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  Discussion on Help! After a jump my horse is so heavy and running that I think he'll fall over
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Posted on Monday, Mar 12, 2001 - 4:44 pm:

I have a 10 yr old Appy/WB gelding. He is over 16h and very athletic. He is well behaved on the flat, with a very sensitive mouth. But when I jump he plows right through my hands.
He is fine going up to the jump, with his head up and he does not rush, he takes it nicely, but as he lands he wrenches his head down and no ammount of pulling half halt ing and yanking will get it up. He tucks his chin right down at his chest.My instructor says to give one sharp jerk to surprise his head up, but he ignores it. He is not actually runningall that fast, but he has nearly fallen several times because of his head placement. I literally can not take more that 2 jumps in a row before he is too unbalanced to safely take them. I am a very petite rider so I am not physically able to control him.

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 13, 2001 - 3:50 am:

You want to make sure you DO NOT punish him after the jump, that may be whats making him rush after his fences. I would NOT jerk his mouth after a fence, that will make it worse, IMO.
None of us are stronger than a horse, no matter how big or small we are.
Start over again with ground poles and work your way up slowly.
You may also want to try lunging him over poles and small jumps without a rider to see if it is rider related.
Have you checked your saddle fit?
There are many excercises you can use to help a horse balance and slow down after a fence, ie, ground poles, etc...but first determine that your position and saddle are correct and not causing him pain.
I wish you luck, it is frustrating, without seeing you actually ride, it is difficult to determine what is causing his problem, we can only offer suggestions. It could be any number of things.

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 - 9:21 am:

Frankly, I would advise do a lot of gridwork so that your horse can teach himself to remain balanced over the fence and landing.


Teresa

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 - 10:17 am:

First off I would have a vet out to check that it's nothing physical causing this problem. He may be reacting to pain.

With that said, my next advice will be that you need to use half-halts between the jumps to help your horse re-balance himself. What you are effectively asking is that he rock his weight slightly backwards and carry himself more on his haunches.

But, all this is much easier said than done. I don't know much about you and your horses's training, but teaching your horse to respond correctly to a half-halt is going to involve lots of flatwork. A good dressage instructor can help you with this.

If you and your horse already understand half-halts but he gets excited while jumping and just "runs through" them, it sometimes helps to lower the jumps and practice bringing the horse back to a halt (or trot) between them. After a while he'll anticipate halting (or trotting) between the jumps and then you can start asking for just a re-balancing (via a half-halt). Never let him run through the jumps unbalanced, because as you said he may fall and both of you could be injured.

Good Luck!

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 - 12:02 pm:

Thank you for your advice. I actually have a very good dressage instructor. She says it is not a physical problem, but that he has no respect for the bit. She has ridden him, and at first she could not even stop him, though she got him under control very quickly. I don't know what to do, because she is an excellent rider, and I am a relative beginner. I do not want you to get the impression that I regurally yank on his mouth to stop him- There's no point, because he would ignore it. I just sit deep and keep a firm rein til he decides to stop. My instructor says that only a very strong and agressive rider can jump him safely. She said that I am doing everything right, but my 100 pounds can not control a 1250 pound strong willed horse over jumps unless I send him to a professional trainer which I haven't got the money for. He is great on the flat and I really love him. I could'nt sell him, but I really want to jump, and my instructor thinks I should have a more responsive jumper.

p.s. The size of the jump, or whether I'm trotting or cantering doesn't matter, he treats a trotted crossrail the same as a 3 foot fence.
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