Dreadful dreadful XC round

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MagicMelon

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Things are going wrong suddenly! Ive had no problems at all XC with my horse, he's been getting clears round BE novices no problem until recently. He got a scare at a trakhener (cat-leaped it and scraped his stifles) last month. So at the next novice we did, we got eliminated at a damn trakhener. I genuinelly think he has lost a bit of confidence with them as this is not a horse who ever refuses! He had jumped the first 3/4 of the course brilliantly until this point so I wasnt too bothered and just figured Id practice the trakhener at a local training course, which we did.

At the weekend, we cocked up big time! I seemed to set off in the wrong attitude, I dont know what it was. But we came up to a very very simple double and suddenly he ran out to the side. Shocked didnt come close! Then he banked another simple fence. He stopped twice at the trakhener but I was VERY pleased he bravely went over on the 3rd attempt. Then he sheared off a very narrow brush in the water. So 4 refusals overall (although we completed and everything else jumped fine). This was a horrific XC round for us and Im now left gob-smacked and wondering what the hells happened to us! He's entered up for 2 novices this month but luckily I dont think they have any trakheners so that shouldnt be an issue. But if the next novice goes badly, I guess Ill need to drop down to PN to get his confidence up again?

Am gutted
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If he scraped over the jump is there not a chance he may have twisted /tweaked himself? Its a bit strange if he is "not a horse who ever refuses".
 
I dont think so, I mean he was fine in the dressage and jumped clear in the SJ sections at both the last ODE's he's been eliminated at, in fact at the weekend he jumped really really nicely in the SJ phase. I would have thought if he'd tweaked something that he would be a bit odd SJ'ing?
 
Don't wait - ring entries sec and see if you can swop to at least the next one as PN. If you keep pushing it you may both end up frightened or hurt.
 
I would be inclined to agree - do a few PN runs (2 or 3) until you are really confident again before tackling N again, otherwise this is only liable to get worse.
 
I agree with the last two comments.

Drop to PN now so he can have a nice easy run and find it fun again. Not worth stressing so early in the season.
 
Cant change the very next down to PN as there isn't one at the event. But the Novice at it is really really nice and was very easy last year.

I think Ill see how it goes and then possibly drop down to OPN for the one after.

Do you think he's just had a scare? In training the other day, he was perfect - jumping everything happily. But the good thing thats come out of it is that I was becoming a bit laid back with the simple fences because he'd always jumped them. Now we've had that run out at such a basic fence, I will be riding 110% every single fence!
 
Yes, I would imagine he has scared himself and perhaps you subconsciously so you are not riding as positively, which starts a horrible vicious circle off.

In your position I would be babying him round the Novice, taking alternatives where possible, setting up a long way out etc, and always with the thought of retiring in my head - so if he has a stop, call it a day and take him down a level rather than compounding the bad experiences in his head. I think I would be trying to be v objective about the XC too - if you get there and it doesn't look very very easy, then perhaps do just the dressage and SJ and then withdraw and leave the XC until you can go PN again?

It's a horrid thing to have happened, no fun at all, and god knows eventing is expensive enough it needs to be fun too!
 
I would just dressage and SJ - you say he had a run out at a very simple fence and even if the course as a whole is on the easy side there will still be some questions. It sounds like he's lost a bit of confidence and needs to learn to have fun again. However, you know yourself and your horse better than anyone else.
 
I would definitely not run him again at novice. I would be getting him checked out. Our last pony started stopping all summer, turned out he had an abcess very deep, fixed it and he got much better out.
I think you risk doing more damage to him by doing another novice .
 
definitely drop back down to PN if you can, and just run Dressage and SJ at your next outing - forget the xc for that one. If it is a confidence thing you have to be so so careful, its so easy to lose it but twice as hard to get it back !

agree it wouldn't hurt getting your physio / chiro to just have a quick look also. Good luck with him.
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Can I just pick up on something else here, a bit off topic, but you mentioned that you had 4 refusals on a course, but went on to complete it. Have you read your BE rule book? If you have 4 cumulative stops XC you are eliminated and should WALK home, not continue. This is an absolute pet hate of mine, that people, who know full well they been eliminated, continue!

The rule is there for a reason. I do cross country control and it is very annoying when competitors continue in this way. If a horse has had 4 stops then the round is not going fluently and should not continue, not only for the safety of the horse and rider (mainly) but for the other competitors and officials. Some BE Stewards and Controllers will wish to stop such horses on track, which then puts a fence judge in the position of having to stand infront of a horse travelling at 35mph, which is far from ideal!

Furthermore, if you've had four problems, there is a chance that the competitor who started behind you will be upon you quickly, it is not ideal to have horses passing because you can impede the passing horse, and if you don't realise they are coming, then it could be extremely unfair on them if they meet you at a fence. Put the shoe on the other foot.

I think you're lucky you didn't get an official ticking off from the BE steward, especially at Novice, because there is no excuse for it at that level. Many I know would have hunted down your box and gone to town on you for it!

Just plain IRRESPONSIBLE!
 
Sorry - the competition at the weekend was an RC Open. It wasnt a BE novice which is what he does usually. I continued because I wasnt absolutely sure of the rules at RC and because I was part of a team so figured its better to be safe than sorry and finish! Weirdly, no competitor came anywhere near to catching me up and of course if they did, I would instantly get out of their way.

So dont stress! For BE, I know the rule so would pull up. At RC level, a lot of the time they DO allow you to carry on (even if you have a very obvious elimination like 3 refusals at one fence), hence why I didnt know which they were running to on the day.
 
Thats ok then, I'll let you off. I also control for the PC and RC, and they are more leniant, although in truth riders should still do the same, walk home, but often its more about letting people have fun.
 
I must admit, if I can then I will carry on because Ive paid my money so will always try and get my monies worth! Unaffiliated is different from affiliated like you say - often they are happy to let people carry one, other times they're not so it does get confusing. Unless Im told specifically to stop and walk home then I wont.

I not stupid enough to ignore the rules for BE however! Ive seen enough people getting a severe telling off to know better!
 
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I must admit, if I can then I will carry on because Ive paid my money so will always try and get my monies worth! Unaffiliated is different from affiliated like you say - often they are happy to let people carry one, other times they're not so it does get confusing. Unless Im told specifically to stop and walk home then I wont.

I not stupid enough to ignore the rules for BE however! Ive seen enough people getting a severe telling off to know better!

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The problem with carrying on though is that often the XC Controller and/or official steward (whether BE or RC) will not know you or the horse. Therefore a horse that has 4 stops may appear to be a concern to them, and so far as they are concerned, the combination's next incident may be the one in which horse/rider, or both, get injured. Therefore, by not stopping, when you know you should (accepting you weren't sure, which is a problem with RC, the rules aren't readily available!), you are encouraging them to have to make a decision in terms of stopping you, as I mentioned above, nobody likes to put a fence judge up infront of a horse travelling at 35mph, especially at RC level as many fence judges are highly inexperienced.

Another reason why officials would prefer such horses to walk away gracefully, is that with 4 stops the horses ability will be causing concern, and although you know your horse is capable, they may not. If something goes wrong elsewhere on the course, the last thing officials need is to have a horse running that they have concerns over, whilst trying to deal with an incident (which could be anywhere between a minor fall and a major incident). In circumstances when an incident occurs it is very stressful being in the control box or an official, without unnecessary further pressure being added.

Furthermore if there is a serious incident, the chances are that multiple doctors/vets/paramedics and all senior officials will be in attendance. Whilst some of these can be called away as necessary to other incidents (especially at BE where there are multiple doctors/paramedics, but not necessarily true of RC/PC), it is a further unnecessary concern in the back of the mind of all concerned to think that there is a horse/rider on course that may be 1/2 a mile away and may or may not have a fall itself.

The best way to ensure you get your money's worth, is to do enough ground work at home to know you'll go out and not have a very bad round like this. I know it happens to many, but if its only an occasional thing for you, then you shouldn't be worried about losing your cash. The time for schooling is at home, not at events in this way (that isn't to say you can't school round an event steadily in the first place, if you've paid your money you take your choice about how you run, I'm purely talking about eliminated riders).

I'm not trying to be off with you, I understand you woudl have made an different choice at BE, I'm purely trying to explain the reasons behind pulling up, and hopefully why it should be a consideration if it ever happens again to you (hopefully not), whether at BE or RC.
 
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