little hesitation before the fence

[Juxtapoze]

[QUOTE=VirginiaBred;7681374]

Have you ruled out something may be hurting him? Horses are so smart and if he knows he has to push off and something is hurting, he is hesitating for good reason![/QUOTE]

I think my horse’s issue on takeoff is that he REALLY wants to look at the fences before he goes over. He will sometimes crane his neck as we are going over too. It’s an odd sensation. Doesn’t help that we are working through some major “heavy on the forehand” issues due to his past life as a racehorse and downhill conformation. LOTS of lateral work are helping that issue on the flat.

I did have a forehead smack moment the other day - I remembered an article in PH that the key is a nice, rhythmic canter to the fence so rider & horse can find their distances. The days my horse is sticky on takeoff do seem to be the days he is lazy, not in front of my leg, and inconsistent with his rhythm. I tend to overthink things :yes:. Next time I jump, my focus is going to be on rhythm, adding more leg at the base, and I will also try adding a canter pole before jump per several people in this post. (My much more experienced friend would add “Keep his head up! Don’t let him zero in on the fence.”)

[independentlyawesome]

Have you done any free jumping with him? You might be able to see the problem, or you can see how he naturally sets himself up for jumping.

My friend (very experienced rider, pony club judge) had this problem with a careful little OTTB. She looked like a cat jumping over little fences. She never refused, though, and was just careful. The problem largely disappeared when going cross-country & doing larger jumps where the “cat jump” wasn’t enough. She turned into a fantastic, athletic TB to ride & that was just her being a baby & confused about what to do over the tiny little jumps (and 2’3" is tiny to a TB).

[fatappy]

[QUOTE=Juxtapoze;7681439]

I did have a forehead smack moment the other day - I remembered an article in PH that the key is a nice, rhythmic canter to the fence so rider & horse can find their distances. [/QUOTE]

Not just rhythmic. You can be rhythmic and be loping on a loose rein on the forehand. A quality canter (uphill, adjustable, and infront of the leg) makes finding the jumps and getting to the base easier.

[Go_Fish]

How’s his jumping form? If he lacks ability to raise his shoulder properly, jumps over himself or jumps with hanging knees, you may feel that hesitation before he leaves the ground. These types of jumping faults can cause a hesitation as the horse has to put more effort into getting his front end out of the way.

It would help to see a video of the horse jumping to see what’s going wrong.

[pryme_thyme]

A little hesitation before fences IMO is usually one of two things, wince due to pain or the horse asking a question.

What I mean by question, is that he/she could be asking “do you really want me to jump this?”, “should I be scared of this fence?”, “are you secure and ready?” etc.
If you have ruled out pain … make sure you set up your horse at a comfortable take off spot and about 2 strides prior to fence, not so much add leg, but secure your position. Support with your leg and body so the horse gets the message, “Go”.

GL!

[Juxtapoze]

Go Fish: his jumping form is pretty great (except for when he gets sticky before takeoff and the extreme of craning his neck to watch the fence as he is jumping, which happens much less often). Typical TB tight knees and careful with back legs, nice scope, ears pricked forward. Straight takeoffs and usually a nice arc over fences unless we’ve really mucked timing up.

pryme_thyme: definitely feels like a question on his part.

My trainer & I thought he would grow out of this sticky/pausing issue and things have definitely gotten better, but a year of jump training and a few experienced friends think it’s now more of a bad habit than a greenie thing at this point.

[piperspapers]

What might you suggest if he horse totally disregards the placing poles? Mine could care less. I’m having the same issue.

[rockonxox]

How does your horse disregard placement poles (more detail on this can help us better try and help your specific situation)? Do you have poles before and after a jump or are you having issues with placing one just before? Do you practice grids and how does your horse do with those? Are you riding to the poles (with straightness and a good rhythm) or letting him/her willy nilly jump it however s/he wants? If you have given up and don’t try to ride to the poles and just hope he does them right then you aren’t going to get a good result.