Frustrated with my jumping

[DarkHorse1]

I have been riding a long time (20+ years) and, in the not-too-distant past, I was competent up to 1.10m. I used to feel very solid.

Fast forward to now. I have a 5 year old horse who’s on the green side. He’s a good boy, but struggles with straightness and adjustability. He’s behind my leg a lot. My trainer can jump him around just fine, but it’s…not great with me. He always jumps – bless his heart – but the straightness and adjustability issues, combined with adult amateur pilot, lead to some very interesting, and sometimes frightening, distances.

Meanwhile, I only ride 3x/week and I only jump 1x/week. I feel disgusting in the air. My leg is unstable, which makes my whole body unstable. I’m coming up too early, my heel is not staying down, and my release isn’t enough. It is SO frustrating. And this is over tiny jumps. We are talking 2’-2’3".

This is starting to feel like a recipe for disaster. I do not want to create a crash that scares my horse. WWYD? I wish I could just ride more, but with my family/job obligations, that’s not an option.

[MadTrotter]

He’s only 5? Is he your first green horse? He hopefully hasn’t been jumping for very long, and at this age it’s really about keeping it simple and letting them choose their own way over easy, confidence building questions.

Depending on your resources I think the best course of action is to let your trainer jump him for now until he builds confidence and steadiness. This book is great: https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Savoies-Dressage-Between-Jumps/dp/1570769281/ref=nodl_

You can flat him and work on adjustability and agility. In the meantime maybe you can hop on a schoolie to practice.

[DarkHorse1]

Thank you for the book recommendation! I’m a big reader, so I’ll enjoy it.

Technically, he’s coming 6 (he has a birthday next month). He’s not my first green horse, but it’s been a looong time since I had a greenie. He’s been jumping little things and improving his flatwork for about a year. Before that, he didn’t do much at all.

I think I agree with you. It seems smarter and safer to let the trainers jump him, and not me. Doesn’t help my jumping ability, but I think the focus right now needs to be on developing his competence and confidence.

[Night_Flight]

I suspect a large contributor to your issues is him being behind the leg. A horse who arrives at a jump with no impulsion, particularly when green, tends to lurch over it awkwardly, and that’s very difficult to stay with.

A jump out of a forward trot or canter is much smoother.

I would focus on getting him consistently in front of the leg, on the flat and over ground poles, and then once that’s consistent you can start incorporating small jumps with a focus on always thinking forward.

[Pokerface]

You’ve already gotten some good advice, so I’ll ask the next hard question: how fit are you? If you’ve been riding for 20 years, odds are that a good bit of that was when you were a kid/teenager. You were likely fitter then, I know I certainly was. As an adult with a job, staying moving and fit is much harder. Heck, when I changed careers from being a school teacher to a desk job, my riding suffered for it. I agree with letting the trainer ride your horse more often so that they can get more confident and you don’t lose your confidence.

I am in a similar boat, my greenie is coming 6 and last year jumping was HARD. Straight and forward was a challenging concept for him. Then, one day in the fall, it just started to “click” and he locks in on the jumps and I can suddenly ride again. I joked last year that I was good enough to get us around the course and make it look like he was just tolerating his dumb ammy rider, but not good enough to make it look like it was easy for both of us . The reality was that it was a bit of a circus because he is a very athletic young horse, and I am 40+ with a desk job. We are safe and we have fun, he’s very tolerant of my mistakes, and when he needs more than I can offer, my trainer hops on him.

[DarkHorse1]

Uh, not fit enough, I’m sure. I exercise daily, but I have a desk job, so my life is pretty sedentary.

Totally right…I am waiting for that day when my horse finally “locks in” on the jumps instead of meandering around and being surprised when one is in the way.

I am getting around small courses without making anyone scream or cry. But I know what “right” feels like…and this ain’t it. Case in point: we’re coming around the corner to a little vertical on the diagonal. I see a distance that’s a bit of a move-up. I put my leg on. He moves up a little, but he bulges out of one shoulder. That’s enough to make the distance disappear and we wind up with a big, ugly chip. I’m enough of a rider not to jump up his neck. I grab mane and stay out of his way. But still, yuck.

[hoopoe]

I would take a refresher course from a Dressage trainer and get some ground schooling on impulsion and how to create straightness. If you feel out of balance it could be a fitness issue or it could be his crookedness is creating it and you dont have the tools to correct it. In a young green horse this would be my key area of focus in the near term

[Lunabear1988]

No advice at all but I feel this post so much, OP. I have a coming five year old and he was lightly introduced to jumps this winter. Tiny things but I don’t feel capable! I’m not confident in my position or ability right now although my horse didn’t seem bothered.

We took a break from jumps but when he starts again I do want the trainer doing them for awhile while I focus on my conditioning.

[Lunabear1988]

Also, I’m mostly a dressage rider but I feel like if I need I’m focusing too much on my position ( are my heels down, is my chest open, am I releasing enough) then everything else is just not there. In my mind, my position needs to be pretty solid and there before jumping.

[DarkHorse1]

Totally get what you are saying. When he gets behind the leg, my overall position goes to sh*t. Chest caves in, heels come up, elbows go out. Basically it’s hard to do much of anything right if he’s not in front of my leg, including correct position.

[Lunabear1988]

Yep! My horse is actually really game to the jumps and almost the opposite problem but being behind the leg makes anything hard (he can be behind the leg at first in our Dressage work.)

But regardless I feel like anytime our position goes out the window- the rest will be not as good!
It’s hard being an amateur sometimes. I’m hoping just doing pole work and Dressage with training rides added will help over time.

[DarkHorse1]

I think it will! For me, I think all the problems I’m experiencing at the jumps…will also present themselves over poles. I can deal with these issues over poles at zero risk to myself and my boy.

My trainer wants me to progress, show, etc. I know that. But she’s young and ambitious, while I’m old and cautious. I may just have to be the adult and insist that we proceed slowly and carefully.

[Spudsmyguy]

Thanks for the recommendation on the book. I’m also experiencing some of the same things the OP mentioned.

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

Feel free to visit my “Hang it Up” thread for some really good support and commiseration.
There’s a lot of us on your struggle bus. Trust me.

[2bayboys]

Lots and lots of trot jumps, with a placement pole in front. You can practice getting him in front of your leg, straightness, etc without worrying about the distance. And learning to jump well from the trot will be good for him.

Progress to trotting in, cantering out a line. With a correctly set distance, once again you don’t have to worry about finding your spot, but you can practice finding the right canter to get your horse adjustable and jumping well.

Throw away any kind of timeline that says “I should be doing THIS with my green horse by THAT date.”

Have fun and enjoy!

[Ponyplusaninch]

You can for sure get a lot done over poles–my trainer spends entire winter months having everyone do poles and caveletti, and holy bleep it is telling of so many things for horses and riders at a range of levels.

What I will say–because my trainer has to remind me of this–is that while you don’t want to give the horse any negative or traumatizing experiences… they do need to learn to get to the fence in uncomfortable situations and know they can get themselves out said situations without much fuss. You’re “ammy proofing” your horse in a way here.

So while you may feel uncomfortable (believe me, I feel you on the buldging… mine just randomly plays “eye spy” and will all of a sudden put himself on a different track three strides out), this is in fact a good learning experience for him. He is having to figure out that I, the rider, will not always put him to that perfect deep spot he loves so much, and that means he has to think a little and have some body awareness. Or if he chooses a different track than what I’ve set him on, there will be consequences (usually either a chip or a longspot).

This is not my endorsement for going out and doing 1m jumps. Rather, I think there’s a balance to be had where you aren’t completely eliminating the fences so that he can learn but you can feel safe and able to navigate.

That Dressage Between Jumps book is great–hope you enjoy!

[DarkHorse1]

@Ponyplusaninch

You’re “ammy proofing” your horse in a way here

Oh well, I’ve been quite successful on that front :). I joke that my horse has no concept of good distance/bad distance. But…I guess it’s not a joke, because it’s 100% true.

[dags]

A bulge is a bit of a nuanced ride that will also highlight a rider’s lack of fitness. Not that you have to be “strong” per se, but you do have to be able to maintain the support out of each and every corner, up to the fence and even off the ground in cases. Guide rails could do quite a bit of that work for you and allow you to enjoy some simple jumping exercises, focusing on leg & position, while trainer does his course work for a bit longer.

[Rel6]

I’m going to disagree, actually. I think with a naturally lazy/underpaced one, trotting jumps can make it even harder to get them straight and discourage them from jumping across the fence. I absolutely agree it is a necessary skill and incredibly important with a green horse, but if you’re struggling with straightness/getting them in front of your leg even with the forward momentum of a canter to help, I think trotting could exacerbate some of that.

OP, I have a coming 5 y/o who sounds similar. Naturally quiet, to the point of tending to be behind the leg, and currently working on straightness and adjustability. I found replacing fences with poles in between lessons to be super helpful. The crookedness showed up over the poles, but I was less worried about an ugly chip and able to focus more on fixing the bulge and riding technically. Same with adjusting the stride - I could focus on doing the add, then moving up the next time around, without being concerned about it coming up perfectly the way I would be to an actual fence. Good luck!!

[DarkHorse1]

@Rel6

OP, I have a coming 5 y/o who sounds similar. Naturally quiet, to the point of tending to be behind the leg, and currently working on straightness and adjustability. I found replacing fences with poles in between lessons to be super helpful. The crookedness showed up over the poles, but I was less worried about an ugly chip and able to focus more on fixing the bulge and riding technically. Same with adjusting the stride - I could focus on doing the add, then moving up the next time around, without being concerned about it coming up perfectly the way I would be to an actual fence.

I’m 100% going to build this kind of thing into my regimen. I think the question in my mind is: do I continue to jump him at this point? Or just stick to the poles while the trainer develops him o/f?

One thing I’ve noticed is that jumping in our small indoor is exponentially worse than jumping in the outdoor. The footing is deep, jumps/turns come up super fast, there’s just no room for error. That’s apropos of nothing, but I definitely need to stop trying to jump in there because it always sucks!