Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Slowing the Rush
“Sometimes pure joy & enthusiasm are possible causes of rushing, but often it is a lack of confidence that sends these horses forward faster… there are ways to figure it out, to slow down the feet, slow down the brain, & let the jumps come to you at a more reasonable rate.”
Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on getting your horse to stay steady and not rush to the fences.
I’m pretty sure part of the reason that I love Thoroughbreds is that we move at about the same speed. I mean, going to the grocery store when it is busy and people move at “normal” speed is pure hell. So I get the hustle that a lot of these horses come with. The fun part is embracing it, channeling it, and enjoying the power of the forward, in-front-of-leg ride. But a forward ride and a rushing one are different. And one place I don’t want Thoroughbreds (or any horses) to be in a hurry is to and over fences.
If you have ridden a rushing ride you know the feeling of approaching the fence at a quality trot or canter and then one-to-four strides out, your horse changes the plans. They’ll grab the bit, invert or lean through their chest and simply run at the fence, often taking off out of step with your well-seen distance. On the backside, the rusher will blast a few strides or sometimes a few laps around the arena at a too-fast canter.
Hudson (Primetime Spy) was a chronic rusher a stride or two out, but when he was comfortable, he certainly had scope. Photo by the Kivu Team.
When this happens, the tendency is to try to hold them to the fence. The rider anticipates the rush, shortens the reins and tries to nitpick their feet into waiting to the base. They hold over the fence and go to their reins for control on the backside. It all makes perfect sense, but I don’t think I have ever seen it work (hell, I have been there and it hasn’t worked for me). Rushing often seems to come as a lack of confidence to the fence — a need to get there before the rider in order to compensate due to anxiety, flight response, fear, or pain. Ok, Ok — sometimes pure joy and enthusiasm are possible causes of rushing, but often it is a lack of confidence that sends these horses forward faster. Either way, there are ways to figure it out, to slow down the feet, slow down the brain, and let the jumps come to you at a more reasonable rate.
Cheese Whiz (RW’s Retirement) combatted a too-quick jump for a while and figured it out as he headed to Novice. He’s now doing awesome out with his own human. Photo by the Kivu Team.
Say I trot a crossrail and the horse grabs the bit and plows down to the fence and is off and away on the backside. OK. Good data. Now to the toolkit: The two main things I use to nix rushing are the upright half seat and the half halt — without the use of the reins.
Here’s a step-by-step of how it goes after the rush:
1. Go back to the flat and make sure you have quiet gaits there. Can the horse trot in rhythm without blasting off? If yes, OK great. If not, the jumping goes on hold until the flatwork gets fixed. The cliché holds — jumping is just flatwork with fences in between. Reward the try and work to bring relaxation back into the equation. I really like using small trot figure-eights to get attention and balance back, especially if you work those near the jump so that they can get used to focusing on the rider near a fence without taking over.
Returning to balanced, even flatwork is easy for Finch (Morning Artie). Photo by Lily Drew.
2. Test your half-halt. Can you trot, apply a half halt to walk and then to halt? Can you do so without using your hands? This translates to the following: is your horse able to listen to your legs, seat and core enough to down transition without being pulled on? Work the trot-halt transitions through the half halt, and then the canter to trot to halt until they get used to listening to your body. This might not be a one day fix. Transitions build core and hind-end strength and that’s part of the equation here too.
Always reward the try (even if it seems like nothing changed (yet)). Photo by Lily Drew.
3. Ride in your half-seat… at the trot. The trot half-seat is often a particular form of torture, but it is fantastic for developing your core as a rider. It is also an excellent tool to “take you out of the picture” when jumping. In finding and maintaining a balance in two-point, you can put a fence in front of you and not move through the approach, launch and landing. Your horse can figure out their feet, their brain and the question without having a rider balance shift. Basically, the less you move, the more confident and less rushy they get. Add to that that the stronger you are in your legs and core, the less you will have to move. Alas, more half-seat it is.
Half-seat at the trot might be awkward but it helps minimize movement over the fence. Photo of Leni (Chooselov) by Lily Drew.
4. Once you have the half-halts and the half-seat down, it’s time to go back to the fences (or if they are very reactive, back to a pole on the ground, then trot-able fences and on up). Approach in your half-seat in a quality, even gait without holding. Grab mane (seriously). And here’s the hardest part: Do. Not. Move. Don’t pull. Don’t tip. Don’t pinch. Don’t hold. Don’t toss your body forward (even incrementally). Make the fences small enough to trot and “simply” hop in your half seat, grab mane and do not move even if they blast off. On the backside, half halt and reward the resulting halt effusively, regardless of if they rushed. Trot the pole/jump again and halt without pulling. Repeat. Let them learn to expect the half halt on the backside. Rinse and repeat a few times and reward each halt. Then call it a (productive) day and come back for more next ride.
Bowing Snowman putting it all together. Screenshot by Lily Drew.
Regardless of whether it is a pole, a crossrail, the barrels or a three-foot oxer, when they rush the fence your training is not in slowing them down, it is in the not moving no matter what they do. Then it is about using your core on the backside, not your hands. This whole ‘don’t move’ thing probably will seem like a Sisyphean task at first. Don’t move, they rush just like before, you half-halt and halt, reward. Back to trot, half-seat, don’t move, they rush the fence and you half-halt and halt and reward. But do this a bunch of times without moving and *most* of them will get the picture.
Some will need to do this for a few days, some others a few weeks. As they begin to understand that you won’t interfere with their balance, they gain confidence, sideline their flight response and ultimately slow down.
Neil (Lute’s Angel) shown below is a good example of a fast-footed horse expecting the half halt and holding it together for his first go at coursework.
There are, of course, cases in which this whole “don’t move” philosophy doesn’t work. For some, it simply is not going to translate — maybe the rider didn’t give it enough time. Maybe the horse’s flight response needs to be slowed down in general and requires different tactics — ground work with poles and barrels to help boost their confidence (that’s another article for later). And perhaps it might be worth checking in with a trainer and a vet.
On the downside, rushing can be symptomatic of numerous things. Sometimes it is as simple as their confidence needs a boost (which the above instruction should help). Sometimes getting their teeth floated helps (if they were sharp, this allows the rider to have contact and some movement without pain). Sometimes, however, it is the hind end that poses a challenge.
Hoof rads are always helpful if there’s the chance of pain over the hind end. Rhodie (Western Ridge)’s angles were improved from this starting point. Radiographs by Countryside Equine.
Pain at takeoff, where a quality distance asks the horse to step under themselves and push up, often leads to the horse taking over and rushing to avoid exactly that. They’ll get their body where it needs to be to sidestep pain – often taking off long and weak, or on the opposite lead. In my barn, chronic rushers have exposed hind-end soreness related to negative hoof angles, suspensory issues, sore hocks or hind fetlocks, and lesions in the various tendons. I’m sure there are more options, but that’s just a few that we have hunted down due to unchanging or ever-worsening rushing. For all of them, though, I start through the “do not move” training, using their own balance to boost their confidence and assess from there.
So go ride, folks, and pop some fences outside in the sun for me while I’m still stuck in ice, snow drifts and tiny circles in the indoor up North.
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