I tried to give young Vinnie some gentle showjump schooling this evening.
The top arena is 20m x 60m (equirubber, fibre and sand) and a lovely surface to jump on.
We schooled flatwork for 20 minutes and achieved a forward-going shape that was soft, supple, relaxed and just very lovely.
I hopped off, put up a small ‘figure of eight’ course of four fences:
* A crosspole with 80cm at the midpoint at ‘B’
* A single 90cm upright with colour fillers at ‘E’
* A narrow ‘stile’-type 90cm with brush fillers just before ‘X’
* A 90cm parallel with 1m spread and colour fillers just before ‘X’ on the rein-change.
Nothing big, nothing scary, just schooling fences that could be ridden individually or as a course of four jumps – or even repeated/changed as required.
After our previous showjumping disasters I was slightly cautious at first; we approached the first – the crosspole – at a gentle trot, and I was slightly defensive in my position.
Vin stayed as cool and calm on the approach as he had been during the flatwork schooling; we landed in canter, he still felt soft so I let him carry on.
We cantered the track of four and I brought him back through trot to walk, patted his neck, told him he was brilliant and gave him a long rein for a lap of the arena.
Then we came again; this time he was slightly stronger, marginally quicker but he still felt very good so I shortened the reins, shifted out of the defensive position in to a relaxed forward seat and kept quiet while he got on with the job.
He was brilliant again! I gave him a rest and then we had one more go before calling it a day.
As soon as he landed over the first fence he snatched the bit and bolted; we steamed around the arena at what felt like a hundred miles an hour.
I had excellent steering but no brakes at all, I had to perch there until he’d run out of sufficient steam to permit me to guide him to a halt.
There’s nothing physically wrong with Vin; he’s even had his back checked in the last week, he just flips out and goes back to being a racehorse – jumping everything very fast and very flat.
I have to get the bugs out of his showjumping, this is very scary.
Nasty, it’s grim when that happens. I used to ride a horse called Star who would take the first jump then snatch the bit, pull his head down and tank forward with all the speed he could muster. He’d either take the next jump at a gallop or steam round them and you’d no way of telling which it would be. Scared the bejesus out of me every time. I can’t think of anything helpful to do other than what you’re doing, spending a lot of time quietly popping him over practice fences until they stop being so exciting, sadly I don’t think this is one that has a quick solution. Good luck!
Holey dooley….I would have crapped my pants…after I wet them first.
I know that feeling. Ru likes to pretend she is a steeplechase jumper over a 2’6″ vertical. Have you heard of a leveler noseband? With Ru it’s really helped her not to fling her head up and run off with me, esp. on X-country. That and a lot of gymnastics, dressage and halts after fences.
I do have to be careful to use a very light hand with it. But she is a powerful beastie. Not sure if it would work for Vin though.
http://www.nunnfiner.com/Nunn-Finer-Adjustable-Lever-Noseband-p/280b.htm
That’s an interesting thing, thank Maegan. I’ll read the BE rule book this evening to see if they’re allowed. I’m toying with the idea of changing his bit to a rubber pelham.
Trixie, it’s funny now. But at the time… not so!
Vicola, I think it’s frequent practice. I’m going to try to jump him four times a week.