Ditch Training My Youngster, Am I doing it Right?? *VID*

Firewell

Firewell

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I took my green 5yr old TB XC schooling last night with the aim of teaching him to jump ditches.

He has never ever seen a ditch in his life before this moment. My background is mainly in showjumping and this is the first time I have ever taught a green horse over a ditch.

My questions are for the experienced event riders on here only. Those competeing BE. I want to eventually BE this horse, I think a lot of him and I want to get his training right, having watched the vid do you think I should:-

1. continue to train my baby myself? Or 2. should I get a pro event rider to put in place the basics? As far as I can see, the benefits of doing it myself are that I will have the satisfaction of knowing I have put in the work. I also want him to trust *me* not another rider, as at the end of the day i'm going to want to compete him. Also I may learn a lot teaching him along the way. The downside to training him myself is that I am hugely out of my comfort zone showing this horse the ropes. I havent done XC for over 10 years properly and the XC I have done is with schoolmasters, I dont have much experience teaching young horses XC although I do have experience teaching them showjumping. I don't want to ruin him or create issues.

Also (please be nice, i have confidence issues) does anyone have any gentle pointers as to what I could have done better? I went schooling just with my non-horsey OH and my mum. Should I take along a jump trainer next time do you think?

Thanks

The Vid - Please watch to the end, he finishes off jumping it really nicely :). I also might add that after this he jumped a much bigger open ditch in the middle of the field, he had a look at it for a couple of mins but he finished off jumping the bigger ditch confidently as well :)

 
You did really well. He was clearly very unsure about the ditch and whilst you were firm with him you didn't punish him for being genuinely worried. One thing I would say is that don't rush.... it's absolutely fine for him to have a look and a snort at it whilst you pat him and tell him it's ok. It sometimes helps, so that you don't get 'stuck' in a bit of a battle. Also when he went and jumped it straight off the other rein I would have made a big fuss of him very quickly so he knew it was the right thing to do. Young horses need everything to be very black and white, so that when they good they know it and grow in confidence. When he did jump it in the tricky direction and you patted him you could see him relax and little and realise that he had done the right thing. He is a lovely horse and I think you will have a lot of fun. Keep going yourself and take your time. If you hit any problems, seek advice from an instructor or knowlegable friend and iron out any kinks before they become issues. One thing that was useful to me when I first took my horse XC was that if we planted at something and it was turning into a battle of wills, I would go away and jump something else that I knew she found easy and get her thinking forward again, then quite often would jump the fence/ditch she was objecting to straight off and hence we avoided any confrontation. Good luck with him, he is lovely :)
 
icestationzebra said:
You did really well. He was clearly very unsure about the ditch and whilst you were firm with him you didn't punish him for being genuinely worried. One thing I would say is that don't rush.... it's absolutely fine for him to have a look and a snort at it whilst you pat him and tell him it's ok. It sometimes helps, so that you don't get 'stuck' in a bit of a battle. Also when he went and jumped it straight off the other rein I would have made a big fuss of him very quickly so he knew it was the right thing to do. Young horses need everything to be very black and white, so that when they good they know it and grow in confidence. When he did jump it in the tricky direction and you patted him you could see him relax and little and realise that he had done the right thing. He is a lovely horse and I think you will have a lot of fun. Keep going yourself and take your time. If you hit any problems, seek advice from an instructor or knowlegable friend and iron out any kinks before they become issues. One thing that was useful to me when I first took my horse XC was that if we planted at something and it was turning into a battle of wills, I would go away and jump something else that I knew she found easy and get her thinking forward again, then quite often would jump the fence/ditch she was objecting to straight off and hence we avoided any confrontation. Good luck with him, he is lovely :)
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Thank you so much for that reply its really helpful!

I was surprised he stopped actually because usually he just jumps anything first time. Because he is fairly easy I forget that he is so green and I think I did try and rush a little bit because I was so surprised. I won't be so worried next time about just chilling out a bit more if stuff starts to go wrong, he is a baby after all. That was a great reply and makes me feel better. Thank you.
 
Okaaay, a few things... First off, I may have said this before, but I really like your horse :) He looks like a really good model with a good attitude :) Second, based on that video, I can't see any reason why you would need to send your horse away unless you particularly want to! The two of you look as though you are progressing together and, as long as you aren't in too much of a hurry, should be fine :)

As far as that incident is concerned, I honestly don't think you did a whole lot wrong and you got the outcome you wanted without frightening or worrying your horse which sounds like a success in my book! I think you needed a smidgeon more a) faith and b) patience, that's all ;) Your Mum was right, he was always going to go provided you didn't get bored/frustrated/disheartened too quickly. And on you Mum being right (sorry!!) but I think I would probably have gone back and jumped it the way he liked it a couple more times a bit sooner - but that's just a detail... And one last thing, do try hard to keep your hands down and quiet and soft when you are using youre legs so he doesn't get mixed messages - it's really hard when they are being sharp and unpredictable I know, but it is important that he never hears "stop" and "go" at the same time ;)

For next time, my suggestions would be 1) Try really hard to find a friend (mounted) to go with - I know it's not always easy but it does make a HUGE difference with babies to have someone to follow if their courage deserts them momentarily! More fun for you too! If you don't know anyone try on here, you never know... 2) Re an instructor, it's never a bad idea to have one when you are out of your comfort zone like this so if you can get a recommmendation or have someone in mind already all the better. It's not a question of you desperately needing it, but it may help everybody's (yours, horse's etc) confidence and enable you to progress a bit quicker.

Very best of luck - I think you are going to have a ball with him :)
 
I think you did rather well, he is gorgeous btw :)
I'd stick with it if I were you. If you send him away to a pro you may not actaully progress "together" as your horse may get used to a pro riding him and therefore placing him correctly infront of a fence all of the time that when you ride him if you don't get the same accuracy (I'm not say you won't, please don't take any offence) then he may so no. I hope that has made the slightest bit of sense.
How about getting help on the ground from an instructor but with you still riding if you feel you need help.

Maybe take a nanny horse to help with confidence next time you go ditch training?
 
The thing about taking your time with this stage of his training is that it lays good solid foundations. You are far less likely to hit problems in the future, and when you do (because we all do!) you know that he has a good sound basic education and above all he trusts you becuase you didn't rush him or bully him. It's really important that they think about what they are doing, and then do it because they enjoy it, rather than being harrassed (you didn't btw) and doing it out of being obedient rather than because they want to. I'm convinced that taking the thinking out of it for the horse is a dangerous approach in the long term - and a 4* rider wholeheartedly agreed with me.
 
Thank you very much TableDancer, he is super. If I am totally honesy I was abit nervous about him jumping huge or trying to do a duck and spin and I may have been holding on to him a little bit, I thought back afterwards knowing I had that ? in my head! Will try and be more concious of my hands next time!
He's never had a horse to lead him over anything before as I dont really know anyone with an experienced horse... I know he would have followed another horse straight away. I will try and sort out something for next time.

I also find I panick so much about everything perfect, I need to accept that hes learning and its not always going to be perfect. Poor horse having to put up with my hyper-sensitive nature lol.
 
Thanks for your ISZ and MB. I feel better about timing and things now. There is no rush, I want to keep him forever so it doesnt matter if it takes 1,2 or 3plus years for us to become established. I'm going to be much more chilled out in my head next time. Not worry so much about getting everything right first time.
Im really glad I posted this, I was worried but i'm glad. I see all my friends doing x y and z with their youngsters and I need to think just about me and my horse and not what everyone else is doing :) He is an amazing horse, i'm very lucky.
 
Lovely looking horse :)

To introduce ditches with my boy I booked a group xc lesson at a local BE venue with a well known sympathetic instructor. There was someone else there with a super PC pony who gave us a tow over a smiliar ditch. Took one or 2 stops before he figured he figured out what he had to do and we schooled around over it it couple more times before doing it on our own. Then went back at end of session. Really does help to have a reliable schoolmaster - I didn't know anyone at the time hence I booked the lesson. It didn't end up costing more than the venue hire I dont think. :)
 
First of all I want to say that he is absolutely gorgeous! You did a very good job - I would maybe have approached it in walk the first time to let him have a look at it - he got rather a fright as it came up quite quickly, but you did absolutely everything right and you were rewarded in the end. Another confident horse always help in these situations and I had one that would follow me to the moon so I used to walk alongside him!!! Don't leave it too long before you go and do ditches again - you want to keep up the progress. If you are thinking of introducing water (maybe you already have) just let him walk in quietly and stand for a while. Don't think of jumping a fence into water unless he is truly confident with getting his feet wet.
Again, a lead horse is really useful. I always make all my babies walk through every puddle I can find (not at the mo obviously!). Another useful exercise is to put sheets of plastic (bin bags, shavings bags, blue plastic etc.) on the floor of the school secured by two jumping poles. This will all be good for the future. Good luck with him and I would certainly continue with him yourself.
 
Thanks Stilltrying and Huntley :). I'm going to try and get him out again over the next two weeks to try and consolidate what hes learnt. I'm thinking of asking my Riding Club if they have any XC clinics coming up. I think that would be fun and i'm sure there will be some schoolmasters in the group :)

Im really pleased everyone thinks I should carry on with him :D
 
Hi,

Hes lovely. The only thing I would of done is just let him walk upto it/stand by it and have a look in it, with lots of pats and good boys, no pressure and let him realise he can just step over it and maybe do it a few ways the way he liked with loads of praise when he got it right.

Thats at Rogate isnt it?? Im going to take my baby back there in the next few weeks if you want to go again, she isnt ditchy at all so she would happily show him there arnt any monsters in there!!! She even jumped the loads spooky one on the right with the slopes with loads of green nasty water in it first time!!

If you wanna go together then let me know (although shes only 5 and has been xc a few times so were just playing... but she is super brave!)
 
Hi vicki, yes it's at Rogate. I may take you up on your offer! I think he could tell I was a bit nervous and not sure so someone to help egg me on would really help me to I think!
I would rather do it with one other horse as apposed to a group as well.
Thank you :)
 
Yeah I wouldnt want to take Lill in a big group.

Im up for going as long as there has been some rain as dont like clattering babies round on the hard. It would be nice for me too as dont normally have anyone to go with apart from my mum or bf!!!

Message me on here if you wanna go and when it rains we shall!!! It can be a "ex racehorse doing dressage clique" mini outing to do jumps lol :)
 
hey! arent youngsters fun- enjoy him! he looks fab and you are doing so well together, you will look back on this and be proud that you overcame this little blip. with my youngsters i never stop them infront of a ditch because they could learn to "stop" so i always walk them past it, with a little bend in their necks to walk past and look! also be really encouraging with your voice you are so good to praise him after hes done it but if you reassure him before the ditch this will encourage! finally dont let your self look at the ditch just look ahead and keep breathing! your doing ace well done!
 
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