Help, please. ????

[Vintage23]

I’m having a real issue with my warmblood. We had some issues with rushing fences when I first got him seven years ago and it would reappear every once in awhile but only after he hadn’t been ridden for a little while but it was short lived and he’d calm pretty quickly. But, after only six months out of consistent work, he’s an absolute freight train right now and has been for the past month. We competed successfully through training but now we can’t trot a cross rail to save our life.

He’s very adjustable on the flat- but only on the flat. Moves out and comes right back with my seat and a light half halt. When I try and do the same approaching a fence- he doesn’t respond at all.

Placing poles do not slow him down. I put them on the approach and on the landing side.

Between fences is worse. If I attempt to pop over an X and halt between, it takes up clear across the ring to stop.

If it’s me being too handsy in our approach or between fences, what do I do? Do I stay light in his mouth and let him gallop through the fence until he decides to listen to my aids? I try to simply keep a steady trot or balanced canter but three strides out, he guns it.

Same with circling/ jumping on a circle. We get near the fence and the ears perk and he’s gone.

It’s so frustrating. The vet and chiro has been out as well as a saddle fitter.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[RxCate]

First, obvious question - do you have a trainer? What have they suggested?

My suggestion, is go back to calveletti work for a bit and get him rateable over those.

What bit are you using?

[sunhawk]

I’d start by taking all the poles down on a grid and laying them down to trot distances, and don’t try a cross pole till he can trot rhythmically through lines

[Vintage23]

I do and she has suggested the placing poles, coming to a halt after the fence, etc. but I’m not having any progress at all with anything. I do use trotting poles and he’s perfectly fine and adjustable with them.

He’s in a French training snaffle. I had an elevator for xcountry but he rides the same in either when jumping and don’t really want to keep trying something stronger.

[Vintage23]

I have done that, actually. He’s great with them.

[Vintage23]

[QUOTE=sunhawk;8563491]
I’d start by taking all the poles down on a grid and laying them down to trot distances, and don’t try a cross pole till he can trot rhythmically through lines[/QUOTE]

I do that now and he’s great with them.

[Vintage23]

I’ve also tried a super small cross rail in the middle of the trotting pole grid but he leaps it like its a three foot over then ends up stumbling over the next set of poles.

[armyeventer]

I tried the “halting after fences” with my horse and he just got really irritated with me after the fourth or fifth repetition. I think some horses just “get it” and want to move on. So maybe the key with your horse is connecting the pieces, rather than breaking them apart. Have you tried using simple turning courses or figure eights? You certainly don’t want him to be rushing through your hands, but perhaps if you keep him turning, he’ll figure out that he gets to jump but has to wait until you tell him where to go.

[Vintage23]

[QUOTE=armyeventer;8563530]
I tried the “halting after fences” with my horse and he just got really irritated with me after the fourth or fifth repetition. I think some horses just “get it” and want to move on. So maybe the key with your horse is connecting the pieces, rather than breaking them apart. Have you tried using simple turning courses or figure eights? You certainly don’t want him to be rushing through your hands, but perhaps if you keep him turning, he’ll figure out that he gets to jump but has to wait until you tell him where to go.[/QUOTE]

Yeah- the stopping after a fence just does nothing but make him pissy. I’ve tried the jumps on a circle and a small course but no luck yet. I will keep trying, I guess. He’s 17.1 hands and all muscle so he really eats up the ground.

I appreciate all responses.

[LadyB]

How often are you jumping?

I had a mare that was the same, I needed her to jump more (not big, but at least a line) so she would become more confident. She lacked confidence and RAN the lines. To the point it was VERY dangerous. Placing poles didn’t help, they stressed her out more. Grid work also stressed her out. Canter work over an X on a circle was the beginning stages for us.

Rewarding when good, keeping a calm hand and seat is key. She was very sensitive, if I got ahead, she would lose confidence, if I pushed for a longer distance, she would rush. Its key to wait and be calm. If you can’t be calm then its not the day to jump.

[LookmaNohands]

Check for soreness somewhere–or Lyme.

He might be trying to tell you something.

[yellowbritches]

[QUOTE=LookmaNohands;8565078]
Check for soreness somewhere–or Lyme.

He might be trying to tell you something.[/QUOTE]
I had the same thought.

[Backstage]

Personally, I would think about getting a vet out for a soundness exam - make sure those hocks and stifles in particular are feeling good. Horses that are sore behind often rush/throw themselves at the fences as they are avoiding rocking back and using their hind ends properly.

If he is rideable on the flat, I would simply incorporate some jumps into your schooling on the flat. It can start with a little as 1-2 crossrails over the course of a 30 minute school, and gradually build from there. The goal is to make those small jump as non-exciting as possible. Focussing on courses and grids are likely just amping up his level of excitement.

[devvie]

The horse I ride always rushes fences after any length of time off jumping at all. Approaches that coach and I have success with:

-put dressage into your jump schools: between fences, demand the same connection and quality gaits that you do in flatwork, and DO flatwork between exercises/grids, transitions to trot, leg yielding, etc. etc.

-no canter ground poles (mine just rushes)

-best exercises: if straight grids, include bounces. But we do mostly bending exercises while jumping, esp. the “cloverleaf” and the “circle of death” both of which you probably know, along with what someone else already mentioned, the X on a circle.

I’m told to keep the horse focused, give him things to think about and NOT boring courses or single fences on a straight line, and KEEP RIDING when the time comes for a jump school.

[devvie]

[QUOTE=Vintage23;8563480]
But, after only six months out of consistent work, he’s an absolute freight train right now and has been for the past month. [/QUOTE]

Is he fit and strong enough for the jumping work you are trying to do after six months off, or may he need more legging up and hacking before asking for it? A tired horse may rush.

[4THEHORSES]

Ride the approach to the fence and mix it up between jumping the fence and changing direction/circling before the fence.

[buck22]

I rarely post in this section, but I rode a mare like this many moons ago.

She was lovely everywhere unless she was jumping. She’d approach the fence just fine at first… but in the last 3 strides she’d take hold of the bit, rush and heave herself over the fence. On landing she’d take off charging for about 10 or so strides until she let you pull her up.

The owner was understandably frustrated, they ended up having a battle before every fence and it became a vicious cycle. The owner and the trainer tried many tools but no lasting effects.

The mare was otherwise very well behaved, and wasn’t dirty, didn’t duck or buck, and was easy to sit. I used to ride the mare for flat lessons. One day the trainer and owner were there and we were discussing the issue. I suggested letting her go at the fence on a totally slack rein and seeing what happened. She did the normal routine over the fence and we almost slammed into the wall on the other end of the arena, she wasn’t expecting NO rein pressure whatsoever.

Second time was the same as the first. Third time she didn’t rush quite as bad, and on landing she slowed on her own before reaching the wall. By the 7 or 8th time over, she was jumping quietly, on a completely slack and floppy rein.

I believe the owner and trainer kept up with the slack rein over low fences for a while to break the mental cycle, and then slowly reintroduced contact and as far as I know she went well ever since.

Obviously, its risky as heck and not advised, but it worked for this mare.

I have a morgan whom I drive due to his broken withers. When he’s not driving, I’ll free jump him. He does get anxious from time to time and will rush at a fence. Through his driving training, he’s learned a verbal cue to slow down but not break stride. It works tremendously if he’s getting rushy, even if free.

Perhaps try longing him over jumps, maybe develop a verbal cue to use instead of your hands to help rate him? Might give him something else to think about than just blasting through your aids.

Good luck.

[wildlifer]

Agree to check physical issues thoroughly first. Even though he’s doing fine on the flat it sounds like, there can be pain triggers in the hind end or back that are fired during the different mechanics of jumping.

If all checks out, work closely with your trainer (and don’t be afraid to ask for multiple sets of eyes either). Both of my horses are very sane & sensible, but if I make the mistake of catching them in the mouth or hanging on their face approaching, during, or leaving a jump, they will start rushing & jumping flat. It’s very common when a horse is anticipating something uncomfortable.

And you’re certainly not alone, not very many of us are Michael Jung! I do a lot of schooling on my own (have often used video camera on tripod so I can review afterwards), and have several methods that help a lot when I (or horse) need reminders:

-Put on neck strap (aka my old stirrup leather or the tie-down I found in a trash pile, LOL, or use mane) & make a rule that I must keep my hands on it from 3 strides out to 3 strides after the jump. My amazing jump trainer who has jumped around Burghley very rightly says, “The only thing you can do that close to the jump is mess it up.”

-Halting before or after often just pisses mine off too. We must “prove” to them that we’re not going to inadvertently punish them over the jump. This can require a big leap of letting go & if you’re not comfortable, have your trainer do it first. I make a teensy thing & will just take them over it repeatedly on a completely loose, swinging rein. Almost on the buckle. Working it on a circle or figure 8.

Obviously, you must put safety measures in place depending on your horse. This may require an enclosed space. But when he’s blowing through my half-halts & just getting more balled up, this has been the #1 answer, gifted to me by both Wofford & Becky Holder, because holding on more is not going to help. And though our brains try to convince us otherwise, we’ll never be able to out-muscle 1400 lbs of equine. You let the jump do the work.

Yep, he usually blows through it the first time, might even knock the pole down. But I MAKE myself keep the reins long, zero contact, I just sit up, get off his back, stay balanced & let it happen. I even talk or hum out loud, keeping all the energy easy & light. After time or two (or more, with my older one who was much more stubborn), he goes, “Oh, this is not a big deal, I can chill.” And I repeat until it is so uneventful he’s about to yawn.

I can do it with a single jump now, but when he was greener, I would use more placing/trot poles, to keep brain & feet busy & honest.

But this renews our trust contract of “this only has to be as hard as you want to make it, horse.”

Again, lots of caveats depending on horse, rider comfort level, etc. But I’ll stop the missive, you get the idea.

[Stacie]

Many years ago the O’Connors were at a horse expo where they were giving short lessons as a public demo. One horse was a baroque type and the problem was the horse was rushes fences. So the O’Connor set up some lines and tried to coach the rider to slow the horse. What the O’Connor’s did not see was that on the audience side of the arena, the rider pulled his leg back over every jump and jammed the horse with his spur. Every…jump. No one in the audience spoke up. The O’Connors were not able to change the horse’s behavior.

[findeight]

No way to really get to the bottom of this without seeing what is happening and how OP is riding. It does tend to be a little bit horse and a little bit rider rather then a single cause.

Why was he laid up? Have you done any recent diagnostics post rehab like Ultrasound and X rays? Offhand, he might not be ready yet for what you are doing…might get a second vet opinion. My vets tell me they are seeing an ever increasing number of horses going back into too much work too soon after lay ups and reinjuring themselves, particularly soft tissue injuries.

Oh, How does he act with the Pro rider aboard?