Jumping->Dressage

[pones]

Do any of you have trouble with your horse when you start to jump and your horse really likes to jump. Do you have trouble going back and trying to make your horse do flat/dressage work? I know the horse I lease Dylan will be like "why am I doing this when I could be jumping," and all that sort of stuff. I will get him to bend, but when I want and ask him to soften and become light he refuses. It gets fustrating always getting in a fight with your horse after awhile. I want to keep working him with both jumping and dressage, but should I lay off jumping for a little while?

[jumpers4me]

how much jumping are you doing with your horse. Generally you should only be jumping him 3 times a week at the most. Before you begin jumping you should do a good 20-40 minutes warm-up/flat work. You dont just hop on and start jumping him. Jumping should be dressage with obstacles in the way. When you ride a course you don't forget about all of the stuff you have been learning on the flat you use it? so there really isnt any reason your horse shouldnt want to flat? :confused:

[Dom]

I don't think that the jumping has anything to do with Dylan not wanting to do the flat work. I don't think he's thinking "why can't we be jumping?" he's probably just thinking "This is hard work and I'm going to try to avoid it!" Changing how much you jump won't really change anything. Dylan is just sneaky and lazy.

[jumpers4me]

I don't think that the jumping has anything to do with Dylan not wanting to do the flat work. I don't think he's thinking "why can't we be jumping?" he's probably just thinking "This is hard work and I'm going to try to avoid it!" Changing how much you jump won't really change anything. Dylan is just sneaky and lazy.


well, basically what I was getting at with my first post is that he is getting away with not having to do anything really so he is taking full advantage. The rider needs to start telling her horse what to do instead of being wishy washy and not making her horse do what she wants. my horse is the exact same way. you give him an inch and he'll take a mile.

and, how much you jump has a huge effect on how your horse flats. if you never do flatwork you are going to end up with nothing but, problems :p

so basically the rider needs to toughen up and start being more aggresive....trust me i went through the same thing!

i am assuming you lease this horse out to her? well, maybe u should help her out then!

[Dom]

Yeah Dylan used to be my old horse and you're right, what he's doing is taking advantage of his rider, and he used to do the same exact thing to me when I first owned him.

What I was trying to get at is that the number of times you jump him per week shouldn't effect the quality of his flat work because the flat work is what you build upon for good jumping. (that is, if you're riding five or six times a week and getting some good flatwork in there) You should be able to jump three times a week or not jump one week at all and still get the same result from the flat workwhen you're not jumping. But if you only do jumping, yeah there are going to be some problems. Basically the number of times you jump per week shouldn't effect your dressage work if you're doing it consistently.

I know Dylan really well and he'll take any excuse to get out of work. When you're doing flatwork I doubt that jumping is on his mind. I know that when I ride him he doesn't want to do the work either. Jumping him less won't make him want to do his leg yields and shoulder ins any more than he does now. He might get better at it, but he still won't want to do it.

[jumpers4me]

ok, makes sense. but, i do think that if she cant make him do his flat work properly or at all then she shouldnt jump until she can. JMO though.