Problems with release over fences

[WW_Queen]

I’m currently having problems with my release over fences. The mare tends to jump flat across the fences and stretches her neck and nose straight out over every effort. Unfortunately my arms are stiff and I’m restricting her bascule, at which point she can’t finish her jump and takes out the back rail with her hind feet.

I’ve been working on this all summer and seeing very little improvement. I’m getting more frustrated with myself since this was never a problem in years past (I had taken a year off riding).

She is quick, heavy and strong to the fences (and almost 15 years old) so I’m limited in what jumping exercises I can do with her/how much jumping. I’ve been working over cavaletti so I can practice keeping the rhythm with my leg and softening the hand but the problem is the worst over short related distances (think 2-3 strides) where I need to keep her together between fence one and fence too but literally don’t release at all over the second obstacle.

My coach says my lower leg is solid and doesn’t move over the fences. We were planning to finish off the season at 1.0m competition but right now I’m completely stuck at 2’9"-3’ because I can’t solve this release problem. Help.

[fordtraktor]

Add a neck strap and use it until the feeling becomes automatic. There is zero shame in a neck strap. None at all! it is both a useful training tool and a good thing to have in case your horse wakes up spunky one day. When I worked in a big barn we used them on the young horses “just in case,” and this was an excellent GP rider up on them.

[beowulf]

I agree, a neck strap is a good tool especially if her heaviness is pulling the reins from your hands over the fence.

I have also in the past braided/banded a section of mane where I want the student’s hands to go. That works well for visual learners.

If she is quick, heavy and strong, some of her pulling the rails may not be your fault. Do you have this problem with other horses?

I don’t usually blame the horse but it is a two-player game - if she is pulling/hauling towards the fences I can see why you’d be restricting your release. Is she pulling the reins out of your hands over fences?

I think you’ve got the right idea riding cavalettis. Have you done 2+ minute sets of half-seat in trot/canter work? You’d be surprised how much it will help your release. It strengthens your core a lot, and I’ve found in the past when I’ve had trouble myself with my release that it always boiled down to my core fitness.

[KandC]

I have a mare just like yours (even the same age!). I focus on not changing my body at all and staying tall and balanced. She gets a crest release over fences or an auto release, depending on how well I’m riding that day, and a strong, firm ride to the base and on the other side. I use a lot of leg and a lot of bend to keep her contained. It may be counter-intuitive, but at least in the case of my mare, she goes better and is less explosive when I use more leg to round her up and bend her, and then soft, almost spongy hands (if that makes sense) to keep her engaged.

With my old gelding (who was also quick, heavy, and strong), I was in shape enough to do an auto-release. If your leg is solid and you have a good base of support, I think an auto release would be the ticket. You keep a soft feel of your horse’s mouth over the fence- great for jumpers. You can also try riding through a grid using driving reins- they force you to really take a feel of your horse’s mouth.

I would also make sure you’re not sitting up too early over fences- that can cost you a rail with the hind legs.

Good luck! I’m in the same boat as you (and almost feel like this post could be written by me), but those tips have really helped me progress along with my fire breathing dragon!

[Synthesis]

Yes to the neck strap. I find it infinitely better than grabbing mane. You can set up a consistent target for your release. That will help you train the muscle memory the way you want.

[findeight]

Besides the neck strap, has a vet seen her recently? What you describe is classic in horses avoiding going to the base and rocking back to leave the ground…they stand off to protect the hocks.

At her age she’s a prime candidate for some joint lubrication help, maybe NSAIDS. If she’s getting it, she may need it more frequently. Remember they DO NOT visibly limp with both hocks suffering arthritic changes, the effects of mileage and wear and tear. Some of them are stoic and won’t even show a fusing hock beyond looking a bit stiff warming up.

You could try a Bute test. 1g a day for 3 days, see if she’s more willing to go to the base. Oh, how are her lead changes? Does she hold the same lead all the way to, over and away from her fences?

Great to see a rider blaming themselves first but sometimes it’s not all rider, especially with aging horses.

[WW_Queen]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have tried the neckstrap thing with limited success. I think I just need to try harder (like force myself to use it every day over poles).

My core strength could definitely use improvement. I have a couple of books gathering dust on using a stability ball and kettle bells; time to get them out again.

Sitting up too early… hmm. That sounds about right.

She definitely has a right hock that is showing changes. We had films taken in the spring and her hocks were injected, she got Legend also and is on a daily oral supplement.

[RiderintheMist]

To add to all of the great advise mentioned, your horse jumping flat, reaching forward with her nose and not clearing the rails at her back legs is an engagement issue, even though you say she is “quick, heavy and strong”, this is a deceiving thing the horse does that makes us (think) they are using their rear end, but in actuality, these are indications that she powers forward mostly with her front end.

For me as a Trainer when I read your post, I feel that 1) your horse needs to rebalance and engage from her rear, not with her front end and 2) she needs to be driven deeper to the take off spot and jump a bit higher by an inch or two to with a change in jumps to help her bascule…

IF she had balance brought back to her rear end, her “engine”, with a focal point on setting on her rear, then her mouth would be lighter and more responsive, along with a softer and more round bascule. To help with this first being how important it will be to the end result, she needs to understand (learn, re-learn or get more precise at) lengthening and shortening of strides at each gate, walk/trot/canter to have her respond to your requests for “extension and compression” at each gate so that she is at the exact pace and in your control at all times.

As for better jumping form, here are a few techniques…find a ground person who can adjust ground poles and fences for you to help with some of the following techniques… Have your ground person move the ground pole(s) closer in to the take off point if each round over that jump, a little bit one round at a time, until you are getting less of a flat jump. Power up your horse only right before the jump and put her deeper into the take off spot. This might not be easy especially if she has a habit of early take off points and jumping long and flat, so you might have to work at this. Take videos of her FIRST as you normally ride, then try compressing her take off spots, video tape that, study it before you go out to ride again next time, etc.

Secondly, it sounds like she needs to be set deeper into her take off spots at the jumps and lift higher with a bit of change to the jumps so she has a “curious” bascule that she is naturally going to clear for the purpose of the surprise. This exercise you can do at home by changing up some of your jumps. After your warmup on the flat, take her over a couple of jumps that you have changed up (a new surprise to her that are not her normal jumps). Don’t take her over ANY of her normal jumps, this exercise is for the element of new introduction. Have one or two set with an oxer higher in the front by a few inches with something new added to the jump she is normally not used to that she will see for the first time, something that will catch her attention but not move enough to spook her or make her refuse the jump. Take another two jumps and offset the angles. In other words, set the jump cups on one side higher that the cups on the other side, enough to make it appear awkward and uneven, with the height in the middle still the same. This is an illusional training method that helps the horse break the boredom of normal jumps and helps lift their legs and clear the jumps. Since we all know it is best to jump in the center, the offset fences not only help with horses to lift their legs and round themselves, you CAN ride your horse a few inches to the left or right each round depending on the height you want to clear. These offset fences I also use to help correct jumpers who come around tight tuns to a fence and want to slack off and assume they will jump just fine but end up tearing off the rail or mowing down the whole fence LOL. The fence to that inside turn is set at the higher height, making them set up sharper, back off from leaning in and clear the fence more clean and true.

I truly believe that once you have your horse more “in your pocket” than out of control, you will be more willing to give a release and have more opportunities to work on yourself. I would suggest just for now, focus on getting your mare back on her haunches, deeper to the fences, lighter and more responsive in her mouth : )