Thinking about pushing my butt BACK towards the cantle helped me a ton!
These are small jumps. You don’t need to be flat on the horse’s neck.
That said, you are standing and pushing yourself forward a bit. Have you tried thinking “butt back” instead of “bend forward”? That way the emphasis is on folding at your hips like an accordion rather than climbing up the neck.
Works for me!
[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7707670]
I’m not an eq person, but your body angle looks fine to me. You are going over such a small fence that it is just a bit more than a canter stride. You don’t want to dive down the neck.
You do look like you are stiff and arched in your back (and a bit stiff everywhere), which will stiffen your hips. Try to soften your back a bit and relax. 
JMHO.[/QUOTE]
This.
Your position fits the size of the jump, pretty well in my totally nonprof opinion. But I understand the tense hips, if they lock up you lose that ability to shock absorb. I usually have to actually think (some times out loud lol) Relax hips! When approaching a jump. This is my cue to push my butt back, sink into heels, then just relax the muscles and flow with the horse.When I learned to just let it all go and trust and relax over the jump my confidence went way up.
You are definitely standing in your stirrups. This is the time to stop doing that! As others have suggested, think of pushing your butt BACK toward the cantle. If it were me, I would practice on the ground – a lot. Stand with your feet apart, your knees bent as though you are in a half seat, and your hands in front of you as though you are holding reins. Then bend your knees, allowing (not forcing) your butt to go back and your hands to go forward. Come back to half seat position. Repeat, like a thousand times, to establish a some muscle memory. Of course, you will look straight ahead while you do this.
You can also practice at the trot and canter. You will find that you must keep a strong calf against the horse to be able to do this. If you’re not able to do it easily, it will most likely be because your stirrups need to go up a hole or two.
You’ve gotten some good advice so far. What I will add is at this point if you are a nervous jumper and your are nervous about your position, I would hold off on your show for now. Wait till you feel confident and then show. If you’re already nervous, and you pile on some show nerves, you may not enjoy it and it may hit your confidence a little more.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything in your picture that tells me you are unable to show, but nerves are tricky! The more confidence you have going in, the better the outcome.
Alternately, you could go and get experience and just to flat classes.
Good luck.
[QUOTE=french fry;7709261]
These are small jumps. You don’t need to be flat on the horse’s neck.
That said, you are standing and pushing yourself forward a bit. Have you tried thinking “butt back” instead of “bend forward”? That way the emphasis is on folding at your hips like an accordion rather than climbing up the neck.
Works for me![/QUOTE]
Totally agree! At the base of the jump think ‘BUTT BACK!’ Picture yourself pushing your hiney toward your horse’s tail. (Of course you’re not actually going to do that, but the imagery will help you move in the right direction.)
I’ve heard trainers tell little kids to put their belly buttons on the pommel of the saddle. Again, it’s an exaggeration, but it helps.
Masses of grids with no stirrups as then you can only fold not stand. Work in a three point position all the time including the approach into and over the fence. This will teach you to sit close and to just follow with your hand.
Standing in your stirrups is often the result of riding with too long stirrups. Take them up another couple of holes so that it’s actually hard to stand.
I know this sounds contradictory, no stirrups and really short stirrups but believe me it works.
