anyone ever had a horse that did this? what causes it? what did you do to fix it?
I’ve seen horses do it who were asked to jump higher than their ability level/scope. Not sure of other reasons but I’m sure others will chime in.
Some horses do it to compensate for a weaker leg or subclinical lameness. I’ve also seen scopey sound horses do it when they get fatigued.
Overfaced.
Not straight to the jump.
Jumping off a bad distance.
Fatigue.
Conformational weakness or unsuitability for jumping (straight shoulder/hip)
Protecting something that hurts.
Have to see pics or video to even begin to know why the horse is twisting to get its legs over instead of just jumping up a little more to go straight over folding the legs.
Figure out which one of these is the cause, you can fix that to eliminate the cause, possibly via a good vet work up or adjusting the riding or training. If it’s just not built for the job, that needs to be addressed via a career change.
If it happens consistently - from the beginning of the ride (not fatigue) and when ridden well (not rider error) - I’d suspect hind end, SI, or back pain which causes them to push off the ground unevenly
Too deep a distance aka chip
Horse not straight
Horse weak behind
Not enough scope for jump size
Unsoundness
Very green (doesn’t know he has back legs yet)
how big are we talking? IME they should not twist over things under 2’6, and if they do, it is a lameness/soundness/strength issue.
once you get to 3ft, a horse twisting over fences is indicative of the horse being asked to jump at or past their max ability/scope - the phrase ‘maxed out’ comes to mind.
THIS is what causes them to twist:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJrLA2mBkBd/
Sorry, couldn’t resist :lol:
My gelding would twist when he was hurting behind. He did not want to rock back and jump up so he would put minimal effort and twist/swing his front legs instead. When he was perfectly sound he jumped fantastic. He would also twist if I did not support him to the base of the fence in his very first year showing.
Sometimes asking for the lead in the air.
I had a trainer once who was ADAMANT that you ride straight, let the horse jump, let the lead be whatever, and this is what lead changes are for, so the jump stays straight and the best it can be.
