trouble knocking poles :S

Hey guys,
Just started jumping seriously about 6 months ago and weve been going pretty good but lately my horse has been knocking the poles alot.. I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to fix it? Were jumping almost a metre but sometimes he does it when their only 60cms and stuff.. I took his jumping boots off so he could actually feel when he hits them but it didnt seem to make a difference. Also he mostly hits them with his back legs but sometimes his front legs too and I make sure I don't sit up too quick so he doesnt drop his bum when he isnt quite over it yet sooo after all of that, any ideas? Lol any suggestions would be awesome!!! X0x0x

Try this. Trot your jumps. Don't let him plow away as fast as he can. Keep his speed controlled. Speed does not equal power and you need power to get over a jump. A couple of strides before the jump squeeze with your heels. This will make him actually jump the jump. This is what works for my horse.

What my trainer says is "You can't run out of gas," meaning you need to keep going steadfast in your speed to the jump, without slowing down at all. Hope that makes sense.

Yeh he's really good with the speed he always comes up in the speed I want he never takes off on me and always waits I can come up in a completely collected canter or normal working and it doesnt make a difference I usually choose collected so I have time to asses and fix my strides coming in.. he's really forward so even though its collected theres still power there and I know he can do it becaue he has cleared them but then sometimes he's just lazy.. I always squeeze in the last stride before the jump as he relies on me alot for confidence.

Try putting a saddlepad on the jump, it worked for my horse, but they overjump sometimes...

Oh that's a good idea ill definitely try that thanks! Id rather he over jump it lol

I am not saying this is the case... so please don't take it as a criticism..

In my experiance, a (once) careful jumper that starts knocking poles sometimes indicates complacency or boredom.

It might be worth giving show jumping a break for a while and sharpen him up again. Sometimes I ride a few hunter or cross country jumps... sometimes I just hack (trail ride). Anything for a change of focus for a while!
Stops us both getting frustrated!

Hopefully they return to jumping work sharper!

(I also like the saddle pad trick... traffic cones can work quite well too...)

Thanks yeh we do cross country at pony club but aparty from that we havent got any other cross country jumps to use and my parents or I can't float me so unless I get someone else to I can't really get him off the property. Im going to try making the jumps a little more scary even tho he hardly ever spooks at anything but ill give it a go and feel free to critisize I definitely will not take anything personal at all we trail ride quite a bit but sometimes we give it a miss cos me and my friend both have thoroughbreds who think everything is a race when were out of the arena so were working on that one!! Small amounts haha

I would agree that maybe he is becoming a little complacent with jumping. I don't really compete my warmblood in showjumping but I jump once a week at the MOST and that's usually a lesson.

He has been a hunter all his life, meaning he was trained to jump through rather than not touch it. Such as jumping a hedge. I have used a heavy plank pole so if he touches it he can feel it and it has helped. Also you need to have a lot of impulsion without going to fast.

So you need to keep him 'in your hand', so you can feel the impulsion but he isn't running forward. Hold him until you can feel a couple of strides out then let him go.. Getting the right stride is also vital try putting two canter poles in front and behind the jump and at first have the jump as a pole on the ground and practice getting the perfect stride over them. It is very difficult to see a stride, after a lot of practice I could tell you whether I was going to bury my horse into a jump or jump off a long one from a long way out of the jump. But that is very difficult and takes a lot of practice! Then your giving him the best possible chance.

So yeah just try not to overj jump him, once a week at the most i'd say.

Good luck!

Make sure you have the horse placed, and responding to anything you ask him to do,change leads and rythm as much as you can, sometimes they just get bored and they don't care anymore. Don't jump to often either, once a week is good enough, you need to work more on flat. you might want to think about your position, usually a horse that hit the obstacle is because the rider will have a wrong position too much in the front, too much in the back, pulling on the reins,reins too short or too long, legs not there, you need to be there 125%, you need to have your horse responding to you.
Probably don't jump him for a week or two. And then, you can try free run in an arena, see his reaction, if he keeps hitting, stop jumping for longer... if that horse could jump before he might have been 'digusted' by jumping having done it too many times.