Grids for rushing horse?

[Belmont]

What are your favorite grid exercises for a rushing horse? My horse has no respect for small lumber, but I hate to jack up the fences.

I set up a small trot in one stride to one stride. He ate it up and took the one stride as bounce. I used Gina Miles measurements from a HI article she did, but he seemed to just rush over it all.

What are good grid exercises for a rushy horse?

For those who will ask, on the flat he is adjustable. We took months to get that way. It’s just jumping that he locks onto fences and rushes.

[hj0519]

One thing I’ve done with my horse that opens up her step up way too much in lines is set up an outside line with ground poles set as bounces down the whole line and a couple of trot poles in front of the first jump. After clobbering the exercise a couple of times, she figured out that her stride had to stay the same to make it work.

[JenEM]

The line of bounces is a good one; it’s a good one for the rider, too, in that you really have to just sit chilly and let the horse figure it out. When my instructor set it, there was a placing pole coming in, and 5 fences, all set pretty low, no more than 2’3 or so.

For whatever reason, I’ve also found a 2 stride to 2 stride to be better for mine than a 1 to a 1. Maybe because you can do the 2 with placing poles set in it, which seemed to help mine tremendously, as it took all the guesswork out of it for her.

Free jumping her a little also seemed to help, and let her figure out things on her own, and that she didn’t need to worry/run at things. If you’ve got somewhere you can safely set up a chute, that may be something to try as well.

[EventerAJ]

The Winkler gymnastic from Bernie Traurig
9’ trot pole to 10’ vertical bounce, one stride (19’) to square oxer, one stride (20’) to 12’ bounce.

Jimmy Wofford’s adjustability gymnastic:
9’ trot pole to low wide oxer (18" high, 3ft wide), short two strides (28’) to a 10’ bounce (low verticals, 18" high), short two strides (28’) to another low wide oxer, 9’ to trot pole. It can be ridden both ways. Stay slow, do not get ahead with your upper body. Let your horse think about his footwork.

If your horse is clever and rushes over placing rails (for instance, set in a one-stride gymnastic), use two rails together about 1’ apart so he respects the placing rail a bit more.

[fatappy]

I like exercises that focus more on the flatwork then the jumps themselves. I don’t want my rushy horses to have too much time to think.

When you are doing the grid, come off of a short approach, and don’t let the last jump be the highest. You don’t want your horse to think the most challenging/ exciting feature is at the end. I love that Bernie Traurig grid.

Jumping a jump on a 20m circle helped with my rushy mare. It keeps your mind off the jumps; all you should worry about is the quality of the canter and the shape of the circle.

Second the line of bounces.

Also, if you can setup 2 bounces so that you can jump them in a figure 8, that exercise was immensely helpful.

Sorry - not all of those are grids. Good Luck!

[Belmont]

Thanks you guys. Unfortunatly, right now I am working with 3 fences. I will be building more this weekend, so I cam really try some of the exercises.

Yesterday I did a trot in, 10’ bounce to 33’ two stride. I wanted him to have a comfortable two stride, but it just made him build. I don’t want to make the last fences the highest, but I feel like that is the only way to make him THINK. He lands off the last fence and takes off. He isn’t out of control. I make him land and turn into a small circle, collect him and bring him down to a halt. Placement poles after the last fence help a little, but he just seems to lock onto the last fence and go full force!

I don’t mind if the exercises aren’t grids! We school mainly on single fences in a figure 8 or small circle pattern. I just wanted to start putting two to three together, and that is where I am learning he has a lot of GOOOOO and not a ton of WOAH before the fence.

[findeight]

How long has this one been jumping? Green ? Or recovering from bad riding/training over some time? Are you SURE something is not hurting him, your saddle fits and you are staying in something close to full seat with shoulders back? Not over releasing, getting your crotch ahead of the pommel, letting leg slip back and catching him? Communicating your doubts to him? Usually a reason they want to " run and be done" instead of relax and work.

I worry sometimes about automatically sending horses that get quick down low grids, it can backfire in very ugly fashion. Not only not fixing the issue, making it worse. And they can get scared or hurt going thru, stepping on, tripping over rails they blow thru…and long spots/leave outs anywhere can lead to rotational falls-even very low fences. If anything low fences entice them to leave out, drag you along and plow through.

Not picking on you OP but need to think about it and the fact rushing between fences IS a flatwork problem and the root of the problem lies there. Strive for 100% obedience to all aids jumps or not…of course that is unattainable but work to get as close as you can. You can’t spend the rest of his life circling, that will also cause more problems then it solves.

Work singles into your flatwork, put them on the long side of the ring, the jump is just in the way of the flatwork, he stays the same. I would not add a line in until he is really solid over the single, then treat that line the same as the single. He stays the same.

[Belmont]

Answers in bold. I don’t think you are picking on me! I am open to any advice on what to do. I had goals for a horse show in July, but I have a feeling it might blow his mind.

[QUOTE=findeight;7632534]
How long has this one been jumping? We’ve really been back at it the past year. See next question. Green? Or recovering from bad riding/training over some time? Bad training. He was a head horse for some time that had a bad egg owner. pick up horse who bucked. Then he was a bucking horse. He failed at all three and was pretty “quirky”. Then he was given to a HUS/WP guy to try jumping. The HUS/WP guy (who I am friends-ish with now) taught him how to “jump”. When it was explained to me that the horse jumped (before he was given to me), I expected a good foundation. I mean he looked like he had it in him in the pictures. He was given to me after HUS/WP guy decided to become Cutter guy. He came to me underweight with a nail though his hoof. We rehabbed him back and then started to work on the flat. I jumped him a few times over small things and realized he had NOTHING. He just knew to run at the fence and jump it (and was jumping LARGE with the guy). He didn’t know about leads, collection, extensions, and much more. I’ve had him for three-ish years now, and we have mainly been doing our flat work. Like I said, back jumping the past year-ish. Are you SURE something is not hurting him, your saddle fits and you are staying in something close to full seat with shoulders back? Positive. He is sound with x-rays to prove. We have spent a while on saddle fit and I am borrowing one that actually fits well. My position could use some work, but I have video stills that show me in the middle, letting him jump to me. Not over releasing, getting your crotch ahead of the pommel, letting leg slip back and catching him? I thought maybe I was catching him, so I even took off my spurs yesterday (which made flatting much harder that normal) and took stills. Leg was where it was supposed to me. It was the same thing with the rush. Communicating your doubts to him? I hope not. I do get frustrated, but I have really been working on keeping relaxed, cool, and level. He is HOT, HOT. He is easily worked up and thinks he is going to get in trouble for stuff. I try to always reassure him he is okay with a lot of pats and good boys. Usually a reason they want to " run and be done" instead of relax and work.

I worry sometimes about automatically sending horses that get quick down low grids, it can backfire in very ugly fashion. Not only not fixing the issue, making it worse. And they can get scared or hurt going thru, stepping on, tripping over rails they blow thru…and long spots/leave outs anywhere can lead to rotational falls-even very low fences. If anything low fences entice them to leave out, drag you along and plow through.

Not picking on you OP but need to think about it and the fact rushing between fences IS a flatwork problem and the root of the problem lies there. But his flat work is wonderful. It’s not 100%, but I can’t even tell you how great it is compared. He extends and collects. He halts and moves off his hind end. We are even doing lateral work and flying changes. He is starting to become brilliant on the flat. After I turn him off the last jump, he becomes responsive and fluid again. His canter on the flat is nothing like this. I can hand gallop him and bring him back. He goes around cross country fences like a champion. Strive for 100% obedience to all aids jumps or not…of course that is unattainable but work to get as close as you can. You can’t spend the rest of his life circling, that will also cause more problems then it solves.

Work singles into your flatwork, put them on the long side of the ring, the jump is just in the way of the flatwork, he stays the same. I would not add a line in until he is really solid over the single, then treat that line the same as the single. He stays the same. He is solid over singles, which is why I started the lines and grids. I can come off the grid, do our little circle, then go off over a single and he is perfect. We have been doing mainly singles and pole work the past year.[/QUOTE]

I hope that answers some of your questions. Yes, sometimes on a single he will get a little rushy. It’s not like in the grid, though. It’s like when he has time to think about a distance, he just runs and pulls to the jump. I will try placing a fence where we flat, too.

[tinah]

Then set up two jumps at random in the arena, and ride your horse on the flat with an occasional jump worked in. They don’t need a long approach to a 3 foot fence. A horse that is properly working off the back end can pop over a fence from a one stride walk approach. It sounds like you are still trying to move too fast. pop a single fence, ride on (preferably without circling) until horsey is calm again, and pop over the other. Make jumping just something we do, not a big deal. I wouldn’t even attempt grid work till multiple random fences and trot poles in no particular order is no big deal.

[IPEsq]

Buddy Brown will set a 21’ one stride canter pole on the back side of a grid to help them back off the out jump.

When you do ground poles, do you do a row of canter bounces? Or bounce, line, bounce? Or do you focus primarily on individual poles?