HELP! My horse rushes her fences

23
Mar
2010

Cross poles encourage correct jumping

Hi,
I hope you can help. When jumping, my mare can get quite strong both before and after a fence. If i try and slow her with my hands her head just goes up and then she knocks the fence because the cannot see it. I have tried to soften my hands so that her head doesn't come up but then she just rushes into the fence, gets flat and knocks it. This is a real problem when jumping a course as she just gets faster and faster. What kind of exercises ,both on the flat and when jumping, could I do to tackle this problem? I hope you can help. Thanks, Killian

Tina Layton, owner of Contessa Riding Centre answers:

"Hi Killian,
Thank you for your question. I would say the first thing you need to check if you haven’t already is that she isn’t running away from any sort of pain or discomfort. This would involve having a saddle fitter look at the tack you’re jumping in, a physio look at her back and having her teeth checked by a dentist or vet. If she isn’t in any pain, then it may be habitual from a previous reaction to something. You should also seek the help of a qualified instructor who can see what is happening from the ground and help you with the problem.
As for exercises, it is usually best to take things back to basics. On the flat, is she submissive or does she rush in the flatwork also? Try riding lots of transitions, both progressive and direct. If she rushes or hollows, make a downwards transition, get some submission back and then continue with your work. This means that you are dictating the speed you work at, not her. Do not make a big deal about riding these transitions and try and keep her soft throughout. You could then start to work over poles; simply starting with single poles placed around the arena and incorporate them into your flatwork, so it’s not so exciting.
Gridwork is an invaluable tool in making horses wait and judge their distances. Make sure you have someone on the ground (ideally an instructor) to ensure that the distances between the fences suit your mare. Build the grid up gradually, approaching it in trot with a ground pole to the first fence which should be an inviting cross pole, then allow her to find the stride between fences as you build it up, hopefully without her getting quicker.
Lastly, I don’t know how big you are jumping at the moment with her, but sometimes horses are more respectful and stand off more from a larger fence or one with a filler underneath. However you must make sure your riding is up to this and do so under the guidance of an instructor.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Tina"