[farmeress]

[quote=Tallboots;4205689]He's completely and utterly on that fence. And he doesn't turn, doesn't do anything but run once he's set on a fence. If you try to pull him out - he usually barely makes it pass the standards, and occasionally will run into them - which isn't safe at all.

My thoughts exactly. But its not my call. The barn has been putting more advanced kids on him lately, and they aren't phased by it. But that doesn't mean its stopping. *Sigh*
[ quote]

No...it is not stopping it....and it will probably be a student injury/lawsuit to "phase" the owners into action and training this horse safely.

[Tallboots]

No...it is not stopping it....and it will probably be a student injury/lawsuit to "phase" the owners into action and training this horse safely.

We have release forms signed by all the riders. And the people riding him are told not to jump him if he feels very up that day. And it's not the owner's job to train him - its the barn manager's. He's not all out dangerous - he's sure-footed and the only vice he has is the rushing. We are trying to fix the problem - if we weren't then I wouldn't be asking for suggestions.

[farmeress]

I know you are trying to fix the problem...but a horse that rushes fences should not be in a school until the issue is corrected...or simply use him as a flat lesson horse.

A waiver will hold little value in court if a person jumps this horse .....and it is found out he rushes fences to a point you can not turn him.....and someone is hurt in a jumping lesson....negligence can be proven from prior behaviour of the animal before the rider was mounted by the instructor on this school horse...and the owner will be held liable...especially if this is thread was found by said person and they make the link that this is the horse they rode and were injured on.

My suggestion would be to remove him from the school for a time and work on the rushing problem before this behaviour injures a student.

If this were a privately owned horse...the safety issue would still be there...but the liability would not....just saying is all.

[magic_rider]

Have you tried different ways of riding him? My horse rushes very badly jumping and I have almost fixed that problem by changing the way I ride him. I have found with my horse, he goes better if you let him move faster and don't pull on the reins or half halt.

Try riding circles in front of and near jumps and doing lots of tranisitions. A particular problem my horse has is lines. He rushes really badly towards the seccond jump. To help with that we set up two jumps quite a long way appart but in line and jump the first but then stop as quickly as possible after it (don't jump the seccond one). Then occasionaly go on to the seccond one. This worked really well for my horse.

[Tallboots]

Try riding circles in front of and near jumps and doing lots of tranisitions. A particular problem my horse has is lines. He rushes really badly towards the seccond jump. To help with that we set up two jumps quite a long way appart but in line and jump the first but then stop as quickly as possible after it (don't jump the seccond one). Then occasionaly go on to the seccond one. This worked really well for my horse.

Thank you for your suggestion :]

[rider4life422]

[quote=Tallboots;4205745]We have release forms signed by all the riders. And the people riding him are told not to jump him if he feels very up that day. And it's not the owner's job to train him - its the barn manager's. [quote]
It is the owners responsibility to have the horse trained if they are allowing them to be used in a schooling program. It is the owner who will be responsible if something happens.

Originally Posted by farmeress

A waiver will hold little value in court if a person jumps this horse .....and it is found out he rushes fences to a point you can not turn him.....and someone is hurt in a jumping lesson....negligence can be proven from prior behaviour of the animal before the rider was mounted by the instructor on this school horse...and the owner will be held liable...especially if this is thread was found by said person and they make the link that this is the horse they rode and were injured on.

She makes very valid points. A waiver only covers butts in the cases of "freak" accidents: The horses spooks at something, etc. Things that you can't predict or control. The fact that this horse has a KNOWN problem makes the waiver pretty much water in case something happens.

Originally Posted by magic_rider

Try riding circles in front of and near jumps and doing lots of tranisitions. A particular problem my horse has is lines. He rushes really badly towards the seccond jump. To help with that we set up two jumps quite a long way appart but in line and jump the first but then stop as quickly as possible after it (don't jump the seccond one). Then occasionaly go on to the seccond one. This worked really well for my horse.

I think that everyone is pretty much suggesting to do things with the horse so he never knows whats coming next. Go around the ring and do canter, walk, trot, halt, walk, canter, halt, etc always changing it up so he can't anticipate. It you circle on your approach to the jumps he won't know when he is actually going to it. As for running into the standard, my horse did it once, and never again. Or you can use cavilettes, they don't have standards to run into.

[pippy]

I'm with farmeress on this one - take it out of the school.

Rushing is a bad vice, and it takes a long time to "fix" if its "fixed" at all, normally it is just toned down froma "certified rusher"

Also the issue will be being compounded with amature riders on him - even though they have the guts to go with the horse when he rushes - I'd put money on the fact that they still hang on to his face on approach to the jump when he accelerates - giving him more cause to rush, takes a good rider with balance and feel to just sit on a horse and let him do his thing in front of a jump when they flat out rush - I just so highly doubt that most of the lesson riders will be capable of it, let alone get a halt out of him a few stride after the jump - let alone in front of it.