i am preparing this kid for a competition and he’s quite a good rider but he has a 14hh mare who jumps everything but when with every jump she accelerates more and more till he’s uncontrollable and when i ride her i don’t have that problem but the kid cannot physically hold her. i changed her feed (less oats) and put a slightly stronger bit on her, but i am afraid to over bit her, i am running out of ideas. i’ve tried loads of things with her and am slowing her down a bit but not enough. any suggestions? please help, and please Only real answers.
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if you can control her then i think it will be down to groundwork with the young rider to teach him to control her in a controlled environment…as you say no point in putting stronger bits in….the rider needs to be taught….
good luck!!
do lots of work with jumps in the school, not necessarily jumping them. Ask him to jump one of the jumps, but circle before. if the pony rushes, turn again. only when the pony is collected she is allowed to jump. then try one jump like that, then another after it. Do the same if she rushes. dont let her get away with it! (strong bits aren’t always the answer- you were very right in wat you have dine so far!)
My trainer has the horse and rider turn left or right following the jump and then halt. That way the horse doesn’t know is it will be asked to halt immediately and learns to not go as fast. I would think your young rider also needs to do work on the flat with walk-halt, trot-halt, canter-halt, until the pony listens to him. And yes, half halts until he and the pony understand what that is.
A horse that rushes his fences like this is afraid of something. Either he is afraid for his back or his mouth. Does the kid jab him in the mouth? Does he bang down heavily in the saddle?
I suggest walking over ground poles, allowing the horse to stretch his neck and back while looking at the poles.
Next step would be putting up a small cross pole after some poles, walk up to the poles and allow trot the last stride to the jump.
Also grid jumping is very good to slow the horse down and make it think about where it is taking off, putting its feet etc and have the kid do lots of fun exercises like hands off reins, jumping with and without stirrups etc.
Remind him to use his seat to slow the pace and use a half halt rather than hauling on the horse’s mouth which is going to cause the horse to pull all that harder because it is in pain …. and the horse will win, hands down!
Sounds like the pony is being allowed to fall on its forehand. Interspersing circles and other figures between jumps is a good idea, but use those exercises to teach the kid how to half-halt. In the show of course riding extra circles will not be an option, so he’ll need the half-halt between jumps. Try this exercise: Small jump, half halt, small circle left. If pony is balanced and slow, proceed to next jump, half-halt, circle right, etc. Occasionally halt or do a down transition after the circle so pony keeps paying attention and doesn’t anticipate the jump. The smallish circle will "force" the pony to balance and slow. After a few reps, pony will feel the half-halt and slow down, and the circle can begin to be left out occasionally.
Teaching this, the rider to apply the aids correctly and the pony to respond, will likely take a week or two of practicing a few times per week, but it will be an important skill to both of them for the rest of their respective careers.