Help and Advice needed from all you Showjumpers please

Hayleycakes

Hayleycakes

Ex Racers R the Best
Oct 28, 2008
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Robertsbridge, East Sussex
Just wondering if any of you showjumping Pro's could give me a little help or advice on something..

I have a 5 year old mare who in the last few months has been brought back into work after a year off due to feet problems.

I have started to jump her and had a few lessons with a friend /showjumper however she is not very careful, i.e she does not mind knocking the fences it does not seem to bother her. My friend says this is just where she is not completely balanced and young and it will come with time, would you agree???Has any one had any horses like this that have got better with age and time?

I have taken her to a a couple of hunter trials in the last couple of weeks only small ones 2ft 3 and 2ft 6, she jumped around clear but was still clipping the solid fences..... Any opinions or experiences please :confused:
 
it will get better as her flatwork gets better. you need good schooling for a good jump (well half decent anyway;)) you might want to try crosspoles that are huge at the sides but tiny in the middle so seperate the wings slightly larger than your pole size when setting it up for an upright and build a crosspole fence where the poles are placed at about 1 metre (or whatever height you like) at the ends, and itl actually measure up to about 2ft3 in the middle where your jumping, this gives the impression that the fence is bigger than it actually is and your horse should jump the fence with a little scope. then apply this to your gridwork so have 2 x-pole bounces, stride, x-pole fence, 2 srides a bigger cross pole than the other fences. and make it up as you go along.

although remember when doing grid work and especially with a youngen, the horse tires easy.
good luck. :)
 
Also, do you boot/bandage her up?
If you do maybe jump her once or twice without them on, as some horses can realise they're legs are protected and that it doesn't hurt when they clip them, but take the boots off and they suddenly jump about 3ft bigger than needed :D
 
some horses just dont have enough respect for poles, something that may help could be riding at them deeper to put her under a bit more pressure to her get up and over them as opposed to jumping further out, flatter which would be your pace at a hunter trial?
 
Don't panic, if she's only 5 and been out of work a year this is all very new to her and those are decent size fences you're taking her over. Give her time and don't be too tempted to rush her.

Good luck
Vx
 
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