Hi everyone 
I one horse who love to rush. He’s he newest one I’ve just acquired. We rescued him from a pretty bad situation. He finally has good weight on after about 3 months, and is fit and we are just starting to jump over some small stuff (like 2’) he’s 16.3hh so it’s nothing for him. But we are finding already he likes to rush. I’ve even had some others get on and try and the same thing happens, so it’s not just me making the error it’s probably something he’s done over time. We have old photos of him doing 1.10 jumpers so that explains it I guess. He’s very brave. Does anyone have tips on slowing him down? What ends up happening is I just have to let him go as pulling is not good, as well he has a tendency to rear with excessive contact. He’s very good until a few strides out, and he’s perfect for trotting in. And then afterwards he’s like a freight train. It takes a good full circle around the arena to get him stopped. He’s in a Myler, and I don’t want to put him in a stronger due to the rearing tendency. Any gymnastics or exercises would be really helpful!
Lots of flat work. Get him listening to your seat more than the hand. After the jump put him to work. Trot in and afterwards if he is pulling don’t let him run around the ring make him work. Circle with bend after the jump and then move on to something else like serpentines etc. Make him think and that he still has to listen to you but first I’d go tot he flat work ad really get him listening.
Agree on the flatwork.
When you are jumping, don’t do normal “courses”. My horse went through a phase of rushing and now he is totally fine. We did a lot of gymnastics, specifically a line of 1 strides. The one stride gymnastics are great for this type of horse because they have just enough time to think about the jumping but not enough time to rush in between. Then as they get more confidence over fences they don’t feel the need to rush anymore. It is almost always a confidence thing, I’ve found.
Also, another exercise that helps is just jumping a single jump on a circle if he is rushing after the fences. A circle helps him slow down and forces him to rebalance himself.
You could also put a ground pole about a stride out before and after to try and back him off a bit.
Horses usually rush and rear out of fear of pain, have you eliminated that option?
Just jump singles as part of your flatwork, no courses. Be careful of gymnastics unless you or somebody working with you has a lot of experience . DO NOT just set a series on 1 stride bounces on the theory they will back him off. Unless they are set 2’6" or more they won’t even require a jump and will do nothing except, possibly, get him tripped up and hurt and you in the dirt.
You have to fill the holes in his training and get him broke to the aids again. Flatwork, singles as part of he flatwork- like a jump down the long side every 4 laps or something- is going to be your friend for awhile.
Hes OK, just never got finished with basic training or did and got run off his feet in the name of time. You can fix it, not hard at all. But it will take time and you need to stick to mostly flatwork until you are sure he will succeed. Don’t ask if you aren’t sure he ready, every time he fails you have to back up so avoid putting him on a situation until you are sure he will not fail.
Guessing about 90 days of mostly flatwork- a dressage trainer would be a great help in (re) establishing the aids. Remember a horse broke to those aids gets around a course faster then a horse just going fast.
They don’t rush because they’re brave, they rush because they are worried and think hurling themselves will guarantee their safety. So what you have to teach them is that it takes less work than they think to get over a jump. And the way to do that is to stop cantering jumps.
First you need to walk jumps start small and then up to about a 18 inch vertical or xrail. Just walk him right up to it while you get a little ready and slouchy with your body, then let him hop on over, stop, turn around repeat. If he gets rushy, just turn away from the jump - the advantage of walking is that it is easy to pretend,“no, I didn’t want to go there,” without him thinking that you are turning him out of a jump. DO this until he is absolutely calm. This teaches him that he doesn’t need to work hard and hurl himself to get over small jumps. Do this throughout your flat work so it is just another thing he does, not a “jump school!”
Next, do the same with trotting, only now, you can slowly build the jump higher and higher. Trot up with a slow, relaxed trot, jump, repeat. If he gets rushy a step or two before, you can even walk and then let him shuffle into a trot a step or two before while the jumps are lower. Once he trots slowly, jumps nicely and comes back politely, you can raise the jumps a hole at a time. Always insist that he comes back quietly politely. A horse can jump a 3 foot vertical from the trot with no problem and it is harder for them to “cheat” and lunge at the jump, like it is when they canter. Trot jumps (especially higher ones) force a horse to squat back and jump off their hind end. This will teach him that the way to get over a bigger jump is not to lunge and be flat, it is to squat, rock back and pat the ground.
When he is trotting jumps quietly and coming back nicely after each jump, you can start adding canter jumps, but just do one jump at a time, pull up and repeat. When you start cantering jumps again, you should focus on keeping him as collected and getting as many strides in before a jump as you can. This reinforces the squat, pat and push off the hind end as opposed to the lengthen and thrust. Once you can do this, you should find (if his groundwork is also solid) that you can him allow him to move out more and move up to longer spots when you want him too without losing his jump.
It will probably take at least a month or two of walking, then trotting jumps to reset his jumping brain. During this time, I would really focus on your flat work and developing a nice collected, adjustable canter, doing lots of transitions and teaching him to respect your aids. If you don’t have this, all the jump work will be useless.
P.S. My horse also went through an “up is my answer” phase. You can’t baby them through this or they will get dangerous. You have to shut it down. There are ways to do this but it has to be consistent and instant so he learns that whatever you are doing/asking that makes him want to rear is far more pleasant than what you will do if he so much as thinks about rearing. If you don’t have the tools to do this, find someone who does and ask them to teach you.
Did you get a PPE? X rays? Was he getting any supplements? Injections?
Only fair to be sure nothing hurts before you start reschooling or you will waste time.
Most times you’ll find its a combination of bad or incomplete training, bad riding and a variety of pain related items that are easily dealt with once identified.
So three months ago he was emaciated? Ever stop to consider a strength issue?
I missed that somewhere in my reading lol. 3 months he was emaciated and now he is jumping? Slow down, give the boy some time. Work on flat work for a few months. I know it can be boring to some but give him a chance to get stronger in his muscles and build what he needs to do the job. Plus like I said before flat work is the best thing for him right now.
You definitely need to take a huge step backwards with him and work on only the flat, as well as building his strength. It really isn’t about you being bored by flat work or anything like that - your focus needs to be on what is best for him and jumping isn’t going to be of any benefit to him right now. He’s only had 3 months between being a charity case and jumping courses - it’s either a pain issue or a confidence issue.
If you haven’t had the vet rule out physical issues, do that first. Regardlesss of what that shows, he needs a drastic slowdown in his training. Just because he can jump or used to jump, doesn’t mean that he should be doing so right now. He needs some gentle guidance, strength building, and confidence boosts before you point him at a jump within the next few months.
I missed that too…no jumping for now. He needs to recover mentally and physically from the bad turn his life took. You are rushing him.
Sounds like no vet work? He really should have a check up and lameness exam- ulcers too. Poor guy.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. As far as vet work, no none has been done. He’s perfectly sound to the eye and considering what we paid for him, I’m not interested in spending big money on a vet. We have had our chiropractor out multiple times to see him - nothing out of the ordinary.
[QUOTE=DebutsShirrocco;7419854]
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. As far as vet work, no none has been done. He’s perfectly sound to the eye and considering what we paid for him, I’m not interested in spending big money on a vet. We have had our chiropractor out multiple times to see him - nothing out of the ordinary.[/QUOTE]
It’s your horse…
Here’s a cheap suggestion then. Get him a massage. This will give you good feedback in terms of discomfort. If he has saddle fit or other kinds of issues that don’t make him “unsound to the eye” a massage will often pinpoint them. Not diagnose, but demonstrate that he is or is not uncomfortable.
Assuming his teeth, back, hocks, etc feel good, you have gotten good and consistent advice here.
Back off jumping. Work in building his strength with flatwork. Give him a few months, adding back in poles and single jumps at the trot. Then basic gymnastics, then trot in canter out. Be soft.
You may be surprised what a big difference strength and relaxed confidence make. But if he is hurting, none of this will solve the problem.
[QUOTE=DebutsShirrocco;7419854]
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. As far as vet work, no none has been done. He’s perfectly sound to the eye and considering what we paid for him, I’m not interested in spending big money on a vet. We have had our chiropractor out multiple times to see him - nothing out of the ordinary.[/QUOTE]
Just because he’s sound to the eye doesn’t mean that there isn’t something brewing.
Backing off the jumping is a good idea for sure - I can see where you all are coming from and I’ll definitely do that. Give him time and start slowly again. But in terms of soreness issues - there is nothing wrong with this horse. Don’t assume there is.
So he came from a bad situation and did 1.10m jumpers? I recently read in the Equitation Science book that horses can start rushing fences if they used to refuse and get smacked with a whip a ton. Which kind of tells the horse: “when you’re facing the jump you’re going to get in trouble.” So they just rush instead to avoid the crop. Maybe while you’re working on flat work do trotting poles, great for building muscle, and place them between standards so its more like a real jump.
[QUOTE=hj0519;7419935]
Just because he’s sound to the eye doesn’t mean that there isn’t something brewing.[/QUOTE]
This…I had a rearer…vet checked sound but there was a screw loose somewhere. She was with a pro, we tried everything including a vet…sometimes it just isn’t worth it to yourselve and to the horse! Please stay safe. I will never ride a rearer again, it really really did a number to my confidence. Horses rear for a reason, please try to find out what’s causing this. Maybe she is sound…then again, maybe she isn’t!
