you can even up it a bit and back him up. Good luck!

Answer 5

Okay I've just been through this with my daughter and her speedy speedy jumper.

You are strong you have to believe you are strong enough to pull him up. Now no grandma riding making him just plod around. Hold your reins very short. Get your whip if possible, flap it around or smack him if possible. Drive him forward and the moment he goes to rush off sit up and pull him back.

I'd start with going over a scattering of poles and stop within 3 strides afterwards - first at trot then canter.

Then a small jump, trot  - then canter, halting 3 strides after each time. Pretend the enemy is present after 3 strides so you have to stop!

Then two jumps with the same halting afterwards.

Now you're onto it, 3 jumps, 4,5 - right through to your 10 jumps and halting immediately after the round.

In the air make sure your hands are resting on his neck as you need to be super well balanced to pop straight up and pull him up if need be. Practice some doubles 10m apart and don't allow him to speed off inbetween.

Half halts are then evey effective upon approaching the jumps. Most important though that you don't train at home like a slow rider, he must be perfectly forward moving. So shorten up those reins and take control.

Very best of luck - your tb will be so clever, a very firm halt, I'm talking realy pulling hard on his mouth 3 times and he'll be far easier to halt. Sorry it has to be so tough (rough), I hate to pull on horses mouths but this is very effective, if you can manage to do it 3 times after cantering over a few jumps you'll be surprised how quickly he learns.

My daughters pony has been transformed after 3 days, and I'm talking 'terribly dangerous fast' before we started this technique. First day we jumped up to a course of 6 jumps 3 rounds. Second day we jumped up to a course of 8 jumps and the last day we jumped a full course of 10 jumps. Each day we started from a scattering of poles, 1 jump and built up from there.

Good luck - happy jumping, and best of luck with the up and coming shows. I hope this helps.

Answer 6

if its only with the larger jumps it might just be that he needs that extra speed for momentum. if not then maybe do some practising with trotting poles, keeping him at an even stride then slolwy advance to small jumps etc. if he goes too fast then take him back to the poles.

i dont know much about jumping, but (dont want to sound like a *****) with marrissa b's answer i think that stopping and turning before a jump is not a good thing because then its sort of teaching him to refuse or swerve at last minute. dunno if thats right but thort i might just add that.

Answer 7

What your coach says, can and will help, but if you find yourself holding your horse in and growing new muscles in your arm from holding him in, and you want to continue jumping him. do not circle the horse before the jump and do not stop him. set up a ground pole before the jump so that he has to collect himself before he pushes off. if it doesnt slow him down as much, add another ground pole in front of that one. i couldnt imagine that after 3 or 4 poles he would still want to take off for the jump. i would actually try and do some groundwork with him and while undersaddle, do some flat work with him also. a great book you can google.com for is from Clinton Anderson Downunder Horsemanship. it is for english and western riders and it is about $30. it is a great book and will help your horse a lot about his jumps.

just remember, NOT to stop or circle him before a jump. you will ultimately teach your horse how to refuse and balk at a jump which could hurt you or the horse.

also, what height are you jumping at? anything over 3'6" i would be able to justify a little faster pace and then anything about 4' 6" i would understand the almost "gallop" to take off. but even then once you start pushing out so much speed, you start losing the momentum for jumping the height and can cause a high-speed wreck.

Answer 8

There's many ways. Like laying out poles so the keep stride and a regular pace. He's probally excited to jump so, when he rushes stop him and circle him. Once he calms down taking him to the jump agian and continue the process till he goes to is smoothly. The technice will teach him if he wants to jump he has to aproach is with a regular speed.

Answer 9

you want to show him he can have fun but he cant overload it.

as you go over the jump, shift you weight deep into the saddle and when you land softly into the saddle don't keep the deep seat because your doing what i call "electric butt"

which is telling him go, go,go. good luck!