Placing Pole Advice

[jumponit]

I have been working on getting my mare over a bit of a roadblock we have encountered and I am feeling stuck at the moment.

Last fall we had a big “oops” moment coming into a gymnastic line with a 9ft placing pole in front. My mare left in front of the pole and tried to jump the pole and the oxer as one. She put in a sizeable effort but caught her hind legs on the back rail and deposited me upon landing.

It really shook both her, and I up. She is very sensitive and has now decided both this particular exercise, and wide oxers are to be avoided.

I have been slowly working her over this exercise, but with a very small 9ft pole to two foot jump to another pole 9ft after the jump that can be done from either direction.

She is doing great through it at the trot now, no panicking and she is slowing down and thinking. However, it is a no-go at the canter. She either breaks to the trot of her own accord and goes through, or jumps the pole and small jump as one. In her mind she seems really convinced that she CANNOT put her feet in between there.

Anyone have any ideas or exercises I can try to make this work at the canter? Should I back down to an even smaller jump, or go to only poles on the ground and build up? Repetition and patience is definitely the key with this mare and I am not ready to give up yet.

[Hunterkid]

Have you tried with a series of ground poles to canter instead of involving a jump ?

[jumponit]

[QUOTE=Hunterkid;8604764]
Have you tried with a series of ground poles to canter instead of involving a jump ?[/QUOTE]

I should have added, I did do this last week, with the tiny jump on the other side of the ring for trotting over after she cantered the poles. She did fine over them, no anxiety and she understood the question quite well. I have done TONS of poles with her all winter, in all different sorts of configurations and she has gotten so so so much better about those.

[Rnichols]

I second what hunterkid said. Maybe try the poles on the ground with no jumps. That way she knows she can physically put her feet between the poles.

Or if you have access to a jump chute or a way to set up a simple one in the arena and send her through. Then she can figure it out without a rider on her back.

Just my two cents

[Rnichols]

I second what hunterkid said. Maybe try the poles on the ground with no jumps. That way she knows she can physically put her feet between the poles.

Or if you have access to a jump chute or a way to set up a simple one in the arena and send her through. Then she can figure it out without a rider on her back.

Just my two cents

[SlamDunk]

[QUOTE=Rnichols;8604777]
I second what hunterkid said. Maybe try the poles on the ground with no jumps. That way she knows she can physically put her feet between the poles.

Or if you have access to a jump chute or a way to set up a simple one in the arena and send her through. Then she can figure it out without a rider on her back.

Just my two cents :)[/QUOTE]

After she’s comfortable with cantering bounce poles on the ground, I’d move to placement poles rather far away…say 5 to start before and after the jump. Then slowly move them in, you might have to stay for quite a while in the 1-2 stride range before you move back to bounces (9ft placement although I’d maybe give her more room to start with). I’d also start with doing a 9ft placement pole on the take off side only at first, that way she doesn’t have to worry about wear she lands. Essentially break it down as far as possible for her.

[Hawks_Nest]

Yup, as others said, set some bounce poles and practice cantering them. Make sure that you aren’t holding coming into it to try and stop her from jumping all of them. Give half halts and immediately release, if she makes a mistake let her and just come around and try it again. It is perfectly normal for us to panic a little and hold coming to something that went badly before so it might even help to have your trainer hop on and work on it a little bit without the mental baggage while you perhaps practice on a horse that is better about it.

Either way, make it as low stress as you can so that you can show her that everything is okay. The good news it that if she will trot them and in an event you will never be asked to jump something with a placing pole. Wide oxers will simply be fixed by practicing lots of low and wide oxers (only as wide as you and she feel comfortable). Make it easy for her so she can get her confidence back, only when it is easy do you start making it harder again

[EventerAJ]

Where are you looking on approach? It sounds sacrilegious, but try looking down. Actively stare at the 9’ placing rail on approach, and then look up and beyond the vertical when the rail disappears between her ears (about 1-2 strides away). Looking at the rail on the ground helps keep the horse’s attention on it, and place their feet properly.

You don’t want to stare at the ground with any ordinary fence, just when placing rails are involved. Also, be sure that your hands are soft and giving when she steps over the rail. If you are braced in your elbows, tight on the mouth, 90% of horses will launch through your hand; this is true for just about any jump, from banks to ditches to water, to plain old verticals and oxers.

[RedHorses]

9’ is too short for cantering. Try 10’ or 11’ or even 12’ depending on your canter. 9’ from the canter would be used to bring the horse closer to the base of the jump - for a horse that tends to take the long spot. Right now this is more than your mare can handle, especially if you are trying to slow the canter in an effort to put her feet down between pole and jump. That could be making her words because she will feel like she hasn’t got the power to jump.

You can roll the pole closer a bit at a time once she has gotten the idea of putting her feet down between pole and jump.

[Hilary]

You might also try placing it WAY far away - like 18’. So it’s a one stride to a fence. Then add a 9’ pole and take the fence pole down so it’s on the ground so you have the 3 bounce poles, but the standards are still there. Play with that for a while, adding and removing the 9’ pole and the jump with height, and keep the jump low so you don’t freak yourselves out.

[LadyB]

I had a mare last year, who would try to jump the placing poles on BOTH sides of the fence. She just couldn’t figure it out. I rolled both out much further so that it forced her to understand that you step over the pole, jump, land and step over the following pole.

Some horses just get confused by too many poles and it can really mess with their confidence.

Once I rolled them out, she was amazing! No more trying to jump the whole thing. Over time she became more confident in herself and she was able to have them at normal placings.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

9’ is close for cantering and not an exercise I would do with a green horse. I typically roll the pole out at least to 10’

[jumponit]

[QUOTE=Hawks Nest;8604908]
Yup, as others said, set some bounce poles and practice cantering them. Make sure that you aren’t holding coming into it to try and stop her from jumping all of them. Give half halts and immediately release, if she makes a mistake let her and just come around and try it again. It is perfectly normal for us to panic a little and hold coming to something that went badly before so it might even help to have your trainer hop on and work on it a little bit without the mental baggage while you perhaps practice on a horse that is better about it.

Either way, make it as low stress as you can so that you can show her that everything is okay. The good news it that if she will trot them and in an event you will never be asked to jump something with a placing pole. Wide oxers will simply be fixed by practicing lots of low and wide oxers (only as wide as you and she feel comfortable). Make it easy for her so she can get her confidence back, only when it is easy do you start making it harder again[/QUOTE]

I will have to give this a try, I had been looking up and beyond my jump.

Thanks for all the advice, I think I will back down to doing a bunch of canter bounce poles every time I ride, and then when I do put a jump, placing the pole further out for her to canter.

We had the pole rolled in at 9’ for canter last year in an effort to get her closer to the base of the fences, as her nature is to want to take the long one. It had been working beautifully until I did not see the spot to the pole well and just kicked her at it. And now of course it does not help that I don’t trust her coming in anymore, so I am sure I am adding to the issue.

She is not what I would call green, she has been happily carting me around novice for years and is very well schooled on the flat. However, when she did dump me over this exercise the oxer was quite big for us (around prelim height), and I think it was just too much for her.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Personally, I don’t find short canter placing poles all that helpful for teaching a horse/rider to go to the base…not on a horse/rider combination already in love with the longer spot as I’ve seen too many either try and jump it all or one foot it…for exactly the reason you did…you are already not incline to be patient when you don’t see the distance (I totally relate).

I know many trainers set them but personally don’t think it works great. Now a set of canter poles…that works a bit better but you do need to be accurate getting in. And if you are going to role in a canter pole closer to get them to the deeper distance, you need to do it progressively. Set first comfortably out until the horse and rider are smoothly riding it, then gradually role it in closer.

To me, trotting fences, especially larger one (and I HATE trotting fences) does more about teaching a horse and rider to wait.

[subk]

I’ll second looking directly at the placing pole. It is the jump–or at least something that has to be negotiated–and you should look through the horse’s ears directly at it until you are too close to see it then lift your eye to the jump. Have someone put a small rock or coin on the rail for you to look for as you go through the exercise.

[goodmorning]

So placing poles are great - but this is where a good grounds person can be key. I agree 9’ is likely too close. However, what is the goal of this exercise? Forgive me if I missed it.

Anyways, a placing pole too close can be tricky because it can encourage them to jump over their shoulder, especially at a low height.

I like placing pole at a trot 9- to a bounce. Do you have cavaletti?

[lstevenson]

Those who mentioned looking at the placing pole itself on the approach are very clever That seems like a minor detail, but it really makes a world of difference to the horse. You looking at the jump itself can cause this type of horse to rush the process of negotiating the pole.

I would also advise doing placing poles with a one stride distance for a while, rather than the traditional bounce. And rows of canter poles, where you then turn the last element into a small jump, and eventually make every other pole a small jump, leaving the first pole to be your placing pole.

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[woodhillsmanhattan]

I agree with those that suggest putting the pole a few strides away and then gradually bringing it in. You could also set up 4 trot poles 9’ away from a cross rail or small vertical instead of a single 9’ canter rail. Bringing it down to a slower gait and smaller fence may give you both some confidence that you guys can navigate through even if things don’t work out perfectly.