At 18:27:22 on 21.02.10, Zoe and Paddy wrote:
My pony jumps 3'6'' (1 metre 10)but when it unfortunatly comes to spreads he refuses, does anyone have special tips of riding into spread fences? He is pretty scopey and could easily do it, but won't!

At 20:36:01 on 21.02.10, Natasha wrote:
Hi Zoe and Paddy, Why dont you try starting with very small spreads and work your way up each week, hopefully if you start small and not until he is 100% confident enough to jump oover it in canter and trot id say more it up but only slightly, hope it works!

At 19:11:44 on 21.04.10, lozzyhorselover wrote:
Hi, interesting problem. I think you should start by putting a pole slightly in front of the jump, then gradually lift the height of that to a very small height, and if he refuses it, just bring down the height of the taller pole, it is quite the same as Natasha's theory, so just keep on gradually building up height.

At 11:43:15 on 22.04.10, kibby wrote:
i reallt like that technique lozzy, just start rolling the poll gradually out then start raising it.. I am going to remember that!

At 18:10:43 on 08.05.10, Colex wrote:
I hate spreads too!! I started off with a crosspole in front of the jump, i found it looked a lot more inviting.

At 22:10:02 on 14.05.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I concentrate on a bouncy collected stride like i ride verticals and about 3 strides out i push on hard by squeezing my calves and asking for 2 long strides instead, by this time my horse is too focused on the jump to jump too flat and knows how long he needs to jump and does it no problem.