Does anyone own/know a horse that has been rapped

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lastresort

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Not the nicest post but I want to know how the horse now behaves when it SJ. Its something that has been suggested to me about my mare but I dont know a horse that has been or how it behaves.
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Will post about what she does if I get some replies. Nothing bad or problematic really.

Thanks in advance for any replies as unfortunately I dont know any of her history. I have had her nearly 4 years
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depends on the horse really. I haven't owned one but known several.

Worst examples just wouldn't jump at all and would either refuse to go anywhere near a fence (rear/buck/spin etc) or would drop off the bridle and stop at the last moment at near point of take off.

Others would panic if they touched/knocked a pole reactions including bolting/bucking/tensing up/refusing to jump further fences. Others will simply ballon the next fence but then some horses do that naturally but generally only when younger and greener.

Really depends on how/why they were rapped and the individual horse, whichever way any reactions are often engrained and very hard to reverse/control. I have seen some very talented young showjumpers ruined by one particular rider who rapped/raps their hroses......
 
Mine was before i got her. Needless to say she is super careful in the ring. She doesnt jump silly big but in the 7 years ive had her think she has had one fence in the ring and that was ground conditions than her fault.
Will have the odd rub at home without panicing or pi**ing off.

Tell tale signs can be really ballooning fences, or panicing when hitting poles.

Some horses are just naturally supercareful mind you!
 
God its disgusting isnt it? People who rapp horses and create behaviour problems like you have described, could do with being rapped themselves, sick and very cruel.
 
My mare us uber careful as in jumps everything at least a foot bigger than the jump, some might say this is scopy! she never has a pole down. If she does ( once or twice at home jumping bigger stuff) she has a fit rears and panics then over jumps everything else in a blind panic.She also only ever jumps on a long one XC she likes to get in deep and if you ask for a long one she will stop. That could be her though.

She has jumped me out before ballooning too. A friend who events who has never seen her jump suggested it as she can believe how much she cleared the jump

Thanks guys. Not that it matters but alsway good to have an explanation
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It might not be raping but maybe she has been beaten for hitting fences in the past. Esp if it was loose schooling.

But as you dont know the history it could be a number of things that caused it.
 
mine's identical BlueNRed
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She has actually never touched a pole with me on her!

Luckily I know every one of her old owners very well indeed and I know she is just being cautious and a bit over excited. She's 22 so i doubt she will ever grow out of it fully now!

Had never heard of rapping until I came on here - what a horrible practice!
 
Ive known a few and they werent happy souls
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, There were a couple of hard skinned Dutch geldings who didnt give a toss but the others would stand off, refuse or cat jump. Rapping will give very short term benefits and on the long run does more damage than good. M.
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We are told my old Welsh was rapped.

He's very stressy in schooling situations and less so in the ring, after all it's not in the ring at a show when it happens. He very rarely touches a pole, which is lucky because when we first got him - at least three years after he was last rapped - he would bolt if he did. That's a true blind panic bolt, straight into the indoor arena wall on the first occasion.

He won't go near a jump with someone standing by it. We cannot carry a whip on him either.

I'd like to meet the person who did it to him down a dark alley.
 
so sad!! I dont have the confidence to jump higher than 1.20m on her as its so much bigger when she does and I struggle to sit to it such a shame as i would love to. So thats out limit and we are both happy at that.

Her pic is in my sig and even then shes jumping that really big as usual. I love her she is v sweet!
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How intresting you should post about this, A friend has just aquired a pony, has had a few issues out hunting, We took her up into the school, goes lovely on the flat, popped a few jumps ok, then i went and put the jump up but i stood by the jump, six strides out could see pony was hesatating (sp) went on to jump but as soon as she landed bolted!!!!!. Now this pony looks very talented and hope we can get over these issues, but too be honest think the pony had also been beaten as very wary and hard to catch. Any suggestions welcome
 
I knew of a horse that was rapped ended up cat leaping everything, even jumps poles on the ground, is worse when there is an instructor in the school i.e when there is someone on the ground
 
Always suspected my pony was as he was BSJAing VV young (in my opinion) considering he couldn't even canter properly. He is terrifeid of poles on the ground and used to jump about 4 ft over them. He always rushed his fences and was difficult yo get to start a round (he wasn't nappy just nerves sent him into reverse!) if he did set off it was witha plunge and then the round was done at high speed or nothing at all. He NEVER touched a pole but was not the most fun thing to jump!

He may never have been rapped, he could just not have been taught properly but whatever way he was schooled it's a shame cos he has amazing scope but never learnt how to use it. He's 21 now and I don't know how i dared ever jump him, we got him to a stage where he would jump steadily (for him) and I was quite pleased once when he actually knocked a fence down - menat he wasn't over jumping!

I know if I even tried to jump him now he'd still flip out - he just anticipates everything!
 
My old horse had been rapped - when i got him he refused to walk over a pole on the ground. It took 18months to get him jumping happily again.
 
Basically its when you stand next to the jump and lift the pole up banging the horses legs in the stupid attempt to hurt the thus them picking up over the jump.
 
I think that Solo's being rapped- he over jumps everything by about a foot, and refuses to go forward/jump if anyone is in the vincinity of a jump.
If he does hit them, he has a major panic- normally gallopping off, and darting about. It panics him that much that if he does knock one (even if he just taps it and it doesn't fall) we end the session, as he doesn't settle again.
He's miles better than when I first got him- as soon he as realised that I don't react if he knocks something, he calms a bit, but we can't have anyone near us, hence why I dont have any good pics of us jumping.
I can't lunge or loose school him over jumps either- he refuses to move.
 
rapping has been illegal in this country for years and rightly so , in the seventies when i was 8 i witnessed a very well known show jumper abuse his horse repeatedly , when its a business i,m afraid quick results are wanted , i also hate to see foals and yearlings free schooled over very sizable fences , most are then broken and jumped at 3 and sold at 4 , a very quick profit methinks
 
Rosie's parents and trainer suspect one of hers has. He panics doing SJ although he flies XC. Her Mum says when she's standing by a warm up jump, the horse looks at her rather than at the jump. He is improving slowly though.
 
Mine panic his face off SJ, is fine XC. I cannot take him in the warm up or we end up taking people out and if someone is standing next to the jump he will rather jump the wing than the pole. He does knock but god knows what his history is.
 
It's heartbreaking isn't it. He's so willing and is capable of jumping quite big over a one-off at home but because of the panic often has one or two down when he's competing. He's just beginning to trust Rosie but if I could get my hands on whoever did it ...
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iv never heard of it either April ....... can someone explain?

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I believe rapping is not just holding the pole up but rather putting spikes/nails in the poles.

New a pony this had been done to and he was an absolute hysterical lunatic in the show ring. He was eventually retired because he was too dangerous to ride, Produced and doing the circuit as a 4 year old, retired at 8.

Disgusting
 
Lots of horses that start jumping without proper preparation end up with bizarre reactions to rubs, bad distances etc. even if no one has messed with them. Fear of jumping doesn't necessarily make horses stop but it can make them develop some dangerous coping mechanisms. Talented horses that keep going often end up the worst off. (I had one to "fix" - a super horse that won as a FOUR YEAR OLD that threw himself over backwards when the bell went!!)

Most of the ones I think have been rapped (perhaps came from people known to do that etc.) are VERY leery about people around the jump, some to the point of simply refusing. The running off after is usually a bad sign, too.

Lots of horses that are freaked out run at their jumps, which some people take as enthusiasm.

Some are just "allergic to wood". The over jump because they have a little too much "chicken" and not quite enough "lion".

As far as fixing it, it depends on what and how bad. I've actually had good luck by free jumping or longeing through a particular exercise, letting the horse relax about it, then riding EXACTLY the same thing. If it's a person standing there that causes the panic then have a friend hang about (maybe feeding the horse a Polo or something now and then when you stop), gradually moving closer to the jump as the horse gets used to his/her presence. Jump simple stuff, working on one jump then moving to the next. Reward any sign of lessened anxiety. Remember that it takes about 3x as long to fix a problem as it does to create it so it might just be something you have to factor into the horse's training for a very long time.

I watched a great rapping experience years ago. I was visiting a friend at her barn and the "big pro" was in the ring schooling. Unbelievably he started to talk to his little followers about how he was going to rap the horse he was riding, because it had got smart about people standing next to the jump. We were right there and I spoke up but he just laughed and ignored me. We were going to leave in disgust but then noticed what they were up to: The had a thin metal pole and had fed binder twine through the ends, resting the twine on nails pounded into the standards and raising the pole to the height of the jump. Each little helper held one end of the twine WITHOUT GLOVES. We could sense the train coming down the tracks and the fact the horse might win this one so we stayed watching . . . the horse jumped, the helpers pulled up the twine with the pole on it, the horse tipped the pole (not hard - it was too heavy and unwieldy for them to manage) and RIPPED the binder twine through their hands!!!! The both fell on the ground, screaming and clutching their burned hands and we laughed until we cried. The horse took off bucking at all the commotion but I doubt he even knew he hit anything. Okay, it was awful that they were doing it but it was great to see them get theirs.

Sadly though, in the great scheme of awful things done to horses in the name of competition rapping is pretty mild.
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indeed rapping has many forms. Visited a friend late last year and the yard she is on has a fairly well known local SJ based there (i had never heard of the guy but apparently in area he the 'bees knees'
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Anyway was jumping her horse and moving a few fences. The first one we moved well out of way and out of arena was an ultra heavy wooden pole, in addition to the fact it was very heavy (wouldn't fall off cups and took two people to lift) the central section had a piece of hard plastic with lots of small hard plastic bumps coming out from it wrapped around the pole. If a horse hit it, it would hurt, hell it hurt to try and carry the pole where the plastic was never mind hitting it with force and speed.

Worst thing was this pole was left up in school where lots of kids ride and jump and most wouldn't know better not to use the pole..
 
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