Advice on spurs for jumping

[charlotte79]

Ok so I have a wonderful mare who has been in and out of work since i broke her (4 yrs) due to illness and injury. The last year and a half though we have had no breaks and actually started competing !! ODE are our thing and she is great on the flat...light and responsive off my leg...we always get top marks...now the problem is with the jumping, she has plenty of scope but backs off alot (we started having real issues jumping and after investigating found out she had torn her back ligament )...she had a year out and got brought back into work slowly and properly but jumping was never the same, I will take some of the blame as i have trained her and did ride a little backwards after her time off as she was a nightmare and at one point thought she was never going to be rideable again. Now though she is grown up and knows her job and is all healed...she should be taking me to the fences when i ask?!?! We see a few different trainers and they have all suggested using spurs as a shock tactic now....I have always been against using spurs but jumping her (especially xc) is too much hard work and if we want to move up the levels (currently at 90) she needs to be taking me forward. I have to keep my hands on the reins to hold her hand so smacking behind the leg coming into a fence is no good and schooling whips are banned at events. I would just like to hear peoples advice on the use of spurs in this case, she is my baby but she really needs to start helping me out now. She is more than capable I know it but she needs confidence in me and at the moment when i say lets go...its a delayed reaction from her!! A poke with the spurs could be all thats needed to get that extra forward surge?? Thanks

 

[be positive]

I am not sure why you are asking on here, if all the trainers have said use spurs and there is nothing wrong with the horse then pop some on and see if they help, it is unsafe riding xc on a horse that does not go from the leg when told, even if you blame yourself in part she does now need to learn that you mean it.
I always recommend wearing spurs xc, unless there is a good reason not to, even youngsters with limited experience will have them on for schooling and competing, if they are not needed they don't come into use, if they are then they are so much more effective than having to take a hand off the reins to use a whip if the horse starts backing off.

 

[LeannePip]

agree with be positive, if all the professional help that i guess you are paying is telling you to try sprus, then just try them! There is nothing more dangerous than an un-responsive horse XC!

 

[eggs]

I was taught to always wear spurs when going xc.

Although it does sound to me as though your mare is maybe not cut out to be an eventer. Have any of your trainers ridden her to a fence?

 

[smja]

You should still be maintaining a contact down both reins when you put them into one hand to smack behind the leg. But you could use schooling whips in training - I prefer one in each hand for something that really backs off the leg!

If your lower leg is decent and your trainers have suggested it, why not try the spurs? They are an aid, just like a whip, and if used appropriately then should cause no issues.

 

[CrazyEquestrian]

I think if your trainers say to try them then try them. I have also recently been schooling my boy over xc and sj jumps with a schooling whip because of him backing off and the spurs seem to do no difference to him and he is really starting to take me into the fences so maybe also try the schooling whip while training?

 

[wkiwi]

I know i am in a minority here, but it sounds like she may have lost confidence because of the past pain. I think i would be trying to build her confidence so that she takes you to the fence because she wants to jump, rather than because you are using spurs or a whip.

I have to say I do not use spurs ever for jumping, even at three day events, but then I am a bit of a coward over the very big solid fences and so have only competed on very brave forward moving Thoroughbreds anyway. However, most of them couldn't jump at all when i got them (off the track) so I have always done lots of gridwork to build up their confidence in themselves. I do agree that crosscountry isn't safe on a horse that isn't going forward, but would approach it from a training point of view using grids and leads from other horses, as I would not personally cross-country a horse that didn't really enjoy it.

 

[wkiwi]

PS maybe hunting would help??