# How can I get my horse to 'tuck' more over jumps?!



## Ponyjumpergirl (Dec 15, 2014)

My horse is a 15.2hh Polish Warmblood, 14 years old and apparently used to event back in Poland before I got her; a few years ago. When I'm jumping, she lifts her knees up, but everything below just sort of..dangles, meaning that she usually massively over jumps in order to clear the bigger jumps. 

The highest i have jumped on her is 1m, as she usually knocks anything above that because of her front legs, but she's usually very careful with her back legs. She has open front tendon and fetlock boots, and when she hits the poles, it is just because she taps it with her hooves. 

She does seem more careful over cross country, but I have only done it once over quite smalll fences (60 - 70cm). She still doesnt 'tuck' her lower legs up, she just jumps higher to make up for the fact that her legs are still dangling. 

I have done lots of pole and gridwork, and I saw on another forum that getting the horse to get in too deep for the jump can make them jump - she just puts her head down between her knees, other than that it makes no difference. Some people have suggested doing bigger xc jumps, but I don't really want to as I know that dangly legs can be dangerous over solid jumps. 

Any tips on trying to teach her to tuck her front legs up more?
Attached some photos for you all to look at as well.

you can have a look at my insta, there are more photos and vids on there: https://www.instagram.com/kayleightaylxr/


----------



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

What you are referring to is called "hanging a leg". A lot of times they will do it with one leg, but it seems yours is being lazy with both.

If she is 14, does she have any lameness problems or any arthritis? It would be pertinent to do a full lameness exam to see if there is any physical reason why she may not want to lift those legs up under her nicely. 

If there is a not a physical reason, most of the time it is a matter of doing lots of gymastic exercises to get the horse to pick up their feet more. 

Some horses will hang on a low jump, because they can be lazy and still clear it. But you say she does knock it if you try a higher jump?

Hanging a leg isn't as dangerous as one that jumps over their shoulder. But of course, if you can improve her form, you want to.


----------



## Beling (Nov 3, 2009)

Understand, I'm not a jumper (I used to love it when I was younger.) 

My first thought is that your horse looks like she really likes to jump! But to her, it's easier to go big than to flex her knees. I suspect after a long career of jumping, they may be stiff. Does it really matter how she looks?

Even when we were young, we didn't like to interfere too much with a horse's jumping style. So long as they stayed in control, and went willingly over the jumps, we were all happy.


----------



## EliRose (Aug 12, 2012)

Lots and lots of gymnastics!


----------



## appaloosa1racehorse2 (Sep 27, 2016)

I am a show jumper and it looks like that she has no problem at all, my horse used to do the same thing but I made him pick up the speed in between jumps and it fixed the issue. But really it is part of the take off part of the jump. She has no issue really 
I hoped this helped!


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

She has a lot of issues if she's previously done eventing - no way would she go safely around a decent sized cross country course like that and not end up in a heap on the other side especially on a drop fence
She has the look of either a green horse that's too downhill not quite sure what to do with itself over a fence or an older horse that's a bit rusty so needs some tuning up or has some troubles
Have you had her checked out for any signs of arthritis? She does look a bit stiff in that video
She's diving over the fences rather than jumping upwards and forwards - that could be because she's leaning on your hands and dumping her weight on her forehand which continues over the fence - she's still leaning as she launches herself instead of picking up
If she doesn't have soundness issues you could try working her on grids and do more flatwork to try to get her lighter in front and more uphill in her action
You don't need to go so far up her neck over smaller fences - if she's already downhill you don't need to add any more weight to her front end as she lifts up than you absolutely have to


----------



## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

^Absolutely. 
To say that there is 'no issue' is simply not the case.

Does she have any issues with arthritis? 

Provided that she's got a clean bill of health and there is no pain/stiffness/arthritis involved, you need to make your mare more aware of her legs/feet.
As suggested above, gymnastics are a great start. Work up from ground polls.


----------



## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

I'm not a jumper but agree that to say there is nothing to see in those pics is a bit concerning, from a show jumper. I've worked(hoof work) on a lot of jumpers/ex-jumpers. I'd hazard a guess that after a long career of eventing, that she is not fully sound for jumping any more - it is HARD on a horse to do real jumping/eventing. In addition, could those tendon boots be restricting flexion of her fetlocks & knees? She may do better without them.


----------



## Ponyjumpergirl (Dec 15, 2014)

Thank you all for your help, heres a bit more background. After eventing, she was bought and imported by a couple who really had no idea about horses. They just wanted something to look pretty and she spent 2 - 3 years in a field, with no work (as far as I know). Someone from my yard then bought her, but didn't really do anything, they used to occasionally hack out (once a month?) and just jump pretty high jumps (over 90cm) every time they rode, which wasn't very often.

This made her super unfit, so when we bought her she was overweight, and not used to being worked. I did ease her back into it slowly, over about a year I started off riding 2 days a week, slowly upping it until now I'm riding 4 to 5 days a week. She has got fitter and lost weight but could this be why she is a bit rusty??

She does have the vet regularly and he's never said anything but he is coming out next week sometime anyway so I will ask.

As for boots, she always wore boots ever since I got her, I just didn't want to change them or take them off incase she hurts her legs. Might try it for a bit just to see.

Ive booked myself in for a lesson on friday as well, so I will talk to this instructor about it as well and see what she says (hopefully get to do some gymnastics)

Thanks again!!


----------



## HunterJumperShow (Dec 29, 2013)

If it's not anything medical wise (arthritis, pain somewhere, ect)-- she could just be rusty from taking such a long break. Gymnastics, as everyone else has suggested, should help. Start off with all poles on the ground- then move them up to a trot pole into a steep cross rail into an oxer as one grid to try. Mixing it up and progressively making it more and more difficult will be beneficial too. Good luck!


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

She could just be unfit after a long break in which case starting from basics again wouldn't hurt
A lot of WB's seem to have a genetic pre-disposition to arthritic changes and the hocks can be one of places that get most affected - stiffness in the hocks would make it difficult for her to use them correctly to get that nice uphill arc over a fence so could be worth getting them checked out


----------

