pulling head down after jumps

hi all

ive been doing a bit of jumping on my wb the last few days and hes quite a natural :) the first time we went over a jump it was accidental (long story) but he did it very nicely and confidently so ive been running him over a few jumps after some flatwork. the jumps are only about 10" high so nothing huge but its a starting point really.

anyways, the first few days he did really well but the last couple of times ive done it, he jumps nicely, lands well and then reaches his head down so far his nose almost touches the ground pulling the reins out of my hands and i nearly go A over Z. not quite though ;)

why is he doing this? he has plenty of release over the jump and its only once we have 4 feet on the ground again that i take up the pressure on the reins. its very little pressure, just the normal amount.

im not sure why he does it or how i can stop it. any ideas??

any help would be great as i would like to do showjumping one day but i cant even consider it while hes doing such silly things :)

It's possible that he is looking for balance off of your hands.

hmmm, im not entirely sure what you mean by that. his balance is very good and wouldnt he be more likely to look for that balance when we first started jumping??

im not trying to be argumentative :) just confused by that idea lol

I think I can explain this... when you ride on the flat, you have a steady contact, and your horse needs this (Im guessing he is green) and greenies need it for support (or balance) So when you come over the jump, he lands and your hands are still on his neck (therefore, no real contact) so he's thinking "omg! where did she go! what do i do!" Start him off small.. jumps that he can just trot over, and you dont really have to give him much of a release (be ready in case he jumps, so you dont snap him in the mouth). Eventually he will realize that you are still up there and that he can keep going.

hmmm ok! ill give it a try. so basically i just need to keep a that contact with him the whole time so he feels more secure???