Another weekend of humiliation - is it just me!!??

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Switchthehorse

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So Fatty (7 today happy birthday!) has been jumping so much better at home decided to take her to an unaffiliated show. Entered 75cm class, eliminated fence 3.

Luckily they had a clear round class straight after that class round the same course. So bought two tickets, one girl went in (aged about 7 - i am 34, riding 12.2 pony - Fatty is 17hh) - she got clear round.

I rode in, full of confidence and determination. Fence one cleared it, fence two cleared it (had a stop first round there) then she tanked off in completely the opposite direction, did a wonderful horizontal leg yield for about 10m, then rein back for about 6m miraculously back in front of fence 3 - cleared it, tanked off again in wrong direction, got her in trot to fence 4, fine, took exception to fence 5, about 7 refusals lots of running out and napping to collecting ring. Cue lots of shouting from crowd, mad clicking from crowd etc, friends husband came in and stood by fence, we jumped it and so it continued, stops, naps, tanks then jump.

Went straight around again, fence 1 pole down, fence 2 cleared it, then tanked, then napped, fence 3 cleared it, yells from crowd 'kick her', 'more forwards' etc etc, cue mild asthma attack as so out of breathe, dying for stiff drink and cigarette, purple in face, has taken at least 10 mins to do 10 jumps so far. everything now at snails pace as so knackered. fence 6 dirty run out at last minute had to jump friends husband standing by fence to avoid squashing him. Then lots of half rear spinning because we didnt want to go in the direction i wanted to go.

needless to say we got round eventually, both shattered, dripping with sweat, me unable to breathe, last fence pretty much in walk (with tanking afterwards) Completely humiliated, crowd in what appears to be stunned silence with smattering of applause at end. Clear round has to finish as next class due to start and i took so long!!!

Normal postscript here - she has had everything checked, she is fine at home jumping, we have loads of lessons etc. I think her aim in life is to humiliate me!! Why cant i have a point and kick pony like everyone else seems to have!!??? Please tell me other people out there have similar challenges and one day we will not be the 'special needs' one!!!???

Sorry for the essay and thanks for getting this far :)
 
I feel your pain!

Mares, I think.

I used to have a lovely, pretty little girl - looked as sweet as a nut. She worked like a princess in the school at home. Our first outing for dressage: my entire test was done between A and B / E because she refused to go near the judge's caravan. You know your dressage test was a disaster when the only comment made by the judge at the end of the sheet was 'well sat!'...

Keep the faith - it will improve the more you do it!
 
Oh bless you, but your post did make me giggle (I'm sorry). Naughty horse, but at least you got round in the end, well done. Hopefully next time will be a tad easier :)
 
Beautifully described!

Might be an idea to hire somewhere with a course of jumps and put single poles on the floor, get her going round slowly then make them into little crosses. She may well have been distracted by other horses doing things elsehwhere.

Humiliation - yep, that's what they do, but kudos for having a go and I expect she'll be a lot better next time.
 
hey dont worry - I cried after my dressage test and am 36 ! it wasnt even that bad. I am just so tired of my horse being a thug and arguing everything with the threat of a huge buck as his last word that has just finally cracked me in combination with a very stressful job and a bully for a boss. oh and my toddler picking up on the vibes and turning into uber bratt. I wanted to spend the afternoon under the duvet !
 
I have a friend whose mare jumped out of the dressage arena, threw a major tantrum, and then returned to finish the test. The judge saw the funny side of it.

I feel your pain.
 
Poor you. I got tanked off with yesterday and had to retire from the working hunter. I think you should drop a couple of classes. If you go in at 60cm there don't tend to be many fillers and then you can practice the actual round without the spookyness
 
My old pony was a 14hds Palomino welsh x. She was the nicest natured mare I could have asked for. I was on the yard where the shows took place, used to take her round the course of jumps the night before the show and she would happily jump them all clear without batting an eyelid (which would have been expected as she had been stabled on there for at least 5 years and been round the jumping field more times than I can remember!) but as always the show day arrived and would she go round that course?! definitely not! She would be napping at the gate, rearing, refusing and would just stand there refusing to move :mad:
 
I so feel for you. My first mare, 10 days after she finished her season just forget about taking her out. She'd be perfect in the practise ring, then we'd go in, 3 stops at first fence (was a few years ago), thank you I'm out of here, then perfect in practise ring again...
Otherwise she was the most genuine girl you could meet, it was just at that point in her cycle.

Also was loaned (because she used to attack kids & try to kill them, but fine with me) 13.2hh pony who used to go in & muller the affiliated sj in the unaff 3' warm up class. Only way they could stop her winning was to extend out the back rail on the parallels so she could have fitted in them which they did after 5 wins on the trot....Saw plenty of big horses behaving like yours, you are definately not alone! One even jumped picket fence out of ring rather than go near the (smaller) fence!

It happens. Small courses & often as you can until she starts getting more laid back about it. May also be worth having ear covers as may be sounds (different from home) upsetting her. Keep an eye to see if her behaviour is worst at a particular part of her cycle (may well not be when she is in season like mine). If so, then you just don't go out at that point, she may find it uncomfortable to jump.
 
dont worry, my horse was exactly the same. i took him to his first dressage show and he bucked all the way around, and the second time out was inches away from kicking the judges car!!

just be patient and keep taking her out... its probably very exciting/scary for her and she is still quite young :)

try maybe having a lesson at someone elses yard, just to take her somewhere she doesnt know? you will get there in the end!!

Good Luck!!
xx
 
I understand what you are feeling.

It took me 8 years to get a rosette in jumping with my mare. She would always get the last or first fence down and she likes to put in her own strides so i have to really work to get her in the right take off spot. I would put a lot of what mare was doing down to her age and it sounds like she is testing you.

Congrats on doing the course even though it sounds like very hard work, i personally would just keep trying and try jumping her in other places/yards if you can, to help with her experience of being in a new environment. Mares are generally difficult when they want to be and especially when she is that big she will have a lot of weight behind her to muck about. Just be proud of what you did get her to do and she will learn, sometimes people just need to be persistent and patient
 
We have a pony that does the same thing....at home he is a star, at training shows he is a star. But the minute its a competition he down tools...

We worked out that his rider got so tense with nerves (even good nerves) and he picked up on it, this made him tense and the viscious circle began.

we discovered this by putting a rider on that was so confident and he didn't display any of the behaviour. We are now working on our childs confidence at shows.

Hope that helps a bit
 
Thanks so much for all the posts, feel much better and less 'poor me' about it now!! :) and actually reading my own post made me laugh, at least we provide some entertainment for the crowd!!!!

Thanks for all the tips as well, definitely going to stick at it and take her to as many places as possible. its the fillers everytime she doesnt look twice at poles, but have 'fillered out' at my yard so definitely need to go to a few different places.

Good news is it isnt confidence, i am so determined she is just a baggage :) we went through the same phase when we started out at dressage, i guess i should have known it would come again with jumping!! For two weekends we couldnt even get past 'enter the arena at A' and feeling the 'well sat' comments - i got once 'thought you were a goner then' :)

If someone could do me a favour in the Berkshire area and make even more of a fool of themselves than i do occassionally i would be very very grateful!!

off to watch the humiliating vids on fb!! :)
 
i think it really may be a mare thing - i have video evidence of my mare going very sweetly indeed at home - but enter a dressage areana [ & we are talking teeny tiny local shows here] & her only aims seems to be reducing me to a gibbering wreck
we like to start with a bit of a body slam on any small pony in the warmup ring - altho to be fair - she hates all ponies even at home - the shame of the behemoth charging towards somne teeny tiny pone..............followed by affaliated spooking & speed dressage as our choosen sports.... our only role seems to be to help other people feel good about their riding:)
 
First time out SJ last year, had a lesson two days before jumping a grid up to 1m. Got to the show, brilliant in collecting 2'9" no problem.
Hadn't jumped a course for some time so went in for a 2' clear round to get him in the right frame of mind, refused twice, horrible jump over a treble, lost a pedal so had to circle, grrr. :mad:
Went in again, tanked off after the first so circled, halfway round decided he was not going anywhere near a spread, spun, dumped me :eek:, got back on, still wouldn't go near it, gave best and jumped the first again then went home, all best laid plans to do 2'3" and 2'6" classes then see about the 2'9" gone.
Next time out second, no sense in these creatures!
 
no Pedantic definitely not mean :) you have to laugh or else you might cry and about 30 odd people at the show were all laughing so you have just joined the club. Just watched the vids of the round and all you can hear is my friends clicking frantically and shouting a mixture of "forwards!!! come on!!!! breathe!! breeeeathe!!!, she looks knackered! OMG, forwards!! keep going!! Heels down!! Come on you are doing really well it doesnt matter, god that mare is such a ..." etc etc

Why do we do it, sounds like lots of people have had similar issues!!
 
Promise you are not alone!!

Little mare can prodce a smashing dressage test at home, warms up beautifully, get her in front of a judge and she produces an amazing leg yeild to the warm up arena, and fabulous extended trot in the direction of the lorry.

It's just a pity we're only competing at prelim and these movements aren't required :rolleyes:

Get her back in the warm up arena and she trots round sweet as a nut! To make it even more shameful, she is 13.1hh, flaxen with a straight thin blaze ... she has perfected the angelic barbie pony look, so it looks like it's all my fault and not hers!!
 
Don't worry my mare is an absolute baggage as well. One day she'll jump, the next she won't. I took her out one day to do some show jumping to prepare for a competition the next day and she went beautifully, we came 4th (weren't as fast as pingy ponies). The next day I took her out again and she wouldn't jump a thing, even though the jumps were smaller.
My horse before that was even worse, he'd jump nicely at home up to about 1m. I'd take him to a 50cm clear round and he wouldn't jump a thing. We'd be in the ring for goodness knows how long, more and more people would start queueing at the gate for their turn. So humiliating!
Keep at it and I'm sure she'll come round but definitely don't feel like you're alone!
 
My loan mare was exactly the same!!!

I was jumping her about 2ft3 - 2ft6 at home, and over some scary fences including road barriers, cones, barrels etc. At the beginning of the summer I took her to our local clear round. I asked that they put all the fences to about 2ft cross poles just to begin with.

Well....it took me what felt like hours to get over every fence. In between each one we had dirty stop outs, tanking off, refusing and crashing into the jumps, cat leaping about and spinning about on her back legs! I think I may have provided the crowd with some entertainment and got such an applause when we finally finished.

All summer I went up there every so often, and by the end of the summer I finally got her to do a clear round. I was pleased with her and thought we were finally moving forward. Took her to a different venue and got eliminated at the first fence :( Took her into a clear round at the different venue and they had to ask me to leave so other people could have a go :(

At home she was good and we had all the usual checks etc. She would jump beautifully when she wanted to and when no one was watching....I do think she was just being a baggage!!!!
 
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No, your not alone my mare is worse than that at times. I jumped her very successfully for a good few months in 75cm and 85cm classes and we went to Trailblazers finals. However not long before we went there she'd go part way around a class and put in really dirty last second stops and I kept coming off. By that I mean most times I took her out for a good couple of months or more, mainly because I had an old saddle with no knee rolls. After a bit longer of persisting she was denting my confidence and making it a viscous circle so we stopped competing. I had lessons going back to basics and my instructor thinks we both lost our confidence and she lost it from going too fast. I've never tried going back competing due to money and horsebox issues and have stopped lessons but at home and in lessons she jumping 85cm and not refusing. One day I hope to go back to doing 75cm classes but I'm going back to uni in September so it will have to wait.

I think mare's are very opinionated. I'd have a few lessons and get your confidence back. I know how embarassing it is though, especially as it tends to be the same people on the circuit.
 
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