"Hello, I have a 13.2hh New Forest, who adores his jumping, but hence our problem - once he starts he decides he has to literally cling to the jumps. He loses all bend and totally stops listening to me. On the flat he listens really well and is very obedient. If we jump a small cross pole, and ride on the next jump he will not move away from the jumps, he will try to come in to the next jump sideways or even backwards! No amount of leg or rein will persuade him to stay away from the jumps. The only way to chill him out is to go back to walk, straighten him in walk and then ask him to go forward again. He then tends to rush but jumps in a very nice bascule. We then have to revert to walk again to get any sense out of him before the next jump. Any ideas? Trish."

H&C blogger and Olympic three day event rider Sharon Hunt replies: "I would suggest that you only try single fences for the time being and not fences in a line. I always find that going back to walk enhances the problem; I personally would rather jump a jump, canter away and circle in canter for as long as it takes to get a good canter again, then jump the next jump and then canter three to four strides away, then circle again and make sure he is listening to your leg. I would keep repeating this process before and after every fence until fewer circles are needed to gain control and a rhythm starts to develop. I think going back to walk will never sort the problem out as stopping and starting isn't dealing with the issue. Sometimes this could make a horse hotter. Obviously, you must be safe in the canter though and not too quick. Hope this helps! Regards, Sharon."