help me build my over-jumper's confidence

[Foxygrl516]

I have a 5yo that is a spectacular jumper but overjumps in a very green way. No big deal, that’s what babies do. At home she is incredibly honest and brave over our sj fences including gates and liverpools. Xc schooling is very different though. She starts out giving me the same ride to the fences that she does at home and then an explosive jump happens. No matter what I do to prepare myself and stay soft while keeping a strong base and stay out of her way, the nature of her explosive jump on xc almost always means I catch her somewhere whether its the mouth, back, or i just land unorganized. I’m a strong rider (not perfect by any means, but i can hang) but I swear no matter what I do I can’t stick with her. After this happens though, she refuses when I reapproach (hoping to get a more confident and smooth jump the 2nd time). I don’t want her to learn to stop and I can’t say that I blame her. I want jumping xc to be fun for her.
I’m planning to add a neck strap for myself and build her confidence at home where she already jumps better (and maybe the more I jump her the more I’ll learn her and be able to ride that bascule better) and also to take her xc schooling and lunge her over fences (not in tiny circles, i will make it comfortable for her) so she can do it w/o me getting in her way.

Any other ideas for helping me and this horse so that together we can build her confidence? What exercises could I do to prepare me for the insane power she has on take off? Any other exercises for her to help her settle? She’s not tense or nervous, has nice flatwork, and these xc fences are only 2’ and under. She’s happy doing up banks so last time we schooled I’d just hold mane and get off her back and go up the bank over and over again. BC I could ride it that way I felt her confidence grow a ton.

Help me help her!

[findeight]

First off, until you solve this? Don’t face her with anything that is likely to create a stop. Set her up for success, not another stop. It’s OK to drop back and punt here.
Just go out and gallop CC, don’t put her at a jump.

Are you working with an instructor or trainer? She may need more time to mature and get confident without the added challenge of terrain and solid obstacles. She may also need a different rider to create more confidence jumping outside. Now that your confidence is a bit challenged, you may be transmitting that doubt to her. No shame there, shame would lie in not recognizing it.

Five is a funny age. Some are dead on target easily as brave and confident as much more experienced horses. Others are very much still babyish and dependent on getting confidence from the rider.

How long has this one been going under saddle? How long over fences? Have you been the only rider

[Foxygrl516]

She’s definitely still immature mentally but works really well and enjoys her job. I do occasionally ship in to lesson w a great trainer. We typically do dressage lessons. I’m not in a huge hurry to have this horse competing. That’s why we are keeping things really small and inviting and going at her pace. I’m just looking for some other thoughts on exercises that can help her make that transition from confident over sj to jumping well on xc. Our sj course at home is in a field and we hack out regularly. I often take her xc svchooling when I take my kids and I just hack her around, go through the water, just trot the itty bitty logs , etc so that she learns where her feet are. I’d love to be able to afford to send her to Doug Payne for a few months hut that’s not in the cards ;).
I’m not afraid of jumping her and I trust her. I just want her to be happy and encouraged.
She raced as a 3yo a few times and was restarted very well afterwards in dressage training and over small fences. I’ve only had her about 2 months

[findeight]

2 months? That’s actually good news. Take your time and build a bond of mutual confidence, takes hundreds of hours of practice to really get with one.

But above advice still stands, never let her fail something you ask her to do so never ask unless you are positive of success. That’s the way to build confidence.

Just trot over stuff when you ride off, get to know her better, let her learn to trust you. And see if you can’t get some help, nobody does everything alone.

[pony_grandma]

Are you trotting?? Trot lots of small fences. Let her learn to string them together to help build the idea of the forward with her. Read this thread about the horse having to learn to jump through their body. http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?451708-Can-someone-explain-why-this-jumping-correction-worked

[TB_or_not_TB]

Ditto to everything Findeight said. At this stage of the game, it’s about making everything ho-hum. She sounds like she’s still very impressed about XC fences.

I like to think of a horse’s confidence in terms of an empty bucket. To build confidence, you have to do things that fill up the bucket. This means tiny, easy, sequential stuff. Every time a horse completes something without mental stress, because he or she understands the question and answers it and is rewarded, you’re filling the bucket. Every time you ask something that causes mental stress, like a brand new question or an increase in difficulty, you’re taking from the bucket. The point is to have the bucket so filled up from the easy stuff that when you introduce new questions, you are doing so while the bucket is full and the horse has lots of confidence. You want your horse to be “overflowing” with confidence, because eventually you need to take from that bucket when you get to shows and have surprise questions.

Right now, your horse has a half-full (or half-empty, if you’re a pessimist) bucket. You need to fill it up with time and attention on stuff she has mastered. That doesn’t mean endless drilling so she gets bored, it means mixing it up so you ask the same question many different ways (change speed, approach, figures, etc) so that she has mastery but doesn’t anticipate. We’re talking mental mastery, not just physical. This is how you fill the bucket (and build a foundation). Then, when the bucket is full, and she feels like a rock star every ride because she’s so successful, you can make tiny, progressive changes to the question over time so that the bucket remains full.

Denny Emerson (Tamarack Hill Farms on Facebook) often shows the progression with green horses through photographs. His page is a great one to study if you’re working on a young event prospect.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Neck strap…and use it. More sit ups for you and work in 2 point. And keep the jumps small until she (and you) are bored. Trot most fences. Lots of good girls and wither scratches after each fence. It just takes time.

[merrygoround]

Grids and more grids. It will back her off, and build you up. And yes, that neck strap.

[Foxygrl516]

Sorry I disappeared for a couple of days. Thank you all for your responses. I’m pretty much hearing what I was thinking already, just confidence building repitition, relationship building, and a neck strap. Lol! I’m in no hurry for her to be moving up or doing big things. I’ll be spending the winter trotting fences and planking.