Control in XC

[Jericho]

Can anyone help please? Daughters normally fairly lazy pony showed some rather extravagant airs above ground yesterday on a XC clear round. Totally chilled out on arrival, in warm up and out of warm up box and most of way round course but watching him come to last few he turned into a different pony, yanking head down, leaping into air at not being allowed to go faster etc. He took a massive leap over a log on a downhill slope and took his chance to get going but daughter pulled him up at which he leaped several times and then bucked and daughter fell off. She has now taken a real hit to her confidence as he has been great for 6 weeks and not put a foot wrong except once when he turned a canter round field at home into a gallop and a few bucks for good measure!! Pony is a been there done that PC school master and I think that he did get frustrated that daughter was making him trot and when she did give him rein to jump he was then pulled up and not allowed to get in with it. He usually wears a hanging cheek but did come with gag which i put on to give extra brakes which did work. Tried to explain this to daughter but she said if she had let him go he was going to really go, probably harbouring memories of previous gallop/bucking in field and why we both felt going slow was sensible around the course this time. It was the explosion of energy once he did get let go (taking the big leap over a tiny log coming down a slope which set him off) which was scary and has now made me very wary of sending them out XC again. Any tips to control this explosion / getting the balance between going forward but being controlled? It is all new to my daughter, she is young and still learning obviously but am a bit disappointed at ponies reaction and don't feel I can trust him now. I can see lots of XC schooling days on the horizon!!!!

 

[smja]

Sorry to hear that your daughter's confidence has taken a knock.

Could pony see home once he turned to the last few jumps? That might explain the quickening.
Bringing a pony back to trot is likely to wind them up - how about going round in a nice steady canter, keeping the same rhythm throughout, instead?
Also, make sure that the pressure on his mouth isn't constant - especially in a gag, there should be a release element, otherwise the pony will just start ignoring it.

As pony knows what he's doing, and presumably that's what you've bought him for, could he be bored? Maybe try getting a more experienced/more confident person on board to give pony a good blast of galloping every so often?

 

[Lolo]

Is he good out hacking? I was a nervous child and used to make my pony trot XC, and he got more and more wound up and I got more and more nervous as a result.

In the end, my mum and her friend (v experienced rider) told me if I didn't canter the whole way round they'd not let me go competing again. I followed the friend round as a pair at a sensible canter and realised how much more fun it was and didn't look back.., pony was perfect from then on too!

 

[Darremi]

Horses tend to settle much more XC in canter. It is unnatural for them to be brought back to trot all the time. Maybe practice slow canters out hacking in the gag to get confidence back.

My horse would go bananas if I tried to make him do XC in trot!

 

[TarrSteps]

Lolo's idea about pairs is definitely worth considering. Is there a sensible soul in your PC that she could do some schooling and maybe some pairs classes with?

I'm another who suspects an experienced pony will get wound up by being asked to trot, especially in a competition.

When I was young I was lucky enough to get a ride on a very experienced event horse. Our first 'proper' xc school he was carting me all over the countryside and i was really wrestling with him. As we flashed past his owner/my boss, I yelled something like, 'I can't stop!!' Her reply? 'It's cross country! Why would you want to stop??' Fair point, well made. What I wanted was to have control, but strangling him over decent sized jumps, doing a job he already had a system for, was just making him anxious and resistant and harder to control. If I had the horse today, maybe I would want to address his schooling but that was far far beyond me at the time. I learned to ride the horse - not without bumps - and by the end of the year I was winning on him.

If your daughter needs to take a step back, maybe do some more cantering at home and schooling, then do it. She's young, let her learn at her own pace. Has she competed him much in other disciplines? How is their show jumping? 6 weeks is not very long for a child getting used to a new pony and making a big step up!

It's possible some schooling with a large, more advanced rider will help, just to keep him on the straight and narrow. You have to play that by ear though as sometimes it winds them up. If you do go that route make sure he gets schooled properly.

 

[Lolo]

TarrSteps, that is exactly what happened to me Once I learned to let go and let him canter (although we did upgrade the bit too!) we really enjoyed ourselves. Going in a pair with someone really safe and calm, but who does go XC properly will let her get the feel of what 'fast' is. It can even be XC schooling, just following round.

The other thing to try is sticking someone a similar size to her, but with a lot more experience, on the pony and getting your daughter to watch them and see how he behaves then. But that could prove a confidence knock too, if he behaves impeccably and your daughter starts blaming herself.

 

[Jericho]

Thank you for replies - they really help. My initial reaction was oh you little monkey but it makes absolute sense that he was going to get wound up because she did make him go very slow and he could have done this with his eyes closed! on reflection there was so many positives - he was very calm in warmup and at starting gate, jumped everything inc ditches, water, bank (except a very big wide stile with a tray filled with pine cones at the bottom. This was last jump and one after she fell off and poor daughter just didn't ride it). He had excellent brakes. It was really hilly, first xc he has done in a while, first proper one she has ever done with the biggest meatiest proper xc jumps (bar xc schooling on other ponies) she has ever done although this in itself has given her lots of confidence, new pony, no real prep, a course that took her out of sight through woods etc for 75% of the time ... Daughter had a fairly busy year of PC rallies, camp, lessons last year and competing SJ albeit at tiny heights but nothing really like this. Oh dear, putting it all down on paper has made me realised that in hindsight I should have not even contemplated letting them go round after we walked the course in the day :-( bad mummy

He is fab to hack so your suggestions are great - lots of cantering over different terrains, schooling with another sensible pony and it's reassuring to know that other schoolmasters have reacted exactlybthe same! Thank you!

 

[zaminda]

I've been riding a similar pony for someone for a while, the other thing I have found is to make sure they do plenty the day before too. The pony I'm riding can be very lazy, so when he takes off it is all the more surprising!! We have also been working on lots of XC canter, as opposed to SJ canter, and getting them to understand the difference, has then meant the girl has realised he isn't entirely trying to run off, just get on with it!