At 16:07:14 on 14.02.10, Flicka wrote:
Hi-my mare has a good action behind when it comes to jumping but is a bit tight in front so she is a bit nervous over spreads and quickly loses confidence. I know she doesn't have any physical problems but this is an emotional possibly memory thing from before I bought her. Has anyone any good suggestions for helping her to open up?

At 22:01:41 on 16.02.10, kibby wrote:
im not sure, but if you figure out something keep us posted..

At 10:42:11 on 17.02.10, Flicka wrote:
Well I'm going to do a lot of ridden pole work and I will start putting up some low spreads and free school her over those so she gets her confidence. Will let you know how that goes!

At 23:20:35 on 18.02.10, kibby wrote:
Upon consulting my training bible (Gymnastics, Systematic training for jumping horses. By James Wofford) Tips for improving horses who knock fences down in front. "i find that jumping low wide oxers and jumping longer distances , i can teach the horse to draw his shoulders up and forward. I work over longer distances first and try to stretch the horse's shoulders out, and then i work the horse back into shorter and shorter distances, with increasingly higher obstacles. The reason i do it this way is i find if you compress the distance between the obstacles first, the horse will jumper, but will dangle his forehand even worse. Your horse has trouble ‘snapping’ his knees because he has not rocked back on his hindquarters. You must increase the swing of the hindquarters (encouraging him to lengthen his stride) first which will then cause the horse to become more efficient in his shoulders. There is a direct correlation between my comments here and classical dressage theory. Go forward first then compress..." hope it helps.. =D

At 23:22:19 on 18.02.10, kibby wrote:
i really recommend this book..

At 19:20:36 on 21.04.10, lozzyhorselover wrote:
How are you getting on?? It is actually more common than you think, so just have confidence and let her know that you belive in you and in her.

At 11:40:58 on 22.04.10, kibby wrote:
how is it going?? my boy is having these issues but we are still very much on the forehand, working on rocking him back onto his hindquarters to see if it helps..

At 15:25:16 on 26.04.10, sophieandcallum wrote:
I would get her confidence up over smaller fences, then a small spread and gradually build up. You'll know when she is confident and you can ask a bit more of her, but be confident yourself and take her into the fence with real enthusiasm and reassure her. Believe it or not my boy is very very similar and a complete worrier when it comes to jumping and anything actually. He can't do it until he is shown that he actually can! E.g cantering 15metre circle (our menage is small) he would buck and just have a mad tantrum because he "couldn't" do it, I rode him through it and demanded he stayed in canter on the circle bending correctly and balanced and he did and won't think twice about it now! Sometimes they need a kick up the butt and told to get on with it, usually surprise themselves!

At 09:30:04 on 02.05.10, Flicka wrote:
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I've got her a new saddle and been working on the flatwork with Lucinda McAlpine which has really opened her up through the shoulder. Thanks for the book rec-I bought that and even though I haven't got the space you need for some of the exercises it got me started on a few grids and gave me some good ideas. I have also just bought 101 Jumping exercises by Linda L. Allen from the troton book shop which is really good as well. lozzyhorselover I think it's important what you say-I have to believe in her. Now she's opened up more in the flatwork and I think is more confident in her own body I will be doing more spreads and let you know how I get on :D