At 11:47:34 on 02.05.10, codfish_ wrote:
I agree with kibby that gymnastic work really does help this kind of problem. Some horses rush because they are stiff (I'm not saying that this is your problem)and with any horse gymnastic work will always help to improve the shape of the jump and stop them flattening. Also, I would say that sometimes, even though it doesn't maybe feel like the right thing to do, use your legs. A horse I once rode was a terror for rushing at fences, but I found that if I used my legs and not huge amounts of pressure on her mouth she began to canter in a more even rhythm and not evading my hands. Once you have a rhythm, albeit super speedy, you can begin to adjust it so you can go a bit slower! Cantering in circles in front of fences does have its benefits with a lot of horses, but I would be careful in case it serves to hype your horse up even more, and of course make sure she's thoroughly healthy so you know she's not running away from any problem (I'm sure you have already done this). Good Luck!

At 18:59:08 on 26.09.10, chloeandlucy wrote:
flatwork will really help you. Set up a pole on the floor, wings either side. walk over it, both ways, trot, canter etc. as many times as you need to until the horse finds it boring, raise the pole and go each way - if the horses bolts you've got to do your upmost to circle as the horse has to learn bolting will not get it anywhere. Once you get to a heigh the horse bolts and then as soon as it doesn't finnish and go for a hack. then next time put it up a bit more. good luck :)

At 23:44:57 on 03.10.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
My friends horse does exactly the same thing he is getting better though. We work with him and Gren by putting lots of poles as bounce strides before and after the jump so they have no choice but to canter at a steady pace into and away from the jump. Put about 4 poles before the jump and 4 after (all bounce strides including the jump) it should really slow your horse down or at least make jumping more calm and controlled

At 19:36:22 on 05.01.12, Sweet Pea wrote:
I had a problem similar to this with a lesson horse. It turns out one of the girls who rode her was not releasing at all over the jumps, so she was getting incredibly frustrated, and started rushing every fence. After we fixed that problem, and worked over many gymnastics, she slowed back down.