Confidence over the Larger Jumps?

[MIKOLI. =)]

Hi,

Ollie is starting over the 65-70cm area in jumping heights, which would be more into the realm of high jumping than courses. He seems to lack confidence over the higher jumps. It will take him a while before he plucks up the courage to even try to jump one, and then he does it very rushed, and jumps on top of the bar. I know he can get over them, as he has jumped that high before over jumps that were smaller than those.

Any advice or tips on getting up his confidence? He's very good over the smaller jumps, and anywhere from 1 - 40cm he can do with out any trouble at all.

Thank you,
Rachel.

[MagicStar]

I seem to have the same problem with Magic in the 20 inch range. Magic also seems to pluck up the courage before trying a jump; If he rushes it, maybe try some complicated jumps, like a cross bar, or an oxer, to help him stay in the air more. I know long jumping would seem better. Maybe try a few long jumps with Ollie, that may help him. But, what do you mean by rushed exactly?

[Boz]

This is only an idea but maybe when he does do those high jumps, give him a bigger reward. Like a very yummy treat. Then he'll want to go over them because he'll get a big reward for it ;D Only a thought

[MIKOLI. =)]

boz said:

This is only an idea but maybe when he does do those high jumps, give him a bigger reward. Like a very yummy treat. Then he'll want to go over them because he'll get a big reward for it ;D Only a thought

Good thought, but Ollie's a very tricky bun, and he refuses to accept treats outside of his hutch. His idea of a reward is to let him off the harness for a few minutes to have a bit of a run around. Thanks for your idea though!

By rushed I mean he doesn't spend a lot of time considering how to jump. He just pops into the air to get it over with, rather than calmly conentrating on how he can get over it.

I'm very proud of him for even trying for me, because you can't really understand how much bigger than him the jump is. It comes about half way up my thigh, and I'm about 5'8" ish I guess. It's about 27-28 inches high, if that helps. It's also very solid looking, and very scary. I'm amazed he can even get that high into the air. He tries so hard for me, so I'm proud of him anyway.

Rachel.

[MagicStar]

admin said:

boz said:

This is only an idea but maybe when he does do those high jumps, give him a bigger reward. Like a very yummy treat. Then he'll want to go over them because he'll get a big reward for it ;D Only a thought

Good thought, but Ollie's a very tricky bun, and he refuses to accept treats outside of his hutch. !


Rachel.

That's exactly the same way Magic is. He ONLY eats in his hutch. If he's up at the house, he doesn't eat either. This frustrates me, because treat-rewards are such good encouragement for training, and he just isn't interested.

[abjerner]

In my experience it has been very good if you are training a rabbit for a higher course to let it hop the course it already can hop and then let 1 or 2 obstacles be higher. Sometimes the rabbit don’t see that the obstacle is higher. Then you can make one obstacle higher at a time and then suddenly your rabbit can hop the higher course.
We start at 25 cm. when the rabbit is 4 month old and we train the rabbit slowly up to 50 cm (20 inches). Normally it can hop 50 cm. when it is about 2 – 2½ years old.
If you force the rabbit to advance too quickly it will go into reverse gear and won’t hop.
Aase Bjerner