When a horse is too bold, he approaches a fence in a longer flatter stride, going at a faster rate, and as a result, produces a longer, lower jump.
This jump is often suited to cross to cross country when a faster speed is required but in the showjumping arena, it more often produces knockdowns.
In the worst situation, these knockdowns mount up, the horse loses confidence and eventually stops. This stop can be fast and dangerous.
Major reasons for a horse to be bold
1. Temperament
Many of the horses we try and train for equestrian purposes are ex-racehorses. Most of these horses know how to gallop with a strong contact but they have no idea of how to canter.
Their temperament makes them brave and they try to jump the small obstacles they are aimed at, but a lack of education creates problems - such as knock downs and run outs - and then the horse gets tense and charges at the obstacles.
So without realising it we've wrongly programmed our horse. A horse with a temperament that could have been programmed successfully, has instead been programmed to be too bold.
On the other hand, there are some horses that are just too hot and these horses are simply too dangerous to jump!
The sport of showjumping should be enjoyable and when riding a horse with an unsatisfactory temperament, then the sport becomes a chore. Sell the horse - and try and buy one with a generous and relaxed temperament. Once you have had one pleasant individual you will never go to the hot horse again.
Unfortunately the ex-racehorse presents many problems during retraining, and the success rate to the top level of showjumping is not high compared to the unraced individual. As well as training showjumping horses, I also train a small team of gallopers and in the last five year I have only recycled one horse back into showjumping.
2. The Rider
Many riders see a jump and start driving the horse towards it. This type of over-riding is often a symptom of a rider who is worried. As a result of this type of ride, the horse becomes programmed to rush once he sees a fence.
This pushed approach prevents the horses from jumping too many clean fences.
Training the horse that is too bold
Bold horses respond to training and not punishment - so don't get frustrated during your training program. Your first goal in a training program should be to develop a high level of collection - especially in the canter with a jumping horse.
The horse's mouth should be made confident and supple. If your horse becomes tense in his neck or jaw, bend his neck to break the resistance, and reward the horse with a softer contact, once the bend has been achieved.
Lots of transition work will aid greatly in the development of the collected paces.Bold horses are often strong and tense in downward transitions. Until you have perfected these transitions, you will have no chance of being able to maintain your canter on the way to a fence. Without the control that produces a smooth downward transition, your horse's canter will become longer and stronger, and the jump will suffer.
The diagram illustrates what happens when the bold horse runs
away on the way to a fence.
Correct striding and take-off point
Incorrect striding and take-off point brings about incorrect jumping technique
The bold horse has run past is optimum point of takeoff and has been unable to fold his legs.
The term is 'jumped over his knees'.
When your transition education is in place you will be able to reduce the pace when your horse wants to run to the fence, and you'll be able to stop him getting in too close.
One of my favourite exercises is to ride the horse towards a small fence, and then halt three strides away from the fence. This usually curbs the tendency to run to the fence.
Once you have achieved this first goal of being able to canter to a small fence without the horse running and increasing the stride, in other words you are able to hold the collection on the way to the fence and not increase the stride. You should now be able to build a small course. The fences need only be half a metre high and wide. With work, your horse should be able to progress to jumping the complete course without trying to run.
While your bold hero is learning to cope with the challenge of the course, again be ready to reduce the pace when the horse starts to run. This you can do in a number of ways.
Circle on the bends of the course, and keep giving the horse a regular diet of half halts to prevent him from running.
This technique of jumping a full but small course, and breaking up the fences with circles and half halts should reduce the horse's tension and when the relaxation commences, the bold horse will not run and make mistakes.
By half halting in the canter circle the horse will relax and his attempts to run off will become less frequent.
When your horse is cantering around a small course, and stays relaxed and is not too bold, reward him with a touch on the neck, and a long rein.
Ex-racehorses must have the idea of relaxation re-developed.
Training the Related Distance
Some horses are excellent rides for most of the course, but when one fence is followed by another one on a four or five stride distance, the horse starts to run - he gets tense and the jumping result is never as good. To train this problem, build a four stride distance out of cross rails.
Enter the exercise at a trot and after jumping the first fence, allow your body to become heavier and more upright, and halt. Again this transition should be done with authority but not tension. A pat on the neck will help with the tension issue.At this stage, I will always use 'Whoa' during the transition. If you are systematic using this voice cue during the transition, it will soon become a great help - but the voice will have no meaning to the horse unless it is used systematically.
On completion of the transition to halt, move off into trot and jump the next fence in the line.Repeat this exercise until the transition to halt is well established.
Now approach at the canter, and perform a half halt upon landing after the first fence - your horse should be well tuned to the downward transition and should be able to place five steady strides into this distance. In the majority of cases you will ride this distance in four strides in competition, but this training at the trot then with five strides at the canter, can really help the bold horse.
Most of all you, the rider, have to have patience. By quietly working through the exercises I have outlined you will start to see a gradual improvement in your horses way of going and as a result have more chance of an enjoyable clear round.
Wellington - A BOLD HORSE!
Wellington was the first good horse I had, and was he bold.
He was the horse that enabled me to make the transition into A grade showjumping, and he was a successful horse in Section 1 at Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide. He won some really big classes, including the Grand Prix at Shepparton. He won the Age Puissance at Melbourne show, I think he held the indoor puissance at one stage... but he was a fairly wild horse to train.
Nowadays you probably wouldn't take him on! He was part Arab, part Clydesdale, and mostly Thoroughbred, with bulging eyes and big ears - black with a big white face. He was very hot and very strong. At the walk when he was agitated, he would slip into a Spanish Walk just for fun. Only a few people ever jumped on him, and not too many felt all that comfortable when he grabbed the bit and commenced to march. I think in another life he would have made good chariot horse...
He spent the whole of his life being a bit too bold. I guess it was really his boldness that made him go on and win,
when the fences got very big, they were just big enough to slow him down. At Melbourne Show one year they built an oxer out of three rails on one horizontal plane, with nothing underneath the jump, at about 5'6". I was the first to go, and Wellington ducked his head down and cantered underneath it!
Peter Mullins was next in with Silveneer and said 'I'm so glad that happened to you, I was going to try and jump that fence.'
Wellington was basically crazy, and we spent a lot of time doing short circles, trying to collect him up. I spent a lot of time on the transitions, and I think it gave me a bit of an insight into training bold horses.
A sharp bit was no solution, and I don't think it is the solution with a lot of horses. The horse must accept the bit - the bit can't change the horse's frame over the jump. A lot of people these days opt for severe bits, and you see their horses jumping with a rigid tight back.
With Wellington I worked basically with a snaffle bit, but it was a lot of work at times.