A common problem that riders have is what we call "rushing". That is when the horse has misinterpreted the signals to the fence.

When you first present a horse to a fence he often stops, spooks, or runs away from it. The rider then puts his leg on and encourages the horse to go. The horse then misinterprets this instruction and attacks the fence. The horse feels that the rider is trying to encourage him to speed up at the fence and that in turn becomes habitual.

The rider now needs to re-focus the horse's attention away from the fence and back to his instructions and the exercise I use for this is the Stop and Continue.

The aim with this exercise is to get the horse to concentrate on the rider's instructions rather than the fence. This exercise is ridden over a small fence and requires a lot of patience.

I. Canter towards the fence and stop 20m away then pat the horse.

2. Don't jump the fence but walk forwards and pass by it.

3. Come again in canter this time stopping I5m away. Pat the horse and gently walk forwards.

4. Repeat this two or three times at the I5m distance. When this is feeling fairly comfortable try stopping a little closer, like I0m, and repeat as before. Gradually the horse will approach the fence without rushing because he is expecting to stop and stand still. He is not thinking about jumping.

5. Eventually you will be able to bring your horse to a controlled halt 5 metres away from the fence. When the horse is listening and calm, continue on and jump the fence but at no point ask the horse to go forward so he should calmly pop over the fence. Come round again but this time stop and do not jump the fence. The horse is now listening to you as the point of focus and not the jump.

6. When he jumps the fence calmly, continue on to the next fence but if at anytime the horse rushes, stop, then jump the fence. Straight away you are saying to the horse we will keep coming to the fence but the moment you rush we are not going to jump it.

With this exercise you will be able to re-educate the horse to dissociate the fence with rushing. Use poles on the ground, cones or focus on a marker on the fence to give you a point at which to halt.


Refusing is another very common problem as you all know. A horse can refuse for a huge number of reasons but the one thing that is very important is that you must be fair, honest and consistent. If a horse comes to a stop at a big fence it could be a question of bad distance or confidence. On the other hand if he does it at a relatively simple jump, even if it was your fault, you should show the displeasure in the stop by a growl or even a nudge with the heels. The worst thing you can do in this instance is to pat your horse because you are praising him for doing the wrong thing.

Refusing is very often where the horse:
a) wants to have a look at the fence
b) the rider is negative and the horse genuinely believes that, through bad training, he is entitled to stop before he jumps it. The rider must clearly define that this is unacceptable.

Tim Stockdale


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Comment by Lesley Danko on August 29, 2009 at 9:42pm
Horses that are in pain or asked to much to soon in there career can also have the same issues.

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