[Lonannuniel]

Both me an my horse are into dressage -- although we both had our start in jumping. Its been a few months since i jumped, and a few months since he had jumped. When i bought him he had a long standing rep. in the jumping field, but his old owners really didn't do much with getting him flexible and bending and such. when i got him, thats all we did. We got him into a frame and his old 4 beat canter is 99% better. So, he has made ALOT of progress, so my trainer thought it might be a good idea to have a jumping lesson, just to shake things up a bit.

The lesson was a mess! It was like he forgot completely what we had worked on. He was throwing his head up after every jump and he was putting the entirity of his weight in my hands and really became shut down in his mouth. i don't have rough hands. im not a fan of having to jerk his month and pull on him, im more of a body person. but when he is determined to pull me forward its sort of hard to do much with your body. And he's a big horse, so having him forgetting his manners and becoming a real head weight is a problem.

Does anyone have some excersizes or tips on how to fix this? I know i wasn't at my best but a horse with his experience shouldn't be dragging me around. He's a total sweet heart and not an aggressive horse in the slightest, but while jumping he just becomes a little hot head and he gets into this " ima jump weather you like it or not" type of attitude.

 

[corporate pride]

that would've been terrifying for u!! he's what i call "too bold" he rushes and wants to do it no matter what!
my horse gets like this out on the cross country course and i put a strong bit on him....this might be an option for you to try to use a slightly stronger bit to see if there is some improvement. also do some trot grids and bounce exercises... try 34 trot poles then a jump and some canter poles after to get him to concentrat and not rush, the bounce put two small jumps that u jump and land then take straight off again without a stride, he can't rush that or he'll stuff it up and it'll make him think. just get alot of poles and set up a few small jumps that make him think where to put his feet. maybe he's feeling good and really wants to jump...ozzie does that aftter not jumping he'll rush the jump and throw himself over it at the last second and i'm holding on for grim death!! (that's scary when ur on xc and u got the strong bit on )

 

[upnover]

There are a lot of reasons why horses rush when it comes to jumping and to fix the problem you have to get to the root of it. The big question is, was he afraid or just excited?

1) If it's really been a long time since he's been jumped it might be as simple as, he was just having a good time. i've been on a few horses getting back into jumping that just get really excited and forgot all the flatwork we've done! Instead of dividing up your riding time as "time to do flatwork" and "time to jumo" you could: work on your flat work for a bit, jump 1 jump, then immediately continue on with your flatwork to get him to come back to you. When he's calm and listening again, jump 1 jump, then continue with your flatwork. If he was just really excited about jumping again he should settle down after a few days of jumping. Gymnastics are always good too.

2) if it's been a really long time he might have just been a little rusty. Gymnastics (bounces) are a great way to slow a horse down and get them to start thinking and listening again. Just because he's done well in the past doesn't mean that he'll be able to pick it right back up without a little training.

3) What is in his riding history? Horses usually run because they're afraid, usually of pain. If he has been ridden in the past by someone who frequently hit him in the mouth and/or back, there's a good chance he'll try and run once you start jumping. Or if his past rider was in the habit of just running him at stuff. He might have gotten anxious about jumping from her.

4) if he really was that stiff on the flat there might be some kind of soreness somewhere. Horses that have jumped well in the past start to rush when it starts to hurt. If it continues I'd have a vet come and look him over.