[TotallyMoi]

I've been lurking on this board for some time now, but am currently having some problems with my jumper.

i havea 12 year old QH who has gotten into the habit of just taking off and running when we start to canter. especially when jumps are involved.

it's gotten to a point where i have very little control and he is going at dangerous speeds. i have to haul on him to circle him, and even then, he just digs in and keeps his pace.

i think its a behavioural thing, that he's getting into. but im not sure how to handle it. i've considered switching bits, but he's already in a jointed pelham and a standing martingale. i will have to switch him to a running martingale as i was HOPING to show some jumpers this year...if all this nonsense clears up.

anyone have any experiance with stuff like this? tips? HELP!!

[crayon]

I ride a horse in my lessons who does this all the time. It's worse outside then inside. Once he's facing toward a jump he'll just start running and totally blow off my commands. What we've been doing to fix him is doing more work inside to get him totally under control and (I don't know if you'd want to do this with your horse or not) but my trainer tells me to give him little jerks before the fence... Sometimes I do half halts instead because I think they are more kind than jerking. I hope somebody can give you more advice. Good luck!

[TotallyMoi]

yeah! he does take off a little more before the fence, but once they go up a little higher they back him off...its actually more in between the fences that he really runs!

[crayon]

lol. I know what you mean there. I can keep Mx (the boy horsie I ride. lol) at a trot before the fence sometimes, btu after that it turns into "goodbye brakes" There is no fence around the outdoor arena and one time he just started to take off and tried to leave. That was when I pulled him around really fast. lol. I consider that to be dangerous and I'm not going to ride a horse that constantly runs away with me. He was much better last week though. I think it was a combination of him improving and me having a shorter rein because we were doing short approaches off the diagonal.

Maybe try shorter approches where he really has to get collected and stay calm before the fence?

[rwinksters]

I have a friend who has a horse like this and we have been working on ground poles with him for the last few times that he has jumped. He's now getting really good about keeping a nice pace through his jumps, but we still have problems out in the field. So instead of fighting him all the time, we found it a lot better to just let him run. For instance, last time I took him out into the open field, I let him run and kept pushing him past the time that he wanted to stop. Eventually he was tired enough to walk when I asked and didn't try to take off every time I gave him any rein.
So, if your horse just has a lot of engergy, you might try just letting him get it out every now and then and if he only has problems with rushing fences, work with poles and whatnot.

[TotallyMoi]

rwinksters - i have tried that, but i'm concerned that it may put it into his head that its okay to run, i usually throw him on a circle and push past his stopping point...

the other thing we're doing is eliminating long stretches between jumps, cutting corners and doing 'jumper turns' as opposed to 'hunter turns' the problem is, he won't collect himself, as he'll jump anything from anywhere, and my concern is that if he goes that pace and slams on the brakes at the base of the jump one time...i'll be toast.

[rwinksters]

Originally Posted by TotallyMoi

rwinksters - i have tried that, but i'm concerned that it may put it into his head that its okay to run, i usually throw him on a circle and push past his stopping point...

That's what I was talking about...

Could it just be that he isn't ready to jump? How does he do at collecting himself regularly? Have you worked on dressage stuff with him? How does he respond to your legs and body weight when you aren't jumping? Could it be that he's taking advantage of you? Can your trainer get him to jump correctly?

[TotallyMoi]

My coach is going to get on him sometime this week, the thing is that this is a new thing, he's never had this problem before.

he just has extra loads of energy!! (which he shouldn't)

[Coaco]

If this is just a new thing you need to look for something causing him pain. like saddle fit,changes to his feet, or discomefort in his back(chiropratic).

It sounds like he is "running" away from pain.
once you have that looked in too trot poles, courses with the "jumps" being rails on the ground then when he comfortably canters that with out rushing start raising the poles like 3" at a time (this is partuly for you as well). then gymnastics bounces, in and outs combinations where he needs to back up and collect. and go back to lots of flat work dressage get him light

[Beeks]

Grab the July issue of Horse Illustrated. They cover this problem using grids. I am not an English rider, but I found the article quite fascinating.