Ditch problems

[Ladybird L]

As you may know I bought a horse recently. She is a super XC cob, absolutely brilliant. I bought her to hunt with. (She has never hunted before, though it is right up her ally) However… we have a BIG problem. She is totally fine with man made ditches. But ‘natural’ ones…. Uh uh.. she will walk down into them and up the other side, if they are small enough to do so. Will NOT jump. Bigger ones, she plants, then spins, and really gets herself into a lather. Even if all I’m doing is just making her stand in front of it, not even asking her to go forward. She is even worse lunged/led over. At a bit of a loss All I can think of to find someone with an experienced horse to give us leads. What else can I try? Is there anything?

 

[Northern Hare]

Do you have a cross country training venue near you, where you can have someone on the ground to help you to build up to your mare jumping a ditch - perhaps by setting up a trakehner type jump first before gradually removing the pole?

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I know this is going to sound really airy fairy, but if you have only recently bought her then she may not yet have faith or trust in you as a leader and/or partner. I would do some basic groundwork with her, get her super off the voice and in tune with your body language, it not only helps with stengthening but it's fab for your relationship. She may then take more confidence in you when you next try in hand and then ridden.

Dex very noticeably looks to me when something is worrying him, and when my friend hacked him out for me with me hanging back on foot she remarked the same, so I do think there's something in it

 

[JFTDWS]

I have absolutely nothing constructive to add, but…


If you’re having horse problems, I fell bad for you son,
I got 99 problems but a ditch ain’t one.

 

[Carrottom]

An experienced horse to give you a lead is a good idea. Also, try to find a ditch that gradually gets bigger and if possible jump towards home.

 

[LEC]

I suspect it’s understanding. A tickle on the hocks combined with a voice command of up can also help.

Even lunging we will get them to start by following another horse. We jump great big open rhynes so they need to learn quickly!

Tbh crawling banks and then popping is quite a skill set so I would just keep putting the time in and see if you can access some nice natural ditches.

 

[Ladybird L]

Thanks for all the advice I’ll let you know how we are getting on

 

[Bernster]

I have absolutely nothing constructive to add, but…


If you’re having horse problems, I fell bad for you son,
I got 99 problems but a ditch ain’t one.

That was my first thought too. Sorry op - not helpful. But it amused me.

 

[ycbm]

Is she from Ireland? If so I wouldn't bet that she hasn't hunted but I would bet she's been over faced when young and got in a pickle at a ditch and frightened herself. It seems very odd that she's OK with man made holes in the ground but not more natural ones. Is there anywhere you can take her with lots of smaller ones and a lead horse and rider, and just try to get her flowing forward over them?
.

 

[Ladybird L]

Is she from Ireland? If so I wouldn't bet that she hasn't hunted but I would bet she's been over faced when young and got in a pickle at a ditch and frightened herself. It seems very odd that she's OK with man made holes in the ground but not more natural ones. Is there anywhere you can take her with lots of smaller ones and a lead horse and rider, and just try to get her flowing forward over them?
.

She is from and in Ireland. That could be true either.
I have a suspicion she was a brood mare with minimal handling until 8 or so then bought by a dealer and broken, then sold to the ppl who sold her to me. (Wasn’t what I was told but…. I’ve been told a lot of bullsh*t by horse sellers) That could be wrong though. But it still could be true.
I know, I don’t understand it.

I think I do. I have to get down on my knees to my friend now

 

[asmp]

I recently fence judged at a ditch and it was suprising how many horses slammed on the brakes at it when they flew around the rest of the course. In fact we had the only two falls of the show (no injuries).

 

[Ladybird L]

She is from and in Ireland. That could be true either.
I have a suspicion she was a brood mare with minimal handling until 8 or so then bought by a dealer and broken, then sold to the ppl who sold her to me. (Wasn’t what I was told but…. I’ve been told a lot of bullsh*t by horse sellers) That could be wrong though. But it still could be true.
I know, I don’t understand it.

I think I do. I have to get down on my knees to my friend now

Just realised how unclear and bad sounding that is - what I meant to say is YBCM, you are probably right. Whether she was 3 or 10 it’s very likely.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Probably not the right way to go about it but..... I have a fear of ditches and there would be no way I could go and school over them so my way of doing it was just to go drag hunting and follow the field on the youngsters we had!! They gained confidence from the other horses whilst I grabbed some mane and closed my eyes...!!

 

[Orangehorse]

Definitely needs a lead from another horse. Start small.

 

[Rowreach]

She is from and in Ireland. That could be true either.
I have a suspicion she was a brood mare with minimal handling until 8 or so then bought by a dealer and broken, then sold to the ppl who sold her to me. (Wasn’t what I was told but…. I’ve been told a lot of bullsh*t by horse sellers) That could be wrong though. But it still could be true.
I know, I don’t understand it.

I think I do. I have to get down on my knees to my friend now

Not all Irish horses are hunted over ditches, so it's possible she either really hasn't seen one, or has been taught to creep up and down the banks (which in many areas is far preferable to launching over them) or, which is quite likely, she has been introduced to them out hunting and with a few blokes behind her cracking hunting whips. I've seen far too many young horses completely wrecked for ditch jumping by people using this method.

As LEC said, the creeping strategy can be quite an asset. If you can find somewhere with small natural ditches and a friend with a sensible ditch jumper, I'd start there.

 

[ester]

Proper ditches are definitely a different skill set for a horse to anything found on a cross country course.
I do think some more groundwork might be useful so she can maybe trust you to give it a bit more of a go, but that most probably you are going to need a decent lead horse. To show her the ropes. I know people do hunt clinics for hedges but not sure if anyone does them in ditch country.