fear of ditches

[harrie27]

My ex-race horse has a problem with ditches - she does eventually go over them after quite a few refusals.
Has anyone had the same problem and if so how did u solve it?

 

[Suzy]

Yes, one of my horses would not jump open ditches. I got one dug in the field and lunged him over it (first without me on him and then with me on him) with a large lunge whip(!!) and just kept repeating this every day until he got the message - never had a problem again after that. Good luck

 

[KatB]

Little and often. Sometimes you get to the point you're expecting them to refuse which gives them mixed signals too. Getting them to do it on their own (on the lunge) if you'r not 100% is a good idea.

Mine jumps ditches almost every time he goes out hacking, so he's not bothered really

 

[Cruiseonamiro]

Yeahh; I second the on th lunge idea. And agree with KatB, if you can find a ditch out hacking then it's great. There are three on our normal hack route, ranging in size from piddly to one where it's so wide you're meant to go down it, one stride in the water at the bottom and then up the other side. Guess who's horses insist on launching themselves from one side to the other?! Dad reckons they don't like getting their feet wet xD

 

[Bossanova]

Just keep repeating. Try to make jumping ti a nice experience so be very careful with your position and ensure you always give with the hands then copious amounts of praise after. My mare was ditchy early on in her training but now she eats them up- there was a stage when I thought she'd never jump a ditch!

 

[Jul]

Yup, my youngster has a thing about ditches. She's definitely getting better though. I found a couple of teeny ones out hacking and made a point of popping them every time we hacked - loads of praise each time so she was very proud of herself.

Try to get out xc schooling to different places if you can and go back and forth over the ditches until she's relaxed about them. If she's like mine though, each new ditch will be a new challenge! When I was having particular problems at one I got off and led her over it. This still took some persuasion and you have to be very careful as they will try to land where you are standing! Then got back on and jumped it a few times. That really helped in our case, she trusted me more next time we were faced with a ditch.

She went out and did a course last week, there were two ditches in it, one of which she'd been over before. Both times she stopped but jumped them from a standstill which is a great improvement.

Just keep on chipping away, you'll get there in the end. And don't forget to LOOK UP!!!

 

[Cruiseonamiro]

Jul; I had exactly the same thing... I got off to lead a mare ((Not mine, my friends)) over a ditch and she trod on my leg... well, we all heard the crack. Didn't want to go to the doctors as I was competing the enxt day so copiuos amounts of pain killers were in order! My advice is to be very, very, very careful if leading... if they balloon and land on you, you'll know about it, trust me.

 

[crackersluvrat]

Unfortunately I have the same problem, my horse hates ditches and consequently I haven't become much of a fan of them either but everywhere we go I make a point of jumping every ditch however big or small as he doesn't seem to worry so much about the size it is simply the fact that there seems to be a hole in the ground and he insists it would be much safer to stop and check for monsters in the bottom before leaping over it!! I am starting to worry though as he would be jumping double clears intro and finishing with much less time faults if he didn't insist on 'stopping and checking' each ditch a couple of times first! I'm going to perservere though and hopefully he will improve - he is slowly, so my advice is keep going lol! Oh I also find he is better jumping trakehners and fences with ditches in front as he seems to concentrate on the fence and forget about the ditch until it is last minute and
(usually) 2 late to stop :S however I hope the more I jump fences like this the more likely he is to get used to them and jump open ditches *fingers crossed*

 

[carthorse]

We used to have a problem and never bothered with xc as Penfold was doing OK at SJ but he got to his limit and then what next .
We went to a couple of pros but they gave up on him , then we went on a 2 day course with Nigel Taylor at Aston le walls. He was amazing and told my daughter he would bring out her lunch ,dinner and breakfast but she would not be moving from that spot unless he went over the ditch . In 20 mins he jumped .
He then jumped again and again and on to the next ditch , he had so many ditches there and next day the same. They never looked back and now are doing BE novice .I would never have believed he would do so well.