knocking down

Ideally you should have a balanced canter established well before the jump ever comes up. The last few strides before the fence, you should be staying out of his way so as not to disturb his balance. If you let him canter around strung out and unbalanced and expect him to get it all together at the last second, he simply won't be able to do it. I would never ask for a transition to canter on approach to a fence. You're basically teaching him to rush.

Definately establish a good canter before you even think of approaching the jump, but if he opens his stride or gets faster as your going towards it, you can half halt him, as long as you know where the distance is. If you half halt him and the distance was for the big canter, he's going to trip and knock it down.

Try lunging your horse over jumps at a good canter. He's so used to cantering three strides before the fence that he gets frazzled. Give him some consistancy and focus. You can also have someone lunge you and him over a small fence. Let him do what he wants and he'll learn real quick where the distance is or he'll realize that he needs your help and he won't fight it.

i cant lunge him at a canter because when i do he flips out and starts rearing and bucking all over the place! it is ridiculous so i am trying 2 balancing jumping and cantering on the lunge line out! ANY HELP!!!

I disagree with lunging, it is monotonus, and horse's hate it and that is when they start acting up. When they are not using their right brain, and they switch over they start thinking about ways to push your buttons. So you have to keep the horse's mind happy as well as his body

I think you should really work with him on the flat. Work him around by doing figure eights, serpentine's, circles, ect. He seems green by the way you're describing him, but asking for the canter three strides away from the jump is is ridiculous. There is no way to establish a nice rhythm. As I said, working with your flat work will help, also flexing him will help build muscle and will make him jump cleaner. Do you flex him?

Put a pole in front of the jump and maybe even a trot pole or 2 a stride (plus) out

Actually when I see replies like this it is usually the person that finds lunging dull and that is usually because they themselves do not have the knowledge to MAKE it more fun.

I have over 20 different things I can do on the lunge and actually don't have the time to fit them all in.

My horse is not bored out of his right brain, but then again maybe my boy is using his left brain....the smarter side or just maybe I just have a smart horse.

I actually enjoy lunging quite alot. It's great to remind Painter that I'M boss, not him. Plus, he really stretches out and extends after a few minutes on the line, and I can control the speed of his trot and canter.

First off, if your horse can't lunge, that's kind of bad. Horses don't have to know how to lunge, I know plenty of good ones that don't, but I personally have found that numerous exercises, like Spyder said, can really help a green horse figure things out. I'm a firm believer in letting the horse figure things out for himself instead of me telling him or forcing him into everything. It's like raising a child.

I would say, pick up a nice canter, do two circles and the go over a pole. Don't change anything. I will bet money that one of the biggest problems your having is that you now expect him to run over fences and your are unconsciously telling him to with your body. I know you don't mean to, but the key is to stay the same. Jumping a pole, a 2 foot fence and a 4 foot fence should be equally calm.

How is he over a single pole? Or two or three? If he can't do those calmly, do not expect him to jump calmly. What kind of boots do you put of your horse when you jump? For some horses, I like the open front splint boots because it stings a little if they hit the pole but their legs are still protected. I would definately say use them, regardless of what kind, when you are jumping because if he has a habit of knocking down fences, he can injure himself.

Lunging is so helpful! And not just to help teach/learn. I'm teaching my Morgan how to canter and dare I do it on his back, no way. I've actually started to teach him how to jump (thinking he'd maybe learn how to canter easier that way) before teaching him to canter under saddle. Lunging = Good!